[3]: vii Batch arrivals have been used to describe large deliveries[4] and batch services to model a hospital out-patient department holding a clinic once a week,[5] a transport link with fixed capacity[6][7] and an elevator.
[9] Under heavy traffic conditions a bulk queue is known to behave like a reflected Brownian motion.
[1] Customers arrive at random instants according to a Poisson process and form a single queue, from the front of which batches of customers (typically with a fixed maximum size[12]) are served at a rate with independent distribution.
[5] The optimal maximum size of batch, subject to operating cost constraints, can be modelled as a Markov decision process.
[13] Optimal service-provision procedures to minimize long run expected cost have been published.