Tirumala is one of the largest and busiest pilgrimage centers in the world, having a history of 2000 years

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• Operation Management
•  
• Case Studies
• Case study (20 Marks)
• Tirumala is one of the largest and busiest
  pilgrimage centers in the world, having a history
  of 2000 years. Over the years, the pilgrimage
  center has witnessed a continuous increase in the
  number of visitors, with the average number going
  up from 20000 a day in 1990s to 65000 a day in
  2012. The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD),
  which administered the Tirumala temple along with
  a few supporting services to pilgrims,
  experienced great difficulty in managing the
  darshan queue. With the objective of reducing the
  waiting line, TTD approached academic
  consultants. "The way to manage the queues is by
  either reducing the inflows or increasing the
  rate of outflows or both.

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• Estimate the average number of pilgrims
  waiting for darshan and the average waiting time
  of pilgrims in queues. Inflows can be controlled
  by prior booking to a large extent," explained A
  Kesavarao , retired IIM-Bangalore professor. A
  few experts suggested that another way would be
  to increase the number of channels of entry and
  exit into the main temple complex and setting up
  parallel queue (2-3 instead of a single) lines
  that would enable more pilgrims to have a
  darshan. For instance, 72,000 pilgrims could have
  darshan in a day (20 hours-72,000 seconds) with a
  darshan time of one second in a single line but
  the numbers could go up to 140,000 if two lines
  were organized. These consultants began devising
  different strategies of reducing the waiting line
  from the 1990s. Though things have improved a
  lot, there is still much that need to be done.
  This case study elucidates the different types of
  strategies to manage the waiting line and reduce
  the waiting time that TTD had been trying out
  from the 1990s. It also explains certain
  constraints that TTD was facing and a few new
  proposals.

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• Answer the following question.
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• Q1. Discuss and understand waiting line/queuing
  theory with the help of Tirumala
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• Q2. Elucidate how TTD managed the waiting line
  and discuss the constraints related to the
  management of darshan queue
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• Q3. Discuss how the new strategies/proposals
  could be effective for TTD
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• Q4. Discuss what TTD could do in future to
  overcome its challenges in managing the waiting
  line

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