To pool or not to pool? "The benefits of combining queuing and simulation"

"Should we pool separate queues into a single queue or not?" A question as practical as for daily-life situations such as at a bank, a hospital or a service center as well as for technical applications such as in manufacturing or call centers. A question that involves fundamental insights of queuing theory. A question that can only be answered in a realistic situation by simulation. A question that is still open for practical and fundamental research. A question that requires a hybrid combination of queuing and simulation. A question that in realistic situations not only benefits from but even requires a hybrid combination of analysis and simulation. This paper aims to illustrate that simulation and queuing theory can and should go hand in hand for a variety of practical problems, both in daily-life and industry. To this end, it highlights real-life cases taken from daily-life situations (postal office or bank), administrative logistics (reengineering), transportation (railways) and call center analysis.