Re: [9fans] parallel systems

[andrey mirtchovski <mirtchovski@gmail.com>]

> A factory is a parallel system.  A car factory can come close to fully
> utilizing thousands of human and robot workers.

as long as we're using wrong analogies, keep in mind that:

- a car factory can also come to a standstill if one or more resources
arrive at a rate slower than they're being consumed at;
- a factory's line can be brought to a standstill if one of its
elements breaks;
- a factory's workers need to be scheduled to work in shifts and you
must always have enough workers for each critical position to keep the
line going;
- a factory 's line is at least as slow as its slowest worker

and so on.

last but not least:

- if all the workers at a car factory came to work at the same time
they wouldn't be able to get through the door.