There are a number of choices available to firms seeking support for their order picking operations. Solutions such as RF scanning, pick to light, and paper picking are used by many firms; but none allow workers to do what they can with a voice-directed solution:  pick with optimal levels of productivity and accuracy.  Following are some comparisons of the various systems that will be helpful in evaluating voice picking.

RF Scanning

RF scanning directed picking achieves neither optimal speed nor accuracy.  While holding an RF scanning device, pickers have only one hand free.  To free their hands to make a pick, workers have to waste time putting the device down and then picking it up again.  Some workers try to continue to hold or balance the device against their body as they make the pick.  This makes them are more prone to drop and damage the product and or the device.   

At the heart of any supply chain is the distribution center. Distribution center operations are mission critical in getting products to point of sale locations or increasingly directly to end customers.  Operational excellence is an imperative as they must be efficient and cost effective while assuring the high levels of customer satisfaction.

Challenges in the Modern Distribution Center

Some of the challenges facing the modern distribution center include controlling and managing inventory, handling more demanding and complex customer requests, product diversification and the emergence and increasing emphasis on e-commerce fulfillment. 

For distribution centers to truly deliver operational excellence, processes need to be optimized.  Because time is money, seconds matter and need to be saved. Technology is increasingly being applied to help do so.  According to an industry survey:

All warehouses, whether they are customer distribution centers or internal operations, are constantly faced with labor challenges that can determine their success or failure. The availability of capable employees, high wages, overtime, long training cycles, and high turnover are all real challenges.  Voice-directed work solutions can go a long way toward helping you meet them and achieve success.

Reduced Costs

The most major expenses of any warehouse operation is that of labor.  Voice-directed work enables workers to be hands–free and eyes–free when executing picking and other tasks.  The system proactively directs their work through verbal commands and requires proper responses for them to proceed.   Because the system focuses them on the task at hand, there is little unproductive downtime and fewer errors. 

As retailers experience growth in the e-commerce portion of their business, they realize challenges that need to be addressed. In order to accommodate e-retail growth, distribution centers need to be properly equipped with the right tools to assure efficient and effective order fulfillment.  Here are a few of the reasons why retailers are increasingly turning to voice-directed picking solutions.  

Enhanced / Optimal Speed and Accuracy

At the end of the day, more customers mean more orders, and more orders mean more work for your distribution center pickers. Thus, enhanced speed and accuracy in order picking is mission critical. Voice-directed solutions facilitate picking verbally via a headset in lieu of paper or the screen and keyboard of an RF scanner.  With voice, your pickers’ are optimally productive.

Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) and voice-directed work solutions often go hand-in-hand as ways to improve the overall operational performance of a distribution center (DC). With that being case, however, one does not need one in order to run the other, and vice versa. Below, we have outlined the most common questions our prospects have when researching both and the factual answers behind each.

Do I need a WMS to run voice?

Many companies think that they need a WMS in place in order to implement a voice-directed picking or other DC workflow solution. This is NOT the case. Robust voice application software such as Vocollect VoiceLink can be easily integrated with ERP or very basic order management systems. In such implementations, the voice system often adds some of the functionality and

We specialize in helping companies make well informed decisions about voice-directed workflow solutions.  Having been around the block a time or two, we have heard all of the most common misperceptions and objections about voice directed work. We listed them below along with how you may be missing some or all of the facts. 

Workforce Environment

Objection: “We have a very diverse workforce where our employees speak with a wide variety of accents, dialects, and languages; voice-directed picking would not work for us.”

Truth: Arguably the most important success factor of a voice picking solution is the accuracyof voice recognition.  This objection is a legitimate concern for some voice-directed work solution offerings – those that use speaker independent recognizers. 

Distribution centers have used voice-directed work systems since the late ’90s. In the past 25 years there have been a number of enhancements to the technology; however, most companies have yet to embrace voice to optimize their operations.   While the benefits of implementing voice are clear to those who have used the technology, they may be not so obvious to those that have never experienced voice-directed picking first-hand. Making a solid business case to upper management for such a significant and impactful change can be challenging without the help of a highly consultative voice solution provider.

Value & ROI Analysis

Being able to project the value and ROI of a voice-directed solution is fundamental to presenting a business case to upper management.  The most compelling business cases are backed by data-driven facts specific to your

Even though customer demands for shorter delivery is always the #1 supply chain pain point - during the holiday season, the supply chain can't be fast enough. Consumers, myself included, won't settle for 2-day delivery and anxiously anticipate the email stating their package has shipped. Even though I work daily discussing how to better optimize the flow of goods through the distribution center with voice solutions and fully understand the pain points of shippers, I still want my items - now. When you're trying to manage in high season and goods aren't delivered on time or (even worse) incorrectly, the unhappy voice of the customer reasonates even louder. So, when things slow down and you reflect on the successes and the obstacles from 2013 - remember technology drives operational excellence. But not just technology for technology's sake, a real holistic thinking shift on how voice technology along with optimized processes can yield a much more efficient and effective distribution center.

Voice is truly an impact technology within the supply chain. It's features provide bottom line results and is the status quo within the grocery industry, where achieving the perfect order is mandatory. Best in class operations mandate corporate initiatives to run lean and effective, leveraging technology-such as voice solutions-to optimize their operations. With picking and replenishment accounting for 70% of operating costs within a distribution center, those areas continue to be a top priority for distribution professionals for optimization. Voice and mobile devices have emerged as two of the most valuable technology tools for supply chain operations and in doing so have fused yet one more link on the high growth “visible supply chain.”

250 senior supply chain and distribution center managers were surveyed in North America and Europe, by research company Vanson Bourne, to discover current views on distribution center trends and challenges. Results show, 79% of managers are tasked to find cost savings within their existing operations, you know the old adage "do more with less"...