The Value of Queueing Theory: A Case Study

Professor Jack Byrd [Byrd, J. 1978. The value of queueing theory. Interfaces8 (3) 22–26.], argues that queueing theory has little value to the practicing professional. Professor Byrd bases his argument on a number of examples in which queueing theory, as it exists today, appears to be inadequate to provide answers to the questions being posed. The purpose of this article is to offer a rebuttal to the conclusions of Byrd's paper. This rebuttal is in the form of a case study dealing with a command and control problem. This case study is of general interest because there is a fundamental difference between the question addressed in the case study discussed below and the questions addressed by the examples in Byrd's paper.