equipment
voice system to direct picking, as
opposed to relying on labels. First of
all, the voice system helps to organize and balance the work assignments within the case pick area.
Second, the voice system’s check
digit feature assures that the worker
picks from the correct storage racks
100
MILLION
CONSUMERS
or shelves, virtually eliminating location errors.
Currently, the labels are printed
and grouped by store orders, so a
worker performing batch picks
must carry several sets of labels at a
time, then thumb through them to
find the right label to attach to each
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carton. But in the coming months, the
facilities will begin printing labels
according to pick sequence. Once that
happens, workers will only have to carry
around one stack of combined customer
labels, which is expected to further boost
productivity.
After they’re selected, the cases are
transported to the consolidation area,
where they are manually sorted and then
combined with the individual store totes
from the split-case area. A little more than
half of the stores can receive pallets, so
their orders are palletized. For the
remainder, workers hand load the cases
and totes onto trucks. Currently, consolidation and loading are paper-based operations, but the co-op will be evaluating
these activities to see if they are suitable
for conversion to voice.
Once order filling is completed, a number of the workers remove their Motorola
terminals from their belt packs and begin
using them for other RF and screen-based
applications. These include receiving,
putaway, and replenishment.
Hear here
As for how the voice system is working
out, the reports to date are positive. Since
moving to the system, Do It Best has seen
order filling errors drop by 50 to 70 percent across its distribution network.
Accuracy now stands at 99. 8 to 99. 9 percent in each facility. Productivity has
jumped 15 percent in the eaches area
alone, and has seen a 10-percent increase
overall.
Another benefit the voice system brings
is improved work flow monitoring. “That
has been a big part of the gains for us,”
says Etzler. “The utilities in the Lucas system allow us to see everything going on
across the pick zones. That helps us keep
work balanced. We can easily see where
we are and how to make adjustments.
That was a lengthy process before, when
we had to balance our work manually.”
Workers have responded well to the
new technology, Etzler adds. “For some, it
has been exciting, like they got a new toy
and not just a tool,” he says. “The voice
system is also very intuitive, so it allows
them to get up to productive speed very
quickly.”
