Logistics Viewpoints

A complete analysis of logistics trends, technologies, and services

3 Myths About Voice-Warehouse Management System Integration

Warehouse Management Systems | By •

One of the first things people ask when investigating voice picking and other mobile applications for their DC is “how will the new applications work with my existing systems?” There are 3 common myths when it comes to adding new voice solutions to existing host or warehouse management systems (WMS):

  1. The Legacy Myth – You need a Tier 1 WMS to use voice-directed mobile applications so you should replace your custom-built systems or upgrade your legacy WMS package before looking at other solutions.
  2. The Integration Myth – Adding new mobile applications to a WMS requires complex custom integration work.
  3. The All-In-One WMS Myth – A WMS voice module provides all the benefits of a best-in-breed warehouse optimization solution at a lower cost.

The Legacy Myth

The myth here holds that voice-directed mobile applications can only be added to a Tier 1 WMS, and that if you have a home-grown inventory system or an older ERP or WMS package, you should install a new WMS before you think about new mobile apps.

The fact is that most DCs have installed voice-directed mobile applications with host or legacy packages and made the decision later whether to upgrade to a new WMS. The ‘mobile-first’ approach is actually more cost-effective and makes the WMS transition easier for users.

Warehouse management software packages are progressively growing a foothold in DCs of all sizes, but many DCs continue to use custom-developed, host-based inventory systems or older, legacy WMS or ERP packages. Contrary to what you may have heard from some in the industry, legacy systems are not an impediment to installing new mobile work applications.

The main driver for replacing paper or RF-based processes with voice-directed mobile applications is to improve the accuracy and efficiency of picking and other hands-on processes, but there are additional benefits available in mobile work solutions. These “orchestration” solutions provide highly configurable, flexible, and efficient workflows that combine voice, scanning and displays, in addition to real-time management tools such as workflow management, exception reporting, and productivity tracking. These management tools often fill gaps in existing systems, giving managers better insight and control of their operations.

By filling these gaps, a new mobile solution often prolongs the life and value of host or legacy systems. And the productivity and accuracy gains achieved with new applications deliver ongoing cost savings that help companies pay for their larger, longer-term WMS upgrades or replacements.

Additionally, with today’s challenges in hiring and retaining hourly workers, the voice-directed solution has been proven to reduce training time for new associates, making it easier for the new worker to learn the job, and more importantly, to meet or exceed the expectations of the position. By making the job “easier to learn and do”, the new associate can feel greater job satisfaction, and will be easier to retain.

Another overlooked advantage of adding mobile applications to a legacy system is that this approach can simplify the transition to a new WMS in the future. When the WMS is replaced, the voice-directed processes for workers can remain the same, minimizing training and ramp up time.

Given the short time it takes to install new mobile applications (3-4 months) and their rapid return on investment (often less than one year), most companies install voice-directed mobile applications ahead of purchasing a new WMS. If your current system meets your inventory management and planning needs, a robust warehouse optimization solution can immediately improve your hands-on processes, fill management and visibility gaps in existing systems, and even ease your transition to a new WMS in the future.

The Integration Myth

This myth proposes that integrating mobile applications with existing WMS or host systems requires custom programming that is difficult, costly, and risky. What’s true in this case is that standards-based integration technologies and mature WMS application interfaces minimize the complexity, cost and risks of adding voice and mobile applications to an existing WMS or host.

While this myth had some veracity in the early years of voice-directed applications, the software industry has adopted open, standards-based integration technologies that reduce the cost and risk of application integration. Most WMS packages delivered over the past decade include pre-defined interfaces for exchanging data with other systems. Most mobile solutions include pre-defined WMS connectors and data mapping utilities that simplify host and WMS integration. While standard application interfaces may need to be configured to support a given DC, the risks, costs and complexity of WMS integration are significantly less than they were when custom coded interfaces were the norm.

This is not to say that integration is a non-issue, but the truth is, it’s more like taking a coast-to-coast flight than landing on Mars.

The All-In-One Myth

The all-in-one myth says that the WMS vendor’s standard voice add-on provides all the functionality of a best-in-breed warehouse optimization solution, without the integration costs. Voice-enabled WMS packages typically include limited voice functionality and workflows, and the WMS system may not be able to deliver the capabilities of best-in-breed optimization solutions without extensive, expensive customization.

In addition to standard interfaces or APIs, many WMS vendors also offer a standard voice add-on module (a mobile voice application) in partnership with voice or mobile application providers (including Lucas Systems). In these WMS voice add-ons, the WMS controls the underlying workflow. These direct voice modules may provide a viable alternative to installing a full-featured, self-contained voice or work execution solution in some situations. To make that determination, you should evaluate the capabilities of the add-on module versus other mobile applications, as well as the ability to change workflows and processes to adapt to changing requirements.

First, you should closely evaluate the capabilities and workflows supported by the WMS to determine if it will meet your current needs, and if so, the extent of customization needed to do so. Most WMS voice modules merely lay voice on top of existing RF picking workflows and do not deliver the full efficiency and accuracy benefits possible with a more optimized voice-directed workflow.

Another important consideration in comparing a WMS voice add-on versus more comprehensive warehouse optimization solutions is the extent to which either solution allows you to adapt your processes and workflows. Industry-leading warehouse optimization solutions include robust, web-based tools to configure workflows to address differences among products (such as different units of measure), customer requirements, or other process variables. These tools allow DC managers to optimize the hands-on process according to their specific needs, with no customization. Achieving similar functionality in a WMS add-on solution would require extensive customization of the WMS.

Instead of treating voice as a standard WMS add-on, you should approach the decision about voice and mobile applications as you would any other investment decision, by considering more than one alternative. Compare the base features of your WMS vendor’s voice module to those of more robust work execution solutions, identify significant gaps, and estimate the operational costs of those gaps. Also compare the costs to implement, customize, and maintain the WMS voice module versus the costs to implement other solutions. The costs and time to customize a direct WMS solution may be greater than the costs to implement a best-in-breed warehouse optimization solution providing richer configuration options and better operational results.

To sum it all up, application integration is an important consideration in any software or IT decision, but there are a number of myths and misperceptions around connecting new voice and warehouse optimization solutions with existing warehouse systems. The reality is that advancing standards and pre-defined interfaces and connectors significantly reduce the risks and costs of adding mobile apps to new or old host, WMS or other systems. Leading warehouse optimization solutions include flexible integration options so you can add new mobile apps to any system, no matter how old or new, basic or robust, cloud-based or hosted on site.

With these solutions you can choose a direct interface to any Tier 1 WMS, or add new modular tools to fill gaps in current systems. Furthermore, DCs with legacy packages or host-based inventory systems may have the most to gain from adding optimization solutions before tackling a larger, longer-term WMS upgrade. Robust, best-in-breed optimization solutions can immediately improve your hands-on processes, fill management and visibility gaps in exiting systems, and even ease your future transition to a new WMS.

**

WMSDan Keller, Senior Consultant at Lucas Systems, has been designing and delivering innovative software solutions for warehouses and distribution centers for 30+ years. As an early evangelist for voice technology, he has participated in dozens of industry-first implementations of voice and other technologies in industries spanning food and beverage, retail, healthcare, industrial supply, and manufacturing. He has held roles in sales, marketing, solutions design and delivery during his 20+ years at Lucas Systems and is a frequent speaker at supply chain and logistics conferences.

Google Glass, Augmented Reality, and the Warehouse

Logistics Technologies | By •

Google Glass is Google’s project to create augmented reality glasses. If you are not familiar with Google Glass, instead of me trying to explain it with words, watch this short video of the technology in action. Google Glass is being designed for consumers, but the first clear business application may occur in warehouses.

Knapp AG has created augmented reality glasses for the warehouse. Knapp is a material handling and logistics software solution provider headquartered in Austria. The company’s KiSoft Vision solution is very analogous to the way Voice Recognition works in the warehouse, except that instead of having verbal prompts for tasks, the prompts are visual. Again, watching a short video of Knapp’s solution in action is the best way to understand how it works.

There are critics who say Google Glass “doesn’t yet have a clear reason for being and may degrade reality rather than augment it.” But augmented reality glasses do seem to serve a clear business purpose in the warehouse.

For large mixed case pallet building warehouses, state of the art performance is currently driven by a combination of Voice, smart AGVs, and WMS. Knapp also provides these technologies, but the company is currently conducting tests with beta users to see if replacing the Voice solution with KiSoft Vision will improve performance.

Augmented reality glasses may exceed the performance of Voice in a couple of scenarios. First, if products require extra scans to capture lot or serial codes, capturing those codes with the vision system may be faster. Second, pallet building optimization would probably work far better with augmented reality glasses than other types of solutions. Pallet building optimization is based upon showing a worker how to most effectively stack cases on a pallet to maximize cube, insure light items are not crushed, and meet case grouping objectives.

We don’t yet know if augmented reality glasses will outperform voice recognition. But I must say, this technology is very cool and I applaud Knapp for its innovativeness.

Supply Chain and Logistics Predictions for 2013

Business Intelligence | By •

Predicting the future has never been easy. Back in 1943, Tom Watson, the president of IBM at the time, said “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” And in 1995, Robert Metcalfe, the founder of 3Com and the co-inventor of Ethernet, made this astonishing prediction:

“Almost all of the many predictions now being made about 1996 hinge on the Internet’s continuing exponential growth. But I predict the Internet will soon go spectacularly supernova and in 1996 catastrophically collapse.”

Two years later, Mr. Metcalfe literally ate his words by putting a printed copy of the article where he made that prediction in a blender, then he added some liquid and drank the resulting mix from a bowl.

The bottom line is that even great leaders and innovators like Tom Watson, Robert Metcalfe, and many others don’t always get it right when it comes to envisioning the future. Steve and I take comfort in knowing that if we are completely wrong about our predictions for 2013, we’ll at least be in great company.

Adrian’s Predictions

The biggest challenge with making supply chain and logistics predictions is keeping the list short because there is so much going on in this field. Nonetheless, here’s my abridged list:

1. Big Data, Social Media, Cloud Computing, and Mobile Technologies will continue to dominate the headlines. These are such dominating trends that you can easily take this prediction and break it down into a dozen or more. Simply put, if you look at all of the press releases issued by technology companies over the past two years, the majority of them dealt with one or more of these trends. And we’ll see more of the same in 2013 and beyond, with the greatest innovation coming from the convergence of these four trends. Here are some quick thoughts on each:

Big Data: continued progress with predictive analytics and sentiment analysis, continued challenges with data quality.

Social Media: more startups, more acquisitions, more case studies.

Cloud Computing: the biggest value will come from B2B connectivity and the insights derived from network-level data and analytics.

Mobile Technologies: tablets and smartphones are quickly becoming the preferred computing platform for business professionals, and we’ll see more enterprise applications designed and optimized for these devices in the years ahead.

2. User Interfaces for Supply Chain Apps Will Get a Social Makeover. Software vendors will transform the look and feel of their user interfaces by adding capabilities similar to Facebook and Google + (think of creating “Circles” of your carriers, suppliers, customers, and even other shippers), Twitter (to send short status messages), and Dropbox (for sharing purchase orders, invoices and carrier credential documents). The Holy Grail is a user interface that allows a person to access business intelligence information, execute transactions, and communicate/collaborate with others (via embedded email, chat, microblogging, video calls, and VOIP) all from a single screen.

3. “Siri” Comes to Enterprise Apps. Instead of manually executing tasks with a mouse or touch screen, why not speak them? We already see this in the consumer realm with smartphones, and in the warehouse too with voice picking technologies. It’s only a question of time before speech recognition gets embedded into other enterprise and supply chain applications. A TMS user, for example, can say to the system, “Show me all uncovered loads,” or an inventory manager can ask, “Which stores have less than three days inventory of product X?” and up come the results on the screen. To get a sense of how quickly speech recognition technology is progressing, check out this informative Microsoft video where Chief Research Officer Rick Rashid demonstrates a speech recognition breakthrough that converts his spoken English words into computer-generated Chinese language in near real time.

4. The Robots Keep Coming. Amazon’s acquisition of Kiva was one of the biggest stories this year, which basically underscored the changing nature of automation in the warehouse. But robots and automation are playing a bigger role in other areas too, such as the rise of driverless cars and the use of robots to track inventory in stores. Where does that leave us humans? As Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee from MIT state in their book, Race Against the Machine, “Our technologies are racing ahead but many of our skills and organizations are lagging behind. So it’s urgent that we understand these phenomena, discuss their implications, and come up with strategies that allow human workers to race ahead with machines instead of racing against them.”

5. Continued Focus by Retailers and Service Providers on Innovating the Final Mile. Amazon, Walmart, Google, eBay, and USPS all launched or ramped up their efforts to provide same-day delivery to consumers this year (see “On Amazon’ Quest for Same Day Delivery,” “Google, Same-Day Delivery, and Container Tracking,” and the WSJ article, “Same-Day Delivery Becomes a Costly Web Battleground”). Earlier this month, Google acquired BufferBox, which provides lockers for customers to receive packages from online e-commerce retailers (very similar to Amazon Locker). Couple this trend with urbanization and omni-channel retailing, and you can see why innovating “final mile delivery” will remain a priority for retailers and service providers in the years ahead. Optimization and mobile technologies will play an important role here, as will couriers and public transportation.

6. Further Blurring of the Lines Between 3PLs, Tech Providers, and Consultants. Over the past few years, we’ve seen 3PLs offering technology-only solutions to customers, software vendors introducing managed services, and consultants offering technology and managed services in addition to their standard project-based services. As I said in a recent posting, a successful 3PL today is an operations manager, a consultant, and a technology provider all rolled into one. You can say the same thing for software vendors and consultants.

7. Increased Adoption of Alternative Fuel Vehicles. Frito-Lay, UPS, Ryder, Sunny Delight, FedEx, Waste Management, Staples, AT&T, and Mohawk Industries are among the many companies that have started using alternative fuel vehicles — including natural gas, electric, and hybrids — in their transportation operations. The rising cost of diesel and sustainability goals have been the main driving forces, and they’ll continue to lead other companies in this direction in the months and years ahead.

8. More Programs and Partnerships to Address the Talent Shortage Problem. There is a shortage of supply chain and logistics talent in the industry. One way to address this problem is for companies to partner with local universities and community colleges to create training programs that align with their talent requirements. The partnership between TNT Express and Tilburg University is one example. Other examples include the AllianceTexas logistics park and its partnership with the Tarrant County College Corporate Training Center, which trains people to become certified logistics associates (CLA) and certified logistics technicians (CLT), and the partnership between MIT and the Zaragoza Logistics Center in Spain. Software vendors are also donating their solutions to colleges and even high schools to give students hands-on experience using supply chain and logistics software before entering the workforce.

——

Steve’s Predictions

Omni-channel retail is a trend we have been talking about for a few years, prematurely for the most part. Retailers, particularly big box retailers, are facing pressure from two directions — Walmart’s low prices and Amazon’s e-commerce driven convenience. This year several of these retailers began reinventing themselves by embracing omni-channel commerce, which aims to deliver a seamless consumer shopping experience through all available channels — i.e., mobile devices, personal computers, bricks-and-mortar stores, catalogs, and so forth. For omni-channel to be successful, retailers need to address the appallingly bad inventory accuracy that exists at many stores. For years, retailers have bought automatic identification (AutoID) solutions to improve inventory accuracy in their warehouses. Next year retailers will make big investments in AutoID solutions to use in their stores.

When a solution provider has done something particularly innovative or successful, you can be sure that others will do the same. These types of predictions are easier to make, and here are two that fall in this category:

This year Infor (an ARC client) took a real step forward with its innovative new user interface. The Infor solution blends traditional process flows, in-line analytics, and logical opt-in social community groups. Social media is something that many logistics professionals still struggle with, but I suspect that many of them who view the Infor solution will be as impressed as I was. I believe we will see other software vendors providing the sincerest form of flattery by copying the look and feel of Infor’s user interface.

Kiva is another successful company that others will copy. This material handling robotics firm was purchased at a high price by Amazon. We are already seeing material handling firms making questionable assertions that they also provide robotic solutions. But I think we will see innovative new autonomous, mobile robotic solutions emerge and gain traction in the coming year.

Now here are a few predictions that I am certain of, although it might take longer than a year for them to come true.

Mobile and autonomous robots will change the layout and look of warehouses. Traditional warehouses have 40 foot ceilings; robots can operate in facilities with much lower ceilings or even in multi-floor buildings. I believe we will begin to see traditional strip malls bought and modified (by adding new truck doors) into robotic warehouse facilities. This will often prove to be much cheaper than building a brand new warehouse.

The biggest optimization hole in logistics is around the difficulty of arranging for collaborative, multi-party backhauls. Too many trucks still go out full and come back empty. I believe transportation management systems with a multitenant architecture and new LinkedIn-style logistics communities will begin to provide us with a real solution to this problem.

—–

So, do you agree or disagree with our predictions? What predictions are on your list? Post a comment and let us know!

Editor’s Note: You can watch a video of Adrian discussing his 2013 supply chain and logistics predictions at Talking Logistics.

An “Undercover Boss” Works in a Warehouse

Labor | By •

I had never watched an episode of the popular television show “Undercover Boss,” but when I saw in a commercial that they were taking their cameras inside a warehouse, I decided to tune in. Sam Taylor, the CEO of Oriental Trading Company (OTC), posed as a new warehouse employee. OTC is the nation’s largest direct-to-consumer retailer of party supplies. Direct-to-consumer distribution centers (DCs) require a high volume of unit picks, unlike most other DCs that specialize in case and pallet picking.

I watched the show as a logistician. Initially, I was impressed. This was a highly-automated warehouse with miles of conveyors, advanced sortation systems, and pack stations.

The first task Sam is given is to pick oversize items that are too large for their conveyors. Sam is directed by a voice recognition system, Lucas Systems’ Jennifer solution, to the correct slot where he picks the item, confirms the pick verbally to the Jennifer system, and puts the item on the cart. Voice recognition is a proven hands-free technology that can speed picking.

But the Jennifer system was giving commands at such a high rate that it sounded like gibberish to me. I had no idea these systems could be cranked up to such a ridiculous pace. Sam was overwhelmed by the system, as any new employee would be.

The pace violates a key axiom of fair labor practices. The goal of a fair labor management system is to get employees to work at a steady pace consistently throughout the course of the day. Engineered labor standards are developed to ensure that if a picker works efficiently and steadily, they can hit their goal for the day. Often companies will give bonuses to workers if they can work faster than the standard pace. OTC has a bonus structure. However, it appeared to me that the standard pace developed by OTC was not based on engineered labor standards.

Sam next gets to work as a truck loader. The trucks were floor loaded to ensure the trailer space was fully utilized. This is hot, physical work. It can also be dangerous. People that work this job are particularly apt to get back injuries because they are constantly stooping to put items on the floor and stretching to stack items near the ceiling. Sam actually had to jump to put items on top of the stack he was building.

The other thing that contributes to injuries is that a truck loader does not know the weight of the package he is about to lift. One package might weigh 5 pounds, the next 50 pounds. If the loader knew a package was heavy, he could prepare his muscles for that movement and the task would be safer.

The ergonomics involved in loading these trucks was terrible, but so is the ergonomics of every floor loading environment I have ever seen. The CEO spent some time talking to Andrew, his mentor for this task. Andrew had worked in this department for years and was a middle-aged man. I was amazed; Andrew is clearly a force of nature.

When their shift is over, Andrew invites Sam to shoot pool. On the way out they pass through the break room. Sam sees coolers full of sports drinks, but they’re locked. Providing these drinks to workers used to be standard practice, but the company stopped because of financial difficulties. The warehouse is based in Omaha. It is summer and most warehouses, including this one, do not have air conditioning. At his next stop, a pack station, an employee named Kim tells Sam that she fainted once. She brings her own water bottle since the company cut back on drinks.

At the end of the show, the CEO does the big reveal to the employees he worked with. He is not really a warehouse temp, he is the CEO of the company. The policy on sports drinks will change. He will put in more ceiling fans to cool the warehouse. He also increases the base pay for truck loaders because he realizes the job is especially demanding. He lavishes tens of thousands of dollars on the workers he interacted with so that viewers will feel good about him and his company.

But perhaps the most significant policy change he announces is requiring every corporate manager to spend a week a year working in the warehouse to get an idea about the work environment. I can’t help but think that if this policy had been in place all along, some of the glaring weaknesses he was exposed to would have been corrected long ago.

OHL Uses Wearables in its Nashville DC

Mobile Technologies | By •

I recently had a conversation with Motorola’s Mark Wheeler—his colleagues call him the “warehouse guy,” an appellation of high honor in my opinion—and the topic of “wearables” came up. Wearables are light mobile computers with a ring scanner that are worn on the forearm. 

Motorola RS409 Wearable Ring Scanner (Source: Motorola; click to enlarge)

Mark told me there are cases where wearables provide better labor productivity than Voice Recognition systems. I expressed some politely-worded skepticism about this claim, so Mark pointed me to a 45-minute video webcast. I watched it and here are some of the highlights.

Robert Ulery, who at the time was the Director of Engineering at the third party logistics provider OHL, was one of the speakers. Robert and his team conducted a time study of wearables versus traditional handheld scanners at one of its distribution centers in Nashville. They found that in piece picking there was a 25 percent improvement in productivity over handhelds. In case picking, wearables provided 20 percent greater productivity. Previously, OHL had compared Voice to handhelds and it found that Voice provided a 10 percent productivity gain over handhelds. Therefore, for this particular warehouse and processes, wearables were between 10 and 15 percent more productive than Voice. 

Wearable’s greater productivity compared to Voice was attributed to two things. First, if a picker picked at a location and then his next pick location was very close by, order selectors sometimes had to wait for the voice command. Secondly, OHL’s warehouse had a fair amount of ambient noise. Pickers sometimes had to ask for commands to be repeated. 

The video shows two picking processes: order selection from cases on pallets on the floor and each picking from cases in racks.

I actually like the case picking application better despite the slightly lower productivity. Wearables are a hands-free technology, but they are not completely an eyes-free one. If an order selector was told to pick two cases from a particular location on the floor, he would go to the slot, scan it to prove he was in the right location, and then glance at the computer to verify pick quantity. Because selectors are always picking from the floor, and a pallet is fairly wide, I would think the chances of picking cases from an adjacent location would be virtually zero. 

In contrast, with each picking, when a selector glances down at the computer to see how many units to pick, I think there is a chance that when he looks back up, he might pick from a slot adjacent to the one he was supposed to pick from. Pick accuracy was not discussed in the video, but based on research I conducted a few years ago, I believe order selection mistakes are much more expensive than most logisticians realize. 

The one small drawback to wearables mentioned in the video was that it made some workers’ arms sweaty and itchy. Order selectors responded by wearing long sleeve shirts and OHL made sure that selectors got assigned dedicated wearables. Other than that, the cultural issues were minimal.

The other cool thing about this project is how cheaply OHL was able to run the pilot. Because the wearables and the handhelds are both provided by Motorola, and Motorola has a unified maintenance infrastructure, OHL was able to swap in the wearables with minimum IT expense. 

In conclusion, when it comes to RF handhelds, wearables, or Voice, the devil is in the details. You need to look very closely at the process. Small differences in the process can make big differences in which technology will actually provide the best ROI.

Voice Recognition Basics

Logistics Technologies | By •

Joe Pajer, COO of Vocollect, and Tom Murray, Vice President of Product Management, recently briefed me on their idea that logistics is entering the “voice-enabled warehouse era.” According to a study they commissioned, voice solutions have only penetrated about 10-15 percent of the warehouses it is well suited for, a percentage that I can’t verify but find very plausible. In light of the low penetration, I realized that providing logistics professionals with some basic information about voice recognition technology might be beneficial.

What is Voice?

Voice Recognition is a form of Automatic Identification (AutoID). Voice can accomplish the same things that a traditional Warehouse Management System (WMS) can using Radio Frequency (RF) scanning. So, for example, a Voice system might tell a worker to go to location “XYZ” in the warehouse. The worker confirms the location by saying “XYZ” instead of scanning a location barcode. The Voice system might then say “Pick “3” and the selector then confirms the pick by saying “Put 3” instead of scanning the product bar codes.

Multi-modal solutions combine different forms of AutoID.  For example, you might use Voice to verify that the correct number of items was picked from the right slot and an RF barcode scan to identify which lots those SKUs came from. In these cases, the warehouse worker would likely wear a gladiator style scanner on their forearm or an RF ring scanner to verify the lot identification number.

Why would you use Voice?

For many warehouse processes, Voice has a very good ROI. In a survey we conducted two and a half years ago, more than 83 percent of the respondents who had implemented Voice reported that their investment met their financial hurdle rate goals. The ROI is almost certainly better today, as the price of the hardware has fallen and the software has improved. This is also reflected by the fact that five years ago when I heard about Voice implementations, it was usually in warehouses where 50 or more order selectors worked per shift. More recently, I have heard of Voice being successfully implemented in warehouses with as few as 10 order selectors per shift.

The primary payback buckets of Voice are improved productivity and accuracy. Both are based on the ability of Voice users to keep their eyes on the task at hand without having to look down at a computer screen or reach for a holstered scanner. Most of the companies we surveyed were grossly underestimating how much mistakes were costing them. There is a much greater ROI associated with accuracy than most companies recognize.    

While the picking accuracy of RF scanning is very high, it is even higher for Voice. When using a RF scanner for each picking, for example, a worker would do a scan to verify they are in the right location and then glance down at the computer screen to check how many items to pick from that slot. When they bring their eyes back up to do the pick, it is possible for them to pick from the adjoining slot. 

Using Voice provides other benefits, as our survey found:

Benefits of Voice Recognition (Source: ARC Advisory Group; click to enlarge)

Which processes use Voice most often?

Voice is best suited for picking. All of the voice-enabled warehouses that I know of are using Voice for picking. Once Voice has been implemented for picking, some companies begin exploring using Voice for put-away, value added services, receiving, cycle counting, and truck building. In general, processes that are highly structured and repeatable are well suited for Voice; processes that cannot be rigidly defined are less well suited. 

Units of measure (e.g., pallets, cases, or each) and the processes associated with them (e.g., receiving, put-away) also come into play. In our survey, we found double-digit productivity gains associated with each picking to a cart, each picking to a tote on a conveyor, or building pallets on a pallet jack or fork lift with mixed SKU cases. We found single-digit productivity gains from non-picking tasks (e.g., receiving, put-away).  Voice did not have a strong value proposition for pallet in, pallet out warehouses. 

When it comes to Voice solutions, there are interesting developments in the core technology, as well as the partner and vendor landscape. These are topics that I’ll discuss in a future posting.

Copyright © 2020 Logistics Viewpoints, ARC Advisory Group. All rights reserved • Design by

Archives