Impact of Server Capability on Pooling Configuration in Stochastic Service Systems

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Chen, Yanting; Xie, Jingui; Yang, Nan; George Zhang, Zhe; Zhu, Taozeng
• 署名单位: University of Shanghai for Science & Technology; Technical University of Munich; Western Washington University; Simon Fraser University; Dongbei University of Finance & Economics
• 刊物名称: PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1059-1478
• DOI: 10.1177/10591478261417819
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: Admission control; flexibility; capacity; overflow

摘要

Resource pooling is often introduced in service systems to cope with the variability in customer demand. The primary motivation behind creating a more flexible system is to utilize resources efficiently-namely, assigning customers whose dedicated resources are fully occupied to available non-dedicated resources (referred to as off-service placement). In such a setup, the service system manager expects to serve more customers within a fixed timeframe. However, recent empirical evidence shows that, due to limited server capability, the service time at non-dedicated providers can be significantly longer than that at dedicated ones. In this study, we develop a two-server stochastic model to examine how server capability levels and other factors-such as overall workload and demand asymmetry-affect pooling configurations. We derive conditions that specify the optimal system flexibility configuration across these parameters. Our findings reveal that a partially flexible system can outperform a fully flexible one, particularly in asymmetric scenarios with low server capability. This advantage is also pronounced when considering a range of system costs, including server capability, cross-serving, and other related costs in stochastic service systems with and without buffers. These insights from our two-server model offer guidance on designing more efficient flexibility in complex multi-class, multi-server service systems.