Littlehampton Book Services (LBS), one of the leading book distributors in the UK, has decided to implement voice technology from VoiteQ following a successful four week trial of the solution. The trial was deemed a success after meeting LBS’ criteria of achieving near 100% first time picking accuracy; during the trial LBS actually achieved a 95% reduction in picking errors.

The implementation of VoiteQ’s VoiceMan middleware and Vocollect® wearable voice computers will replace LBS’ existing paper-based picking. The solution will be used to pick individual books from a zone based conveyor system. The operator selects the zone to work in, waits for a box to arrive, tells the voice device the invoice number and is then directed to pick all the items for that box, within that zone.

Graham Money, LBS’ Operations Director says, “We had a healthy wariness of installing new technology, as did our operatives, which is why we were happy that VoiteQ were able to conduct a trial with us. We were extremely pleased with the results, not only the dramatic increase in accuracy achieved during the trial but also the feedback from our team. The team appreciate how natural it is to use a voice system and how it has actually made their tasks easier.”

 

VoiteQ’s VoiceMan middleware will interface between the Vocollect Talkman T5 wearable computer, and LBS’ existing VISTA system. Operatives can work completely hands and eyes free by receiving picking commands from the WMS to a plug-in headset and the computer, the system literally talks the operative through their task. The voice-directed application typically delivers accuracy levels exceeding 99.9% and greatly increases productivity, which in turn delivers a very fast ROI.

Money concludes, “Not only were we impressed by the results of the trial, but we really liked VoiteQ’s approach to the project, working with us as partners to create a solution that meets our exact requirements. Their knowledge and experience of implementing voice solutions enabled them to tailor their system to cope with the nuances of our business.”

The trial has been deemed such a success, that LBS are already planning where else in the business they could benefit from using voice. They believe that the flexibility of voice means that voice will be the ideal tool for bulk picking, replenishment and stock control.