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panies like Samsung, LG Electronics, and
Apple are generally less expensive than the
proprietary handheld computers traditionally deployed in warehouse picking and
scanning operations.
And sure enough, a flurry of voice providers have answered the call. A number
of suppliers, including Lucas Systems Inc.,
TopVox Corp., and Voxware, now offer
voice picking applications on consumer
devices.
VALUE PROPOSITION IS LOUD
AND CLEAR
The transition from proprietary hardware
to consumer devices promises to be technologically simple, since many providers
of voice applications are already running
their software on Google’s Android operating system, the same OS that drives many
consumer hardware platforms.
For example, Lucas applications are
in wide use today on Android OS-based
devices such as smartphones and tablets,
said Ron Kubera, the company’s executive
vice president and chief marketing officer.
Lucas also supports Android smart watches
and glasses.
Using the familiar smartphone platform
means workers can get up to speed quickly without requiring extra training. “The
work force is familiar with the smartphone
form factor; their supervisors can’t get [the
phones] away from them,” Kubera said.
Attracted by the convenience and cost of
smartphones, more warehouse operations
are incorporating these tools into their
picking processes.
Despite this new array of offerings,
with their promise of low hardware costs
and high comfort levels for users, there
is debate in the voice community about
the benefits of hosting warehouse software
applications on consumer hardware. The
battle lines have formed along predictable
sides, with software vendors extolling new
consumer devices and hardware vendors
supporting the standard proprietary platforms. Opponents’ concerns about using
consumer smartphones in the warehouse
environment include worries about their
durability, how to manage multiple cables
and accessories, and security problems
with locking out distracting apps like texting, games, and social media.
ers. “E-commerce is huge in creating the demand we see, specifically
in the picking and packing area,”
said Keith Phillips, president and
CEO of voice solutions developer
Voxware Inc.
Testament to voice technology’s
growing acceptance is an upswell
in praise from analysts. A Gartner
report titled “Hype Cycle for Supply
Chain Execution Technologies,
2015” declared that voice-directed
picking for warehouse management
had progressed well beyond the
experimental stage and had reached
“productive maturity.” That means
that supply chain and IT leaders
looking to transform their logistics operations see warehouse voice
devices as solid profit drivers, with a
more reliable payoff than emerging
technologies such as robotics, big
data, the Internet of Things, and
smart machines, the report said.
At the same time, vendors have
continued to refine voice technolo-
gy by improving software stability,
offering a wider configuration of
devices, and cutting prices. Taken
together, these developments
have opened the market to small
and mid-range DCs as well as the
mega-warehouses, and helped drive
a spike in demand for voice-di-
rected products over the last 18
months, Phillips said.
As warehouses roll out more
voice-directed systems, many of
their younger employees see parallels between this new technology
and the voice-controlled GPS units,
videogames, and smartphones they
use at home.
Inevitably, the question arises:
Why not run these voice-directed
picking applications on consumer hardware such as smartphones?
After all, in addition to their familiar shape and interface, the consumer devices marketed by com-
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