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Voice-directed fulfillment has been a bit slow to catch on among direct merchants, compared to traditional retailers. Why?
Part of the reason is that the process requirements for catalog and online fulfillment centers are vastly different from brick-and-mortar retailers.
Logistical challenges for order fulfillment vary greatly from one catalog company to another. Likewise, the standard order profiles, warehouse systems and fulfillment processes vary from company to company.
At companies that sell large items, such as furniture, order fillers might use turret trucks to pick products from high-bay racks, while staff at an apparel merchant may walk among shelves in pick modules. As a result of the differences, there are significant variations in the voice systems they each need to achieve their fulfillment objectives.
Voice technology and applications today are mature and reliable, and some are highly flexible. Moreover, voice-picking hardware options have increased, and costs have come down. In some cases you can now use the same terminals you use for barcode scanning for voice-based processes.
Here are six things to keep in mind if you're considering voice for your operation.
Voice is one tool among many
Rather than solving every fulfillment problem, voice may be only one part of a solution.
For example, party supplies, toys and novelties merchant Oriental Trading Co. uses voice recognition and barcode scanning within a single voice-directed process, along with automated conveyors and sorting systems.
Voice is not necessarily a straight substitute for radio frequency, however. Depending on your process requirements, voice may complement RF and other existing technology tools you have in place.
Your hands-on process may not be what you think it is
Whether your objective is to improve order accuracy or staff productivity, it's important to start by documenting your fulfillment process so you can understand why you're not getting the results you need. This is obvious, but it's not necessarily straightforward.
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