Mean Sojourn Time in Multi Stage Fork-Join Network: The Effect of Synchronization and Structure

Fork-Join queue networks (F-J) have received increasing attention during the last Decade, due to their ability to model parallel and distributed computer processing, supply chains and assembly systems. However, most research is focused on a single stage processing, and only scant work exists on F-J with two or more stages. In this paper, the author investigates (through simulation) the performance behavior of a multi-stage system; in particular, the performance of a synchronized system is compared to an unsynchronized system regarding three major factors: (1) the number of parallel tasks; (2) the number of serial stages and (3) the utilization.