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Voice-Picking Best Solution for Food Service Distribution
Thomas R. Cutler, President & CEO, TR Cutler, Inc.
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Pate Dawson Company is a closely held fourth generation, family-owned foodservice distributor, since 1885. The firm selected a voice picking solution because many users were skipping certain locations, and the voice picking solution told them to go to the skipped location and pick. The users believed they could build a better pallet because of the irregular shape of the item and wanted to put it on top. Jeff Slevin, COO of Lucas Systems shared, “The insight the voice system gave them was important… if we re-slot items in the order that makes it best for our selectors, we won't have them skipping slots, and productivity goes up.” The company performed a re-slotting exercise and indeed boosted productivity, while maintaining quality; thanks to the voice picking technology.
Pate Dawson justified their investment in voice on expected accuracy improvements – they went from about one picker error per 1000 cases to less than one error per 15,000 cases. Productivity gains were gravy and some of those benefits were realized a year or more after voice was implemented due to managers using the insight of the management console to understand how and what to re-slot. Slotting optimization is a field unto itself, and so-called Tier One WMS systems provide algorithms for slotting. Pate Dawson did not have a warehouse management system, so they used the insight provided by the voice system.
“It's not just about the quality of the food product picked,” asserts Slevin, makers of Jennifer VoicePlus. “The product traceability initiatives in grocery and food service must be able to track the date an item is produced for expiration when shipped from a distribution center.” While some customers will accept a product within thirty days of expiration, others might only accept within sixty days of expiration date. Because of this critically important variability, capturing date information when picking with a voice system as compared to light – is often preferred. Pick to light solutions may utilize an RF bar code scanner, however employees must then enter data using a keypad, which is far more prone to error. Similarly, with a paper-based system, a food distribution center employee writes the data on a log sheet, which must then be key entered, introducing two places for data error and compromising the quality. Pick to light generally is not used in grocery, foodservice, and other major food distribution centers – which are generally case-picking processes. The main alternative to voice in these segments is paper or label-based picking or RF/barcode scanning. In label-based picking; the selector grabs a roll of pre-printed labels that tell which items to pick (in order), and a label is applied to each case as it is picked. Many foodservice companies continue to apply labels to cases, even as they pick the item with voice – the label is used on delivery at the customer location.
The advantage of voice systems is that they combine the advantages of voice and RF in a single, seamless process. Slevin insists, “In a voice system food distribution companies capture the date code, an employee with a headset simply goes to the location, say picking item, and the solution, such as Jennifer, says enter date; the person reads in date, and captures that information at the point of pick.“ Date tracking is less of a regulatory mandate than a customer mandate because some customers will not take a product within thirty days of expiration.
Voice Picking Is Critical in Lot Traceability and Recalls
The effectiveness of voice picking to handle a recall is quite distinct from a pick to light solution. When food items are sent to hundreds of different restaurants, the food distribution center or manufacturing plant must be able to quickly and accurately which lots each location receives. Lot traceability is mandated by the Bioterrorism Act rules and regulations and is further detailed in the new Food Safety Modernization Act. Additionally the HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) procedures can detail that voice picking will enter a lot number at the time of the pick. Voice picking solutions address all three of these compliance statutes and is frequently being used by food organizations as part of the ISO 22000 documentation of quality processes and procedures to manage a recall.
Catching the Correct Food Weight via Voice Picking
Accuracy in food weighing is vital from both a billing and quality perspective. Slevin said, “When selling cases of meat – a customer will order a 50 pound case of steaks – every case does not weigh 50 pounds…48.7 or 52 pounds is possible. Since this is a bill by the pound order, it is vital to capture the weight of the food sent to each customer; this is another item entered by voice picking solutions.”
The weight information capture may be conducive a bar code scan, therefore it is important that voice picking solutions are able to combine voice with scanning; Often the weight information is in the embedded bar code itself; the worker is prompted with voice picking to enter the weight, to two decimal points. Sometimes an employee may transpose these data or hesitate or not say the information clearly enough. Slevin suggested, “Every time someone enters with voice, we ensure that the information is confirmed with voice back what is entered, however in this instance a bar code scan can be faster and 100% faster and often the combination of scanning and voice provides a double check on quality control procedures.”
Verification Processes via Voice Picking
The typical voice picking process requires the selector to speak a 3 – 5 digit check digit printed on each rack location to confirm a person is picking from the correct location. The challenge is identified when the wrong product has been put in the slot. To address this issue, the voice system may ask users to enter a secondary item-level verification, often be the last few digits of an item number or UPC. Alternatively, the voice system can use this item-level check instead of a location check-digit or using the lot number to confirm the item.
Verification of product picked may require that a complete lot number is entered, which might be alpha and numeric or bar coded. Rather than reading the entire lot number, voice picking allows the user to speak last four digits of the lot number to automatically verify. The Jennifer system, for example, hears the correct and expected last four digits, and the verification process is truncated, saving time and money without compromising quality. In the verification processes, lot number is not generally used to verify the correct item is being picked; the item number of UPC is used for these purposes.
Ironically, the grocery companies were the earliest to invest in voice picking solutions because they had the lowest margins and realized even a twenty percent (20%) reduction in picking errors would quickly pay for the system solution.
C&S Wholesale Grocers and Kraft Nabisco have opted for voice picking solutions to greatly improve worker productivity and accuracy. Voice picking solutions create a conversation with warehouse workers that frees their hands and eyes to focus on the job being performed. The voice solution provides quality managers and supervisors with reporting and management tools to ensure lean and continued process improvement of food distribution operations.
Thomas R. Cutler is President & CEO of Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based, TR Cutler, Inc. He is the founder of the Manufacturing Media Consortium of nearly four thousand journalists and editors writing about trends in manufacturing. Thomas is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, Online News Association, American Society of Business Publication Editors, Committee of Concerned Journalists, as well as author of more than 500 feature articles annually regarding the manufacturing sector. For article feedback, contact Thomas at trcutler@trcutlerinc.com
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