Today’s warehouse relies on a growing array of high technology solutions to achieve optimal results.  The options can be bewildering at times – and there’s no shortage of vendors who proclaim their technology to be not only the best – but also the only way to go.  That can lead to a dangerous myopia.

For example, we’ve been hearing lately about the “voice-centric warehouse.”  This phrase is being promoted by – surprise! – a voice hardware company.  While this view may be more egocentric than anything else, it does bring up a useful point to consider.

At Voxware, our business happens to be delivering voice software solutions, but we believe that the best warehouses are “velocity-centric” as opposed to voice-centric.  That’s because – as much as we’d like to convince ourselves and you that every warehouse task should be voice-directed, in reality the best solution is often achieved by a skilful combination of technologies.

This video clip shows a good example of voice picking that combines with another technology – in this case RF scanning.  Shown is a highly flexible “pick and pass” operation, where workers assemble multiple cartons into a “train” that is passed along a conveyor.  Rather than voice-in the ID of each container – which would be somewhat time consuming – the operator simply scans the ID using a ring scanner while “talking” to the voice system in regard to the overall assignment.  You will notice the efficiency and fluidity of motion that springs from combining voice with scanning – in this instance.

Of course, not every warehouse needs a pick-and-pass business process … this is just a specific example to illustrate a general truth.  Enterprises are best served when vendors analyze their operation from a “velocity-centric” standpoint.  That’s why we have our Voxware professional services team constantly ask, “What is the best way to optimize this process?” - regardless of the technology that is brought to bear.