Going beyond picking: How can voice create efficiencies
Transcript of Going beyond picking: How can voice create efficiencies
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Thomas Goldsby
Professor
James A. Haslam, II Chair of Logistics
The University of Tennessee Knoxville
Speakers
Peter LaGow
Presales Consultant
Körber Supply Chain
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Why are we here? What are we trying to accomplish?
Class Schedule:
• September 8: Going beyond picking: How can voice create efficiencies
• September 10: Digital Twins: Stimulating efficiencies in your warehouse
• September 15: Hands-free warehouses: How voice and vision improve safety
• September 17: How robots can increase safety in your warehouse
• September 22: Adding automation to improve safety and increase productivity
Master Class Series – On-Demand
• Addressing Labor Challenges
• Cold Storage Trends
• Warehouse Technology Excellence
Supply Chain Master Class: Workforce Efficiencies & Safety
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All phone lines are muted
Recording of today’s class and slides will be emailed to you within 48 hours
Questions:
• Ask questions during today’s class in the GoToWebinar Questions window
• Questions will be addressed at the end of today’s class or we will follow up with questions via email after class
Handout: Voice Beyond Picking
Poll Question: Which of the following processes are you using Voice for?
Housekeeping
Challenging the “Productivity vs. Safety” Paradigm
“Many employees feel productivity pulls them in one direction while safety tugs in the other. The
creation of this safety-vs-production dichotomy usually comes from one of three sources:
• Lack of strategy
• Conflicting organizational and safety strategies
• Disconnect between strategy and practice in the workplace”
- Terry L. Mathis, EHS Today (May 2017)
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“When implementing the voice system into the picking process, it is typical to see increases in productivity ranging from 10-35%, increases in accuracy up to 85%, and decreases in training
time by 70% or more, all while delivering ROI in an average of 9-12 months.”
“When dealing with a box-cutter or lifting a heavy object, it is imperative that the picker be able to easily use their hands. With voice picking, the picker keeps their hands free at all times, eliminating the potential for injuries or damages caused by lifting or cutting an item with a
scanner or piece of paper in hand.”
The Role of Voice
- Voice Beyond Picking,
Körber Supply Chain whitepaper (August 2020)
- Tailar Kennedy, “What is Voice Picking?”
Körber Supply Chain Technology Blog (June 17, 2020)
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What is Voice?
Conversational Voice
Smartphone Searches
Home Assistants: Amazon, Google
Vehicle Navigation: GPS
Automated Phone Systems
Use Case: Low-Med Volume, Simple, Low Background Noise
Transactional Voice
Use Case: Speed, Complex, Noisy
DC Workflows
Time-Sensitive Inspection Steps
Complex Processes
Use Case: High Volume, Complex, Any Background Noise
Created for
Enterprise
Business:
Timeliness
and Accuracy
are Critical
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How Voice is Faster
• Measure using UOM: ‘Time to Action’
• For each piece of information:
1. Focus
2. Comprehend
3. Decision
Take Action
Discard
• RF Screen: Time to Action = 8 lines
• Discard 7 lines, Act on the 8th
• Voice: Time to Action = 1 prompt
• “Pick 100 to position 1”
• All of the addl. information is still there! Just ask
• ‘So What?’
• Train the function, not the form-factor
• Reduce fatigue
• Sustain increased productivity
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Directed Putaway
• Read screen for location
• Scan location
• Read screen for quantity
• Key in quantity
RF
• Scan LPN
• Voice directs to location
• Scan location
• Speak quantity
Multimodal• Speak last 4 of LPN
• Voice directs to location
• Speak check digit
• Speak quantity
Voice Optimized
Highlights
• Automate instruction of material movement
• Same functional accuracy as RF
• Promote proper lifting technique
• Heads up, eyes free while driving
Other Factors / Considerations
• Built-in scanner allows scanning LPN
• Ring scanner can increase scan speed
• Simple ways to collect addl. attributes if needed
• Scan LPN
• Read Screen for
Location
• Scan Location
• Read screen for Quantity
• Key in Quantity
• Read screen for locations
• Scan locations
• Scan UPC
• Key in quantity
RF
• Voice directs to locations
• Scan locations
• Scan UPC
• Speak quantity
Multimodal• Voice directs locations
• Speak checkdigit
• Speak quantity
Voice Optimized
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Replenishment
Highlights
• Automate instruction of material movement
• Same functional accuracy as RF
• Eliminate device handling
• Similar value prop. as Picking
Other Factors / Considerations
• Checkdigit can be unique to location and item
• Interleaving w/ other processes
• Ring scanner can speed up all scans
• Read screen for location
• Scan location
• Read screen for item
• Scan item
• Count
• Key in counted quantity
RF
• Voice directs to location
• Scan location
• Voice prompts item
• Scan item
• Speak count as you go
Multimodal• Voice directs to location
• Speak checkdigit
• Voice prompts item
• Speak last 3 of UPC
• Speak count as you go
Voice Optimized
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Cycle Counting
Highlights
• Voice keeps track of count for you (count-up)
• Added focus / organization reduces recounts
• Drastic increase to productivity
Other Factors / Considerations
• By location or by item
• Easily interleaved with Picking
• Can combine location / item verif.
Digital Twins: Simulating efficiencies in your warehouse
When considering building a greenfield or upgrading a brownfield facility, warehouse simulation software allows operations to create a digital twin to test the impact of changes.
Join us on Thursday, September 10 as Simon Shore discusses how best to streamline processes and direct movement throughout the warehouse using digital twins to make a more efficient and safer work environment.
Contributor:
Simon Shore
Managing Director
Körber Supply Chain
Next Supply Chain Master Class
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