Today’s warehouse operations are more complex than in the past and finding skilled employees who speak and understand one language can be a challenge. Continued pressure to do more with less, forces warehouse operators to look for ways to become more productive even with these constraints. Many are turning to voice applications to meet their goals. Voice applications are not right for every situation, but given the right parameters, it can make a significant difference to the warehouse.
As with any decision that affects the operation, you have to have a structured evaluation approach and do your homework. You have to make sure the application fits your unique operation and that you select the right vendor. A wide variety of industries are employing some form of voice technology today in a variety of ways.
Voice applications, especially in the voice picking area, have been around for over 20 years and recent improvements and advances have eliminated or reduced earlier concerns about voice applications. Issues concerning background noise interference, language differences, and equipment durability have all been addressed satisfactorily.
Applications involving pallet, case, and individual unit picking operations employ voice picking technology today. Generally, it fits best where a large number of SKU’s are involved and the pick density or frequency per SKU is relatively low. It is not a good fit for every operation and is used in many warehouses in conjunction with other technologies. The most common use today is in the picking function.
Those warehouses that have employed voice technology have achieved benefits in the area of increased productivity, improved accuracy, and employee safety. Productivity improvements in the range of 10 – 15% are not uncommon. Accuracy metrics of 99.8% and higher have been achieved. Reduced employee accidents and improved overall staff morale have been reported also. These improvements are attributed to being a paperless, hands free, real time process with a relatively short training period required.
As with any warehouse operation change, it is necessary to find a solution that is adaptable, scalable, configurable, reliable and cost justified. As you evaluate options, the following list of considerations should be included.
1. Make sure your requirements are detailed and understood by the vendors. Have them visit your warehouse early in the evaluation process. Identify any potential system modifications required and their estimated cost to implement.
2. Any demos conducted should include showing the proposed solution in operation in your warehouse. Make sure the required functions are available today in the vendors proposed solution.
3. Investigate thoroughly the infrastructure and backbone required. Ask who will complete a site survey, if required, and at what cost.
4. Research and resolve any issues involved with integrating the voice applications to other existing warehouse technologies.
5. Consider any future warehouse processes that might be potential applications for voice technology and determine the vendor’s capability to support them if needed in the future.
6. Have the vendor participate in developing the Return on Investment (ROI) calculation. Developing the cost of a warehouse error and your current productivity metrics will be critical to developing a true ROI. A very rough estimate is to consider approximately $5,000 per user for budgeting purposes only. Most operations need 10 – 15 pickers to provide an acceptable ROI. Talk with others who utilize the technology to determine what savings they experienced.
7. Select a few key warehouse employees to assist in the demonstration of the technology. Getting early buy-in is never a bad idea.
8. Investigate the actual response time involved with any integration you may require with other existing applications.
9. Since there are usually a variety of picking types used in a warehouse, determine if the vendor can support these different types of picking logic processes.
10. Most operations will incur some type of exceptions to the normal processing. Make sure the vendor can handle these exceptions without major difficulty.
Remember that as with any technology, the critical factor for success is the planning and evaluation stages of the process. If you do your homework and spend the time it takes to make a good decision, the application of voice technology in the warehouse can be a very beneficial one.
If you are considering voice technology and would like an objective, vendor-independent evaluation of your operations and processes to see if voice picking is a viable option for your operations, contact FCBCO.
As with any decision that affects the operation, you have to have a structured evaluation approach and do your homework. You have to make sure the application fits your unique operation and that you select the right vendor. A wide variety of industries are employing some form of voice technology today in a variety of ways.
Voice applications, especially in the voice picking area, have been around for over 20 years and recent improvements and advances have eliminated or reduced earlier concerns about voice applications. Issues concerning background noise interference, language differences, and equipment durability have all been addressed satisfactorily.
Applications involving pallet, case, and individual unit picking operations employ voice picking technology today. Generally, it fits best where a large number of SKU’s are involved and the pick density or frequency per SKU is relatively low. It is not a good fit for every operation and is used in many warehouses in conjunction with other technologies. The most common use today is in the picking function.
Those warehouses that have employed voice technology have achieved benefits in the area of increased productivity, improved accuracy, and employee safety. Productivity improvements in the range of 10 – 15% are not uncommon. Accuracy metrics of 99.8% and higher have been achieved. Reduced employee accidents and improved overall staff morale have been reported also. These improvements are attributed to being a paperless, hands free, real time process with a relatively short training period required.
As with any warehouse operation change, it is necessary to find a solution that is adaptable, scalable, configurable, reliable and cost justified. As you evaluate options, the following list of considerations should be included.
1. Make sure your requirements are detailed and understood by the vendors. Have them visit your warehouse early in the evaluation process. Identify any potential system modifications required and their estimated cost to implement.
2. Any demos conducted should include showing the proposed solution in operation in your warehouse. Make sure the required functions are available today in the vendors proposed solution.
3. Investigate thoroughly the infrastructure and backbone required. Ask who will complete a site survey, if required, and at what cost.
4. Research and resolve any issues involved with integrating the voice applications to other existing warehouse technologies.
5. Consider any future warehouse processes that might be potential applications for voice technology and determine the vendor’s capability to support them if needed in the future.
6. Have the vendor participate in developing the Return on Investment (ROI) calculation. Developing the cost of a warehouse error and your current productivity metrics will be critical to developing a true ROI. A very rough estimate is to consider approximately $5,000 per user for budgeting purposes only. Most operations need 10 – 15 pickers to provide an acceptable ROI. Talk with others who utilize the technology to determine what savings they experienced.
7. Select a few key warehouse employees to assist in the demonstration of the technology. Getting early buy-in is never a bad idea.
8. Investigate the actual response time involved with any integration you may require with other existing applications.
9. Since there are usually a variety of picking types used in a warehouse, determine if the vendor can support these different types of picking logic processes.
10. Most operations will incur some type of exceptions to the normal processing. Make sure the vendor can handle these exceptions without major difficulty.
Remember that as with any technology, the critical factor for success is the planning and evaluation stages of the process. If you do your homework and spend the time it takes to make a good decision, the application of voice technology in the warehouse can be a very beneficial one.
If you are considering voice technology and would like an objective, vendor-independent evaluation of your operations and processes to see if voice picking is a viable option for your operations, contact FCBCO.
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