Speaking volumes
June 1st 2008

Providing hands- and eyes free operation, when it comes to making the supply chain as lean as possible, voice-directed work in the warehouse is rapidly becoming the technology of choice. VoiteQ looks at its impact in the retail sector

The retail sector is fast growing in the UK. It faces the challenges of ecological compliance, sustainability, e-tailing, and the relentless demands of consumers. To ensure success, a retailer must take a broad view of the supply chain and then analyse each element.

The warehouse is one element where technology, specifically Voice-Directed Work, is making business leaner and giving a fast return on investment. The benefits of Voice are manifold: improved productivity, increased accuracy, reduced training and fewer health and safety risks. Co-Op and WHSmith can testify to the improvements achieved even by long-established and already successful UK retailers.

Vocollect, a global supplier of Voice- Directed Work applications, has 13,000 Vocollect Voice users in the UK (8000 in the retail sector), 70,000 in Europe, and over 200,000 globally. Brands such as John Lewis, WHSmith, Focus, Sainsbury's and Next have joined retailers in worldwide to reap the rewards in the warehouse. In each instance the business case amounts to two simple factors – increased productivity and improved accuracy.

Increased pick rates WHSmith's Travel Group first implemented VoiteQ's VoiceMan middleware and Vocollect Voice in late March 2004. The group supplies over 200 outlets in UK airports, hospitals, train and bus stations so needed an easy-touse, reliable solution to increase warehouse productivity, achieve near perfect accuracy, optimise warehouse resources and improve quality of service to stores. Following Voice introduction, pick-rates increased by 25%; pick errors fell by 80%; real-time pick status visibility was introduced and resources better utilised. Over the last 12 months WHSmith's customer base has increased dramatically, with the introduction of stores in UK service stations. The resulting increase in sales has had a significant impact on its travel distribution centre in Holford, with a 30% increase in stores being serviced. Jim McCafferty, site manager for WHSmith's says, "We've witnessed significant improvements to picking accuracy and productivity by using voice technology. As the workload in the DC increased, we knew the best solution to help us to cope was to expand our use of voice within the warehouse." Voice technology is proven in performing warehouse tasks such as picking, receiving, cross docking, put-to-store (or pick by line), put away, replenishment and cycle counting, having been in use for the past 20 years. ROI is rapid and the benefits impressive. Accuracy regularly reaches 99.9% and productivity increases have been recorded at over 35%. According to David Stanhope, VoiteQ's CEO; "The major benefits of voice surround the ROI which comes through significant increases in operator efficiency and accuracy. The 'quick win' still tends to focus on voice picking, but increasingly our customers are utilising voice, and seeing the benefits, across all areas of the warehouse." Hands- and eyes-free operations improve performance and remove many health and safety issues whilst introducing a more natural work experience, improving job satisfaction and increasing employee retention. The user wears a headset and microphone connected to a wearable computer. Through this the user is guided step by step through their particular task.

Confirmations are then sent on completion of the task, back to the WMS. Because there's no paper or scanner the system can then be used in harsh environments such as cold store, increasing its value in multi-product DCs.

UK retail is quickly realising the benefits of voice, many of which ripple outside of the warehouse and have a knock-on effect on the entire supply chain and customer satisfaction. "We expect to see a sharp increase in the migration to voice within the wider retail sector. Last year alone saw voice sales increase over 35% in Europe," says Anton du Preez, Vocollect's business development manager. The European retail and grocery sector has also seen a high uptake and interest in Vocollect Voice, with customers such as Carrefour and Auchan reaping substantial business benefits.

Co-Op, one of the UK's most established brands, chose Voice to increase accuracy, productivity and warehouse throughput.

Picking errors fell five-fold; productivity increased by 20% and each year over £25,000 is saved on labelling and administration. According to Paul Cross, general manager of logistics at United Co- Operative: "Voice recognition technology able to operate within the demands of the warehouse environment is one of the most significant innovations to the distribution industry in the last 10 years."

Moving forward Voice-Directed Work has majored as a warehouse application in UK retail; this focus is expanding with the increase in multichannel retail and the maturation of home shopping services. Accurate, timely fulfilment features heavily as a competitive differentiator in these areas and voice addresses these requirements directly. In addition, opportunities for voice also exist where the supply chain extends into the back-end of the store – ensuring receipts, shelf replenishment, stock counts and pricing are managed efficiently and errors minimised.