DC Velocity - March 2015

54 DC VELOCITY MARCH 2015 www.dcvelocity.com m a te ri alh an dli ngup da te OR DE R PI CK ING AN D FU LF I LL M EN T

Play, KPM has begun to realize the many benefits that automation can bring. For instance, workers appreciate the speed and ease of picking.

“Before, we [had to grab paper] from the printer and go
pick our parts, and it was very slow. Picking up paper all
day gets annoying,” says Shane Cole, a parts picker at KPM.
“With voice, you just say ‘next order,’ and Lydia tells you
where to go, and then you put it in a bin and your order is
done.”
Training new workers is a simple matter with voice.
“We had a new guy come in. We set him up with Lydia for
maybe an hour and he understood how it worked—like
instantly,” adds Cole.

Several of the workers at KPM speak Spanish as their first language. The Lydia system offers the option of delivering picking instructions in Spanish, though at this point, all of the workers have chosen to receive commands in English. On top of that, the system understands their accents (and New Jersey accents, at that!) with very high recognition levels. And with the topVox system, there’s no need for users to record a voice template beforehand, as is the case with other “speaker-dependent” voice systems.

While workers are picking, Lydia exports performance
data back to KPM’s labor management software to track
their work. “I like the productivity reports and the ability to
assign orders to individual pickers,” says Pobihun. The per-
formance information has also proved valuable in coaching
workers who need extra help.

The picking accuracy achieved with the system has allowed the company to cut back on quality checks for outgoing shipments. Based on the accuracy and productivity improvements alone, KPM calculates that the system paid for itself in only about six months.

Once it relocates to the new building later this year, KPM plans to use voice to pick equipment and accessories in addition to the parts. At that point, the company will also begin using the system to direct the picking of multiple orders simultaneously. The plan is for workers to push wheeled carts outfitted with bins along their pick paths. The items will be picked in batches and separated into the bins, which will represent individual orders. Picking multiple orders at once will boost productivity by eliminating much of the travel time associated with discrete order picking. In later phases of the project, the company will expand the use of voice technology to receiving and putaway.

Making the jump to an automated system has been a huge step for a small distributor like KPM. But it promises to be an investment that will allow the company to grow as its volume increases and as it expands the use of voice to new applications. ;

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