Voice Control Increases Picking Accuracy

Accuracy in the supply chain has many meanings. This includes accuracy in order processing and its impacts such as meeting KPIs and customer satisfaction ratings. All these aspects are important. However, improving accuracy has different effects on the business. With voice-controlled applications, operational teams can leverage solutions to achieve this goal, as Patrick Molemans from Ivanti reports.

By Patrick Molemans

(South Jordan/s’Hertogenbosch) Picking accuracy forms the foundation for everything related to product delivery: perfect picking rates, customer satisfaction, and many other metrics are interconnected. By using voice-controlled instructions in the picking workflow, employees can focus on the product they are placing in the container or on the pallet, without being distracted by looking at a device screen or entering picking data. Bidirectional voice applications ensure that employees keep their gaze forward between picking locations, making the work environment safer for everyone.

Precise Processes

Integrating voice control into existing applications can optimize workflows. Employee feedback and process optimization suggestions help eliminate bottlenecks and enable employees to work more efficiently. This improves picking accuracy and increases efficiency. Voice control is part of a multimodal solution that confirms accuracy.

The goal is to empower employees to work more efficiently. When more orders can be picked per shift with higher accuracy, both elements of the efficiency equation improve. Voice helps here because it is more than just a change in user experience. This change alone does not improve picking accuracy. But accuracy improves because voice is an essential component of a multimodal solution that confirms accuracy.

Trust in Numbers

Optimized workflows lead to more accurate metrics, making performance targets a daily expectation and ensuring delivery commitments are met more reliably. Customers certify their picking processes according to Lean Six Sigma for quality assurance initiatives. A downstream effect of optimized workflows is more accurate metrics. As employees complete their tasks more efficiently, key performance targets that were once deemed unattainable become daily expectations. Companies can meet their delivery commitments to customers with greater confidence. This is an important quality statement, and customers have certified their picking processes according to Lean Six Sigma to align them with their enterprise-wide quality assurance initiatives.

Employees gain trust in the metrics

Moreover, employees gain trust in the metrics that determine their performance ratings and bonus opportunities. It is no secret that top talent is more likely to be attracted and retained when employees have confidence in the technologies and systems used. The recent Warehouse Vision Study conducted by Zebra has shown that employees and decision-makers agree that technological advancements in these areas make the work environment in the warehouse more attractive for employees.

Accurate Inventory Counts

Voice-controlled workflows facilitate the use of exception functions in enterprise systems. One example is partial picking, where the employee is supposed to pick 27 pieces of an item, but only 14 pieces are available. When the employee says “confirm 14,” the system recognizes the discrepancy and requests confirmation of the quantity change. This can impact inventory and other areas, such as triggering reorder requests or changing the pickup location for the remaining stock. The use of voice-controlled workflows enables real-time detection of stock shortages and proactive communication with other parts of the supply chain. For voice integration, Ivanti relies on Velocity Voice. The tool allows for voice picking easily as a plug-in for the browser and also supports voice-to-text and text-to-speech applications. In practical examples, reductions of half a second per pick were observed, leading to approximately 10 percent higher efficiency per day with around 1,800 picks/day. All this with a simple rollout without significant involvement from the IT department.

Once the exchange is complete, this can prompt purchasing or other parts of the company to review inventory, place a new order, determine a different location for picking the remaining stock, or take other actions. Utilizing the picking workflow to detect potential stock shortages in real-time helps maintain accurate inventories and enables proactive communication with downstream areas of the supply chain.

Stronger in Competition

Customer satisfaction is one of the most important performance indicators, heavily influenced by order accuracy. Voice technology can significantly contribute to improving order rates and other KPIs. Not only are shipments more accurate – both in terms of the right products and timely delivery – but processes and systems also become more precise, and employees work more efficiently. Overall, voice users will achieve a higher level of customer satisfaction and make further progress towards operational excellence.

Patrick Molemans has been the Territory Manager Central Europe at Ivanti Wavelink for over ten years. Ivanti Wavelink is a leading provider of mobile productivity solutions for the supply chain. Overall, Molemans has been involved in automatic identification, data capture, and mobile data communication for more than 25 years.https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickmolemans/   
https://www.ivanti.de/solutions/supply-chain

Photos: © Ivanti