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Presented by Motorola
Just what the doctor ordered
A new Jennifer voice system operating on Motorola mobile computers has
increased productivity and accuracy at medical supplier Henry Schein.
WHEN DOCTORS ORDER MEDICAL EQUIPMENT
and supplies, they expect to receive them with the
same precision and quality control that the medical profession is known for. After all, lives may depend on it.
That’s why many medical offices turn to Henry Schein. The
$6 billion-a-year company is North America’s largest distributor
of medical products, equipment and supplies to office-based
practitioners, including physicians, dentists, veterinarians, clinics
and laboratories. Its five U.S. distribution centers make sure that the
60,000 boxes shipped daily to doctors’ offices are accurate, complete
and delivered in a timely manner. Henry Schein’s high level of distri-
bution performance has recently gotten
even better, thanks to new voice systems
operating on Motorola mobile computers.
The Jennifer voice solution from Lucas
Systems ( www.lucasware.com) has
replaced paper-based operations at Henry
Schein’s distribution centers in Texas,
Florida, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Indiana.
Since moving to voice, Henry Schein
has seen a 12-percent increase in product picking accuracy and an 8-percent
improvement in picking productivity.
Training time has been reduced from
weeks to days, and there has been better tracking of products as
they move through the distribution process.
“What we did on paper we did well, with good productivity and
accuracy,” recalls Mike Charpin, Henry Schein’s senior project manager, distribution and operations. “But the compelling reason for
moving to voice was growth. The voice system provides a platform
to manage growth while improving accuracy to our customers.”
He adds that the Jennifer system fit the company’s needs well. It
is fast and accurate, and it handles the wide range of data needed
for distributing medical products, such as the tracking and tracing
capabilities required by pedigree laws. Once the voice system was
determined, Henry Schein chose Motorola MC3090 multimodal
devices to support it. These lightweight mobile computer terminals
are worn as belt packs that are connected to headsets when performing voice operations, but they also have the added capabilities
of being able to scan bar codes and performing screen-based applications. This comes in handy for capturing additional data, such as
serial numbers for items that carry warranties. It also makes it easy
for pickers to retrieve additional product data on items, such as lot
codes, vendor information and expiration dates.
“So, it came down to which terminal could hold and deliver the
data workers needed at the time of picking. We chose the Motorola
MC3090. It is a nice, lightweight terminal that our users are very
happy with,” adds Charpin.
The facility in Grapevine, Texas, near
Dallas services practitioners in southwestern states. This 176,000-square-foot
facility ships some 8,500 cartons each
day and has been using the voice system for a little over a year.
Individual products are picked from
flow racks and shelving onto carts. The
carts contain about 20 totes used to
gather specific orders. The Jennifer system guides a worker to specific storage
locations that hold needed products.
Once there, he speaks a check digit to
confirm the correct location. The voice system then tells how many
items to pick and instructs him to place them into a specific tote on
the cart, which also holds a check digit that the worker must confirm. This assures near-perfect picking accuracy.
And while the Motorola units are primarily used for picking
today, their multimodal design allows other roles in the future,
which was an attractive advantage for Charpin.
“We know what the business is like today, but we don’t know
what it will be tomorrow,” he says. “The Motorola device we have
will allow us the flexibility to manage change in the future.”
For more information on Motorola, call (800) 833-9788 or visit
www.motorola.com/enterprise.
To watch a short video showing operations at Henry Schein’s distribution center in
Grapevine, Texas, go to www.dcvelocity.com and click on the Velocity Video Speed Challenge.
