Increasing reliability and productivity in hypermarkets by queuing theory analysis and a smart shopping cart-based system

Abstract

One of the bothering and unavoidable things in most of the shopping centres is billing. This paper focuses on developing an alternative methodology to the existing one by using time study and queuing theory. With help of results, a new methodology is proposed to increase the productivity, swiftness of shopping. The proposal is to departmentalise the billing process and implant smart billing concepts like localised self initiated billing counters or customised trolleys to bill products. This new study results in time saving in the queuing and billing process. The cart is designed using CREO 2.0 software and made smart with the help of wireless sensing devices. With the burgeoning role of wireless sensing devices such as bar-code scanners, this application can be extended to the consumer market such as a supermarket where manual-billing process becomes cumbersome and at the same time involves a hefty waste of time and labour.