Business Briefings
Voice Technology
What Is It?
The use of the human voice to input data to a computer system instead of the keyboard or RF scanner etc. The technology has been around for 20 years but only in the last few years considered robust enough for use in the supply chain. This is increasingly being used for picking and despatch within Logistics operations.
Photo of Talkman® Courtesy of Voiteq. www.voiteq.com
What is involved?
There are two main providers of the technology in the UK.
-
Vocollect, who supply Talkman®, via their UK sales partner VoiteQ
-
Voxware, who supply VoiceLogistics®.
The user wears a headset and light weight belt pack. The user receives instructions via the ear piece and confirms vocally using the microphone. Users need to spend approximately 30 minutes “training” the system with keywords prior to first use. The voice pack communicates to the Central WMS software over an RF data network. Depending on the installation the system can be real-time with the WMS software communicating directly with the voice packs. Or the WMS software will communicate with the Voice system in batch and the Voice recognition software allocate tasks etc and sends information back to the WMS when tasks are complete.
Who is Using It?
-
Wincanton, on behalf of Somerfield, trialled VoiceLogistics® in Pitreavie, Scotland from October 2002. The Voice technology worked alongside EXE WMS software and replaced label picking. Wincanton reported a reduction in errors of 60 to 70% and productivity increase of 20%. The solution is now being rolled out to the rest of the Somerfield network. They have reported a financial saving in not requiring labels.
-
Aberness the Scottish Wholesaler use Talkman® terminals and software implemented by VoiteQ. The system replaced a mainly paper based system. Customer Service levels increased from 94 to 98% and the pick speed from 90 to 140 cases per hour.
The Information above is for some of the early adopters of voice picking. During 2004 and 2005 many companies have installed voice picking with similar results.
Why Implement?
-
Improve productivity
-
Increase accuracy
-
Cost savings
-
Hands Free
-
Supplier Barcodes are not required
What to Consider?
-
Often the improvements in pick accuracy quoted from voice projects are when a site has moved from paper based picking to Voice based picking. Implementing RF can also give accuracy and productivity improvements.
-
One of the benefits of implementing voice technology is the cost saving of removing labels from the supply chain. But ensure the labels are not required elsewhere in your supply chain.
-
Voice is not a solution for poor product layout.
-
Before deciding to implement voice an audit should be carried out to highlight the areas you should focus on.
References:
Greg Tanner, Vocollect, SHD., April 2004
Angela Jackson, Logistics Europe November 2003
Liza Helps, Distribution Business, November 2003
Ross Matthews, Distribution, June 2003