Queue Simulation with Spreadsheets: Arrivals, Service Times & Waiting Lines
Simulate a (fictional) coffee kiosk from given random numbers: exponential arrivals, service times, a single-server queue table, utilisation and queue length, a second barista, a check against the M/M/1 formulas with confidence intervals, and a staffing cost trade-off, every cell checked live.
The first lesson is free — no account needed.
About this course
A queue simulation course that models the morning rush at one fictional coffee kiosk in a spreadsheet, for operations students, analysts and anyone who wants to see Monte Carlo simulation work step by step. You turn given random numbers into exponential inter-arrival times, add them up into an arrival clock after opening time, draw service times from an exponential and a normal distribution, build the single-server queue table with service start, finish, waiting time and time in the system, report the average wait, utilisation and queue length with a chart, send each customer to the next free barista in a two-server run, compare ten simulation runs with the M/M/1 formulas and a confidence interval and choose the staffing level with the lowest cost of staff plus waiting. The first lab is free.
Lessons
- Random Arrivals: Inter-Arrival Times from the Exponential DistributionFree
- The Arrival Clock: Running Sums & Clock Times Pro
- Service Times: Exponential & Normal Draws from Given Random Numbers Pro
- The Single-Server Queue Table: Start, Wait & Finish Pro
- Queue Performance: Average Wait, Utilisation & Queue Length Pro
- Two Servers: Sending Each Customer to the Next Free Barista Pro
- Simulation vs. Theory: M/M/1 Formulas & Confidence Intervals Pro
- Staffing What-If: Barista Cost vs. Waiting Cost Pro