re: #497 Walter L. Newton

We just had a system installed called “QueVision” which actually tries to measure the amount of people circulating through the store and predict how many lanes you need open currently and how many lanes you will need opened (or closed) in the next 30 minutes. So now, if Que tell the managers that there should only be 2 lanes open, and you have 3 cashiers on duty, one cashier should shut down and go do something else, like empty garbage or clean the toilets.

These retail stores are using more and more software modeling systems to predict work flow and production, yet, as a former programmer myself, I can see the numerous holes in these sorts of systems. In the end, it’s the customer who is going to be screwed. In the long run, the company makes more money. Business as usual.

I would imagine somebody has manual input on acceptable queue lengths. In traffic management they use simulation software for calculating traffic progression and levels of service. It’s sometimes to mechanical. I think Chaos Theory needs to be added to the equations.