Logistics executives are always looking for quick and easy incremental productivity improvements that will provide an acceptable ROI. For most of them it’s not so much that there is a problem as it is that current methods are just out dated. For example – if you are processing orders out of a DC that is more than 10 years old, odds are that your DC employees are either still carrying around a paper work-order (such as a picklist) or a mobile terminal that tells them what to do next and where to go to do it.

What do these scenarios have in common? Three things: first, you have something in your hands - either a clipboard with a picklist or an expensive and easily damaged RF terminal/scanner. Second, you have to constantly look at the list or terminal to figure out where to go next. Third, neither is the most effective use of your employees' eyes and hands.

There are wearable terminals, which would be an improvement, but you still have to look at them. There are pick/put-to-light systems that can be useful, but re-equipping your entire DC with these systems may not be in your budget. What's more, they're only useful in pick, putaway and possibly inventory situations. They don't provide much help in shipping, receiving or other applications.

The point is that these methods are rapidly becoming antiquated giving way to the proliferation of hands-free devices (like cell phones & IPods) that people have stuck in their ears. Obviously, people love using this technology; while driving their cars, grocery shopping, exercising; talking up a storm while happily multi-tasking. Your employees, when not at work in the DC, are probably doing the same thing. And why not – it’s really a convenient, productive, user friendly technology.

So it’s only natural that voice technology is being more widely deployed in the workplace. This is particular true where words are the appropriate or most natural inputs. For example in an automated DC if a sortation system senses heavy throughput at a particular shipping lane, the control system can automatically dispatch additional operators equipped with voice units to that lane to head off congestion and delays.

Deploying Hands-Free Voice Technology in the DC

Much of today’s interactions involve computers, i.e., automated telephone systems, automobiles equipped with voice active accessories, interactive video games, ATMs, self checkout stations, etc. Many of these are equipped with voice recognizer systems. These are consumer-grade voice recognizers and are not designed to operate in the DC where unpredictable and loud extraneous noise is produced from many sources, such as forklifts whizzing by.

We mention this because as interest in voice technology for DC applications has rapidly expanded, some vendors, anxious to enter the market, are offering voice systems that are based on speaker-independent consumer-grade speech recognizers. However, for very noisy environments, as typically found in busy DCs, the speaker-dependent industrial-grade voice recognizer will deliver the most reliable performance.

Speaker-dependent industrial voice systems do have to be "trained" to recognize the particular pronunciation of every user. Training helps the system understand workers in noisy environments. Since many words, letters and numbers have a similar sound, very small differences make the difference between a system (or person) hearing "I left" or "five left." They include a preprogrammed vocabulary of common words to reduce the time it takes to train the system. Still, words unique to the application will require more training time (repetitions).

They also require "discrete" speech - that is, words cannot be slurred together. Some systems will, however, recognize a commonly used phrase such as "fifty-five" as "five five" or can be programmed to regard "loading dock" as a single word in order to facilitate recognition.

Speech systems have to be adaptable to cope with the increased diversity in the workplace. And, with more workers for whom English is not their native language, systems today can recognize non-English inputs as if they were English. Vendors also offer speech software in a number of the more common languages such as French and Spanish.

During training, speakers also learn certain commands that will put the system to "sleep" and "wake it up." This is necessary because there are times when an employee must talk but is not giving inputs to the speech system. Similar commands could be programmed to switch among different applications such as picking, shipping or inventory.

One very important aspect of the latest generation industrial speech systems is that they talk as well as listen - translating binary data in the host applications to verbal instructions.

Given the proper speech-based logistics software, irregular work situations (such as an aisle being temporarily blocked by equipment) or exceptions (such as material not being in the storage/picking location) can be handled efficiently. Here is where industrial speech system vendors feel their products shine, insisting that they allow workers to continually interact with the system by being directed to the next downstream task without interruption, and then once the problem is resolved, being directed to return to complete the task.

Planning For The Agile DC

Becoming an agile DC doesn’t happen by accident. Thoughtful planning and foresight are keys to long term success. While you may not know specifically what the future holds in-store for your operation, you do know that change will be the one constant. Whereas, a customized built-to-fit or “point solution” is, by definition, only correct for what you know, or what you think you know, the strategic question is - will it still “fit” a few years down the road?

This is not a trick question, although the answer can be tricky.

Over a period of time companies can expect there will be broad based business changes involving customers, products, the supply chain, and physically within their own facilities. There will be upgrades to newer versions of the WMS and WCS. All these future changes are hardware and software related, and your operations agility will be either enhanced or hindered by the planning choices you make.

It’s a little like what the tailor of an expensive custom made suit of clothes faces when deciding how much alteration (taking in or letting out) to provide for while still maintaining style (design) and fit (function).

As it relates to voice directed systems, agility depends on the software you choose.

In its recently published white paper (http://www.voxware.com/fileadmin/media/resources/white_papers/WhitePaper_BiggestMistakes.pdf) Voxware provides the following thoughts:

For years voice vendors delivered customized point solutions geared to voice-enable today’s operation – not tomorrow’s. Distribution executives were later frustrated by the high cost and time required to implement what seemed like simple changes. With their hands tied, they could not move forward as they wanted.

The first step in planning for change is to bring in a voice software product as opposed to a point solution. How can you tell if you are buying a product? Look for this:

• A track record of software releases made available to customers as part of their maintenance service.
• A roadmap of future releases to which customers can contribute ideas.
• A community of customers to whom the same base code-set has been delivered.

The second step is to ensure that the software product is modern and engineered for change. Three capabilities are essential:

• Adaptability

The product must have an array of features that make change easy. Voice solutions should be assembled “building block” style, via a graphical studio. There should be adapters with pre-built integration for major WMS packages. In short - many of the things that are expensive to change with traditional voice offerings should be planned for and an “adaptive software framework for voice” should exist.

• Portability

The same voice application should be portable across many voice-capable devices. Most vendors use one set of code for one manufacturer’s device, and a different set of code for another. Portability is delivered only if the software product uses open standards and is engineered to be truly device independent.

• Scalability

The voice solution needs to have enterprise level features. It should support multiple operating systems, DBMS, and web servers - yet be architected to be independent of which infrastructure combination is chosen by the customer. It should have enterprise voice management facilities that make is possible to control all aspects of the voice solution across multiple warehouses from a central point.

Note: For more information on Voice in Distribution, featuring Jeff Williamson of Performance Food Group, you can view the Supply Chain Digest On-Demand Videocast. In this outstanding Videocast, we discuss the often overlooked, incremental benefits that companies can derive from the type of voice solution it chooses to implement. Click on the following link:

Voice In Distribution Videocast

Final Thoughts

Speech may not be the ultimate solution to all your distribution problems. But it's certainly something to talk about.

Agree or disagree with Holste's perspective? What would you add? Let us know your thoughts for publication in the SCDigest newsletter Feedback section, and on the website. Upon request, comments will be posted with the respondent's name or company withheld.

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