Integrated versus Modular Point of sale Terminal Design: A productivity analysis

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual

1994

Self Cite

There has been a growing body of research over the past several years exploring repetitive behaviors of cashiers in supermarket checkouts. These studies were designed to increase the knowledge about biomechanical and physiologic stressors on the cashier during their most repetitive tasks, scanning products, rather than understand the impact of these tasks on customer service. The research described in this paper summarizes results from over thirty recent studies to determine the corroboration of these findings with the biomechanical research. The results from these productivity analyses showed that when effects of staffing, mixes of transaction sizes and types of tendering are normalized, the Front Facing checkstand was the most productive during the most repetitive tasks, scanning and keying product information, and from the total transaction time. These findings are similar and support those previously reported in the biomechanical research on cashiers using scanners.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Customer Service at the Checkout: Relating Productivity, Ergonomics, and Front-End Management Issues

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual

1994

Self Cite

NCR 7824 Scanner/Scale: An Ergonomic Solution for the Retail Checkout Environment

Proceedings of the Human Factors Society Annual Meeting

1988

Barcode scanning has been instrumental in increasing user productivity and has expanded the capture of product information, and inventory control. The Human Factors Group in NCR has been a major contributor to the design of scanners. The 7824 Scanner/Scale was introduced in 1986. It was designed to provide an ergonomic solution to excessive lifting to weigh produce and meats during the transaction process. This product filled a growing market in customer service; that is to weigh produce and frozen meats within the transaction process rather than require customers to purchase prepackaged fresh foods. The success of the 7824 exceeded expectations because of the influence of ergonomics on market demand. Throughput performances for weighed items improved from 2.1 to 3.4 seconds per item, depending upon workstation configurations. Improvements in throughput are attributed to reductions in physical and psychological workload.

Considerations in the Design of Future Retail Point of Service (POS) Terminal Systems

Proceedings of the Human Factors Society Annual Meeting

1992

Research studies were conducted in three types of retail stores: supermarkets, discount stores, and department stores. The purpose of these studies was to determine how cashiers and associates spend their time servicing customers, the inter-relationships between physical and cognitive workloads, and how these affect system performance. A detailed task analysis of the cashier's activities comparing performances in these stores was completed. Commonalties and differences in task performances were identified and measured. Task performances were grouped into one of three types: physical, POS, and management. The results showed that physical tasks were performed 39% of the total hour in a supermarket, 57% in the discount store, and 25% in the department store. Physical tasks are those most often identified in ergonomic research. Management tasks were more frequent in the department store; these tasks captured redundant information, i.e. tender approval identification that was already available in system files. These results provide a map for identifying and applying macroergonomic research techniques to integrate POS systems with new features into the retail industry.