Utilization vs Wait Time
Compare two scenarios and see how utilization explodes delay.
Copy A → B
Swap A ↔ B
Tip: Keep demand fixed and drag the Capacity slider (servers) to watch the dot slide.
Scenario A
marker on chart
Arrival Rate (jobs per hour)
i
How often work arrives into the system.
Service Time (minutes per job)
i
How long work takes once started.
Capacity slider (servers / parallel resources)
i
1
servers
12
Parallel workers/machines doing the same task.
Variability
i
Low (predictable)
Medium (typical)
High (chaotic)
Scales waiting time to reflect variability.
Scenario B
marker on chart
Arrival Rate (jobs per hour)
i
How often work arrives into the system.
Service Time (minutes per job)
i
How long work takes once started.
Capacity slider (servers / parallel resources)
i
1
servers
12
Parallel workers/machines doing the same task.
Variability
i
Low (predictable)
Medium (typical)
High (chaotic)
Scales waiting time to reflect variability.
Scenario A
Scenario B
Each curve reflects that scenario’s server count + service time + variability.
i
Scenario A insight
—
Scenario B insight
—
Metric
Scenario A
Scenario B
Difference (B − A)