BuySeasons is a major online retailer of costumes, accessories, seasonal décor, and party supplies. Product offerings include costumes for adults, boys and girls, makeup, jewelry, wigs, masks, party favors, and party tableware. The Company operates from a 380,000 square foot operations and distribution facility in New Berlin, WI. In addition to its own eCommerce customers, BuySeasons also fulfills eCommerce orders from major retailers including Walmart, Amazon, Target, and JCPenny.
Prior to the installation of the FastFetch technology, BuySeasons employed 100 voice-based picking units supplemented with RF guns which made their picking process labor intensive. The problems with these voice-based units were long training times, misrecognition due to the noisy warehouse environment and poor picking speeds due to the requirement to speak confirmation check digits while picking. Scanners were added to their voice units to reduce the number of times check digits were spoken but batch (multiple order) picking was still unacceptably slow since multiple scans were then required.
The legacy picking strategy deployed at BuySeasons separated orders into two classes: Baggable orders (e.g., costumes) and non-baggable orders (e.g., party supplies). The non-baggable items were picked directly into shipping cartons; however, no optimization was used to decide which orders should go into each batch so a typical batch cart had to travel through almost all aisles of the large picking area to pick products. The baggable items were picked and transported to a packing station for bagging and labeling for shipping. Single- item orders were picked in bulk, one SKU per batch, and then matched to order invoices, one-by-one, during picking. Multiline baggable orders were picked into totes in non-optimized batches. Because their business is highly seasonable, BuySeasons needed to employ approximately 600 associates—most of them temporary workers—to meet peak order fulfillment requirements in the two months before Halloween. After the peak season, most of the associates were terminated as workload fell back to normal levels.
Faced with having to hire and train a large number of seasonal, temporary employees and the relatively low picking rates achievable with voice picking, BuySeasons began exploring alternative picking technologies capable of providing significantly higher performance in their order fulfillment processes. BuySeasons would have to continue to rely heavily on temporary workers unless they could find a solution that would at least double picking productivity. Even with fewer temporary workers, training time remained a key consideration, so it was important to find a system that enabled temporary workers to achieve high productivity rates quickly with minimal training time. After evaluating several alternative order fulfillment systems, BuySeasons selected FastFetch's cart-based, batch-picking system that integrates voice output, barcode scanning, and lightdirected putting technologies into a single system. In addition to the high labor cost of hiring many seasonal pickers during their busy season and having to train those pickers each year, new distribution centers in the area (including one for Amazon) tightened the labor market and made it increasingly difficult to recruit enough temporary workers to meet order demands at peak season and then terminate them shortly thereafter. Several factors complicated these issues, including long training times for voice picking, lack of batch optimization, and nondense storage areas containing a high number of large SKU locations. Furthermore, most full-time permanent employees who picked orders during the offseason had to be serve as auditors to check temporary pickers' work for accuracy. Varied order profiles also required different picking methodologies and had to be waved separately.
FastFetch Corporation and Ascension Logistics teamed to create a solution incorporating changes to the BuySeasons WMS (Ascension) and new strategies and technologies in their picking processes (FastFetch). After analyzing BuySeasons' historical order data, FastFetch concluded that orders should be partitioned into three distinct classes: single-item baggable orders, non-baggable orders, and multi-item baggable orders. The BuySeasons WMS was modified to flag each order with its class, so the FastFetch software could automatically optimize and batch orders in these classes.
Single-item baggable orders were observed to constitute the majority of orders. This observation led to the conclusion that substantial efficiency gains could be achieved by deploying a 2-Phase picking strategy. Phase 1 of this strategy uses a cart (with attached tablet PC) loaded with totes to gather SKUs in bulk for each batch of singleitem, baggable orders. This Phase 1 process requires a single trip through a large storage area to pick SKUs for hundreds of orders. Phase 2 of the strategy is conducted at the packing station by scanning the barcode on a single-SKU tote with product gather in Phase 1 and printing a set of invoices equal to the number of items in the single-SKU tote. Packing is completed by placing an invoice for an order on top of a single item from the tote and placing both onto a conveyor that moves the invoice under a fixed beam scanner. The scanner reads the invoice barcode immediately before inserting both the invoice and item into a mailing bag. The information scanned is then used to print a shipping label for the customer on the outside of the bag. Any difference between invoice counts and tote contents signals an error that is resolved by supervisors.
Non-baggable orders are picked into shipping boxes, with light direction, utilizing optimized batch carts carrying multiple orders. Up to 24 orders are picked in a single trip through the picking area, with similar orders batched together to minimize total walking time. The FastFetch software assigns different sized boxes to cart shelves in a way that minimizes wasted shelf space, thereby increasing the cart's box density.
Multi-item baggable orders are picked in the same way as non-baggable orders, but in distinct batches in order to attain better cart container densities. These orders are picked, with light direction, into multi-compartment trays containing customer invoices. The trays are delivered to the bagging area, and the items in each compartment are placed onto a conveyor and the invoice placed on top of the items. Using the same process described for single item baggable orders, the invoice and items are moved down a conveyor where the invoice barcode is scanned, the invoice and items are automatically inserted into a mailing bag, and a customer label is printed on the mailing bag.
While the three distinct classes of orders are best handled using somewhat different picking strategies, all three picking strategies can use the same carts. FastFetch optimizes the batches to minimize walk time between picks. With this optimization, bulk-picking carts typically visit only 1 or 2 aisles to complete picking the batch, thereby greatly reducing walking distance and greatly improving picking efficiency in the large picking area.
During last peak season we were able to ship 34% more orders with 15% less labor in our single biggest day. We now have plans to scale back from 3 full shifts down to 1 12-hour shift during our next peak season.
Significant improvements in picking rates were achieved at BuySeasons after incorporating FastFetch's order-fulfillment solutions into their operations. The chart below shows picking rates achieved before and after installation of FastFetch technology for the average over all pickers, the average of the top five pickers and the best hour for the best picker. As shown in the chart, FastFetch's high-speed picking technology and batch optimization strategy more than tripled the average picking rate from 38 lines/hr. to 132 lines/hr. Moreover, the top five pickers, who performed significantly better than the average, also tripled their picking rates after the FastFetch technology was installed.
With the FastFetch technology, the average picker now achieves picking rates that are nearly double the rate previously achieved by the top pickers. Direct labor costs varied between full-time and temporary associates, but at a direct labor cost of $15/hour, the increase in the average pick rate from 38 to 132 picks per hour lowered the average direct labor cost from 39 cents per pick to just 11 cents. On BuySeasons' busiest day in 2016, before installing the FastFetch system, 29,000 orders were shipped with 200 associates working in outbound (including pickers, packers, auditors, loaders, etc). Using the FastFetch system in 2017, BuySeasons' busiest day only required 175 associates to ship more than 47,000 orders, resulting in an 85% increase in productivity. BuySeasons was also able to replace 100 voice-based units with 40 FastFetch pick carts resulting in significantly higher reliability and annual license renewal savings.
What Makes FastFetch Right for BuySeasons?
FastFetch's multimodal picking technology integrates voice, barcode scanning, and light directed putting displays into a single system. Voice output directs the picker to the pick location and informs the picker of the pick quantity. Barcode scanning, using a hand-free, finger attached, ring scanner, is used to confirm that the correct product is picked, and lighted numerical displays on the carts highlight the location for each required put. The three technologies working together enable the picker to fulfill multiple orders simultaneously in a hands-free, eyes-up manner without having to look at a RF terminal display or a piece of paper. Reliability is high since the FastFetch lighted displays contain no mechanical parts. Unlike the lighted displays from other vendors that contain mechanical buttons to confirms picks or puts, the FastFetch lighted displays contain a light sensitive proximity sensor that is triggered by waving a hand or object within one inch of a flashing LED on the display. FastFetch's multimodal picking strategy yields quick and accurate picking with minimal training. New pickers are typically trained and capable of production picking in 10 minutes or less.
Before the actual picking process begins, FastFetch employs a proprietary optimization algorithm to assign collections of orders to carts in a way that minimizes the total walking time over all carts used to fulfill a wave of orders. The result of the assignment is that orders on each cart tend to have substantial commonality among the SKU's required and the SKU's required are stored in relatively close proximity to each other. This means that pickers must walk a much shorter distance than might otherwise be required to retrieve required items. Additionally, since the optimization algorithm assigns orders to carts having much commonality among the SKU's required, further efficiencies are gained by picking multiple items of the same SKU and distributing those items into cartons as directed by the light displays adjacent to locations on the carts.
As mentioned earlier, an analysis of BuySeasons' order profile revealed that a sizable portion of orders in a typical wave consisted of a single, baggable item. The ideal strategy for fulfilling single-item orders utilizes a 2-Phase strategy. Phase 1 of the strategy retrieves needed SKUs for many orders in bulk and then places them into separate totes (one SKU per tote) on a cart.
feeding both the item and invoice into a machine that scans the invoice, bags the product and invoice, and prints the appropriate shipping label directly on the bag.
Since each cart has 24 product locations, each cart can transport multiple units of 24 distinct SKU's. This means that an individual picker can quickly retrieve products for perhaps several hundred orders on a single trip through the picking area.
This was the smoothest installation I have ever experienced.
FastFetch's patented picking technologies are versatile enough to adapt to any picking situation. The team analyzed BuySeasons' specific challenges and requirements to configure and deploy a picking solution using multiple picking strategies to meet their needs and exceed expectations within a constrained timeframe. BuySeasons needed to reduce the cost and time spent training new pickers to deal with the traditional pain points of any seasonal picking operation. The performance improvements FastFetch provided further reduced order fulfillment stresses by allowing them to recruit, hire, train, and employ fewer temporary workers to handle their short, peak order season. The entire system was installed, tested, and placed into production in less than 30 days.


If you know you'll need access to data while traveling, obtaining a SIM card from a local provider is the way to go. CREDO Mobile does not offer international data, and you'll find that it is inexpensive and easy to purchase a SIM card for international use once you've arrived at your destination.
If you decide this is the way to go, please note that you will be paying another service provider for your text, voice and data usage, not CREDO Mobile. While you are using a local SIM card, your CREDO Mobile number will not be in use.
It's best to buy your SIM card from a confirmed carrier retail location. This will allow you to ask carrier representatives questions and receive any additional support you may need.
Insert your SIM card properly. Different devices require different SIM sizes. Check out this short video on how to select the right SIM, and insert it into your device.
Be sure to retain your CREDO Mobile SIM card. You'll need to re-insert it once you return to the United States in order to resume your CREDO service.


text:
Q: Minifilter Driver and System cache. Unable to write to physical disk First of all, this is not about memory mapped file.
I implemented minifilter driver from ms minifilter sample "swapbuffer".
And successfully swapped some specific data when IRP_MJ_WRITE is passed in.
But when the system cache is emptied (i.e, reboot) all swapped buffer was not applied to the file.
I checked right after buffer swapped and It was perfectly swapped.
But after I empty the system cache, Its gone.
How is this possible?
Minifilter driver can't change anything to the buffer to write on disk?
I dont know exactly but I can guess that this is about the windows cache and memory manager. But must it apply the swapped content when its cache is being empty?
Im gonna read the book "NT file system internal" to find out, but anyone in here may be able to show me the the reason.

A: Now I can tell for sure. The reason why I failed to alter the buffer contents was my stupid encryption algorithm plus my ignorance about cache manager. When I copy the file, writing operation occurs twice. To physical disk, and to the cache. I dont know which one comes first yet. :p My encryption algorithm was just simply doing bit wise operation. So if it does that twice, its just decrypted plain text. That was the problem.
So I altered code to encrypt on irp that writes to physical disk, IRP_NOCACHE, it works as I meant it would be.
U wont even imagine how I hated myself for this stupidity.
Tons of articles were aleady on Osr.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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As many Disney fans know, the Walt Disney Resorts offer their own way of allowing guests to own a piece of the magic. The Disney Vacation Club allows individuals and families to purchase what is considered a time share type option for you to take Disney vacations. The Disney Vacation Club or DVC as many call it offers a variety of resort locations and room sizes to accommodate pretty much any size party from resorts that sleep 5 to villas that can sleep up to twelve. The DVC perks offer so much flexibility when it comes to rooms, sizes and locations that many people decide to purchase these to enjoy their Disney vacations year to year. There are resort locations on the monorail routes if you prefer to utilize the monorails for your transportation needs to Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. Or you can pick a resort that is closer to the non-monorail parks if you plan on spending more time at Animal Kingdom or Disney's Hollywood Studios.
DVC members also enjoy many other perks such as discounts in the parks, discounts on meals and early access to events. With the DVC membership there are also DVC lounges in many of the parks for guests to go relax, charge their phones and have a cup of coffee or soft drink. Other benefits for DVC members is the ability to bank points for the next year's vacation, you can borrow points from the next year if the rest of the family decides to join you and you need a bigger room, you can even add on vacation points to upgrade resorts or even transfer points to other DVC members. DVC points are also available for use in other Disney locations that aren't part of the Florida or California resorts. Cruises, Aulani, Vero Beach and Hilton Head have rooms for DVC members. Even the Adventures by Disney trips have options to use your Disney Vacation Club ownership.
The best and easiest way to get started learning about the Disney Vacation Club is to go online to the Disney Vacation club website and order the free information video. This video gives those interested so much information that will help decide if ownership in DVC is right for you. Once you have decided you can go online and chat with a cast member if you have more questions. Finally you can contact the 800 number on the website to begin your magical DVC membership. There is also a list of destinations on the website to learn about all the locations available for DVC members. With so many options available for DVC, you can easily chose the right option for you and your family. There is nothing more magical than arriving at your home resort for a family vacation at the most magical place on earth!


JOHNSON COUNTY, Ind. — Johnson County authorities are investigating several individuals for possible involvement in a car theft and attempted home burglary.
Dawn Whitaker reported her 17-year old son's 1996 red Jaguar stolen from their driveway in the Buckmoor Manor subdivision Tuesday morning. Whitaker told police her son had left the car unlocked with the keys inside. The thieves also got away with her son's wallet, golf clubs, Center Grove Schools iPad and other school materials, which were in the car at the time.
The family's garage door opener was also in the car when it was stolen.
Later that afternoon, Whitaker says she was at home when she heard the garage door go up and the door leading into their house open. Thinking her son had come home, she called out to him. But nobody answered.
When Whitaker ran downstairs to see who was in the house, she says the garage door was closing again and the person had run off. She never got a look at the person or whether they were in a vehicle or on foot.
"I will never go unprotected again. Next time I go to run downstairs and I don't know who it is, I'll have a gun," she said.
A few hours after the garage door incident, a Johnson County Sheriff's Deputy reported seeing the stolen Jaguar traveling southbound on Morgantown Road near Smith Valley Road. The deputy initiated a traffic stop after the driver pulled east onto Russell, a short distance away. Police say Michael Totty, 37, got out of the car and told deputies he had been asked by someone else to drive the car to a nearby residence to pick up marijuana for a friend. Totty reportedly said he knew something was suspicious about the car because of a pair of rubber gloves inside the vehicle.
Totty was arrested and taken to the Johnson County Jail. But it's not yet clear if Totty is the person who stole the Jaguar from the Whitaker home, or tried to get into the house through the garage.
Cox says the investigation has led to a second individual who may be involved.
Cox says his department has also apprehended a third individual after a homeowner in the Highland Park subdivision reported an attempted break-in there Wednesday morning. It's possible that person could also be involved, but authorities won't be able to say for sure until each individual has been interviewed and the investigation is complete, Cox said.
Whitaker says the whole situation has changed her mind set about home security.
"If you want to keep your family safe and your property safe, the best thing to do is to take that garage door opener in with you during the evening hours," Cox said.


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text:
from fnmatch import fnmatch
import os
import shutil
from tarfile import TarFile
from zipfile import ZipFile

from .base import BasePackager
from .downloader import Downloader

# Standard Library is not very standard.
class ArchiveFileWrapper(object):
    blacklist = ('.DS_Store', "*.pyc", "__MACOSX/*")

    def __init__(self, template_name):
        self.template_name = template_name

    def is_blacklisted(self, member_name):
        for blacklisted in self.blacklist:
            if fnmatch(member_name, blacklisted):
                return True
        return False

    def extract_members(self, download_dir):
        pardir = os.path.pardir + os.path.sep
        curdir = os.path.curdir + os.path.sep

        members = self.names()
        for member in members:
            if self.is_blacklisted(member):
                continue

            if member.startswith(curdir) or member.startswith(pardir) or member.startswith(os.path.sep):
                raise RuntimeError("Archive is unsafe.")

            if member.split(os.path.sep)[0].startswith(self.template_name):
                try:
                    outfile = os.path.sep.join(member.split(os.path.sep)[1:])
                except IndexError:
                    continue
            else:
                outfile = member
            outpath = os.path.join(download_dir, outfile)

            if not outpath.endswith(os.path.sep):
                parent_dir = os.path.dirname(outpath)
                if not os.path.exists(parent_dir):
                    os.makedirs(parent_dir)
                with open(outpath, 'w') as fh:
                    fh.write(self.extract_file(member).read())

class ZipFileWrapper(ArchiveFileWrapper):
    def __init__(self, fh, *args, **kwargs):
        self.archive = ZipFile(fh)
        super(ZipFileWrapper, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)

    def extract_file(self, *args, **kwargs):
        return self.archive.open(*args, **kwargs)

    def names(self):
        return self.archive.namelist()

class TarFileWrapper(ArchiveFileWrapper):
    def __init__(self, fh, *args, **kwargs):
        self.archive = TarFile(fileobj=fh)
        super(TarFileWrapper, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)

    def extract_file(self, *args, **kwarg):
        return self.archive.extractfile(*args, **kwarg)

    def names(self):
        return self.archive.getnames()

class PackageExtractor(BasePackager):
    extract_dir = None

    def __init__(self, settings, url, template_name):
        self.template_name = template_name
        self.url = url
        super(PackageExtractor, self).__init__(settings)

    def download(self):
        response = Downloader.download(self.url)

        if self.url.endswith('.zip'):
            self.archive = ZipFileWrapper(response, self.template_name)
        elif self.url.endswith('.tgz'):
            self.archive = TarFileWrapper(response, self.template_name)
        elif self.url.endswith('.tar.gz'):
            self.archive = TarFileWrapper(response, self.template_name)

    def get_extract_dir(self):
        return os.path.join(self.settings['support_dir'], 'CACHE', self.template_name)

    def extract(self, destination=None, archive=None):
        if destination is None:
            self.extract_dir = destination = self.get_extract_dir()

        if not os.path.exists(destination):
            self.download()

            os.makedirs(destination)
            if archive is None:
                archive = self.archive
            archive.extract_members(destination)

    def cleanup(self):
        if self.extract_dir is not None:
            shutil.rmtree(self.extract_dir)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub