From SCDigest's On-Target E-Magazine

- Sept. 25, 2012 -

Gilmore and Holste Tackle Audience Questions on Logistics Technology and Material Handling Systems Part 2

Gilmore on Voice, "Wearables," Labor Management; Holste on AGVs for Distribution

SCDigest Editorial Staff

Our on-line Distribution Management Expo 2012 event held earlier this year, SCDigest Editor Dan Gilmore and Materials Handling Editor Cliff Holste headlined an "Ask the Expert" session that took questions from attendees relative to distribution and materials handling automation topics.

Recently, we highlighted on these page a few of the questions and responses from that session. (See Gilmore and Holste Tackle Audience Questions on Logistics Technology and Material Handling Systems.)

SCDigest Says: "The flexible pathing now is what is key," Holste said. "AGVs are going to become potentially important assets to the DC." What Do You Say? Click Here to Send Us Your Comments Click Here to Post or See Reader Feedback

This week, we wrap it up with Part 2.

One attendee asked Gilmore for his overall thoughts on voice technology in distribution.

"It's hard not to be pretty positive on voice," Gilmore said. "I think long term, for most picking applications, replenishment applications, maybe even areas like receiving, that there is an inherent benefit to having your hands free."

Gilmore said that some of the early voice systems in the 1990s were "a little dicey" in some cases and sometimes didn't work too well, but "the equipment and the voice recognition technology today is much better than it was even half a dozen years or so ago. Voice is out there in hundreds and hundreds of sites. I have seen many of them personally."

Gilmore then tied into Holste's earlier comments on sortation systems in distribution, noting that he and Holste had actually done a few sortation system projects together back in the 1990s - and how voice might solve a real challenge those systems face."

"You might go to a location in a wave and have to pick 80, 90 or more cases on to the belt," Gilmore said. "How do verify that you picked the right number of cases? You can scan every case, but that is really going to slow you down. Or you can rely on the picker counting right. Let's see if any of us can pick 87 cases and hit that number right on the head."

He said voice technology might provide a real solution to this operational dilemma, by enabling the pickers to "count off" as they are picking, so that the system knows exactly when they have reached the 87th case.

That said, Gilmore is also bullish on wearable RF devices too. These are small wireless units with a display and keyboard that are worn typically on the wrist or arm, and thus also provide a hands-free alternative. Plus they give users a bar code scan capability.

"The most recent versions of these wearables have improved a lot," Gilmore said. "Better displays, much more rugged, Bluetooth capabilities for the ring scanner. Going forward, I think you are really going to see wearables with voice capability as being a very powerful combination. It gives you the advantages of voice with some additional flexibility."

Gilmore added, "This is just where this is going."

Next, an attendee asked Holste what his thoughts were on using AGVs in distribution.

Holste said "It is really interesting how far AGVs have come," noting that there have been improvements in flexibility, and new applications such as having an AGV work in conjunction with a case picker.

"The fixed path type of AGVs that we've had in manufacturing for a long time simply didn't lend themselves well for the flexible needs of a distribution center, where things are changing all the time," Holste added. "But today, with the new visual systems they have on-board, they can run in flexible paths, and are generating a lot of interest in distribution."

(Distribution/Materials Handling Story Continues Below )