Talking points voice-directed order fulfillment

TALKING POINTS:

VOICE-DIRECTED

FULFILLMENT

Fulfillment Is Business-Critical

• Errors hurt your bottom line in multiple ways

– Delivery errors destroy customer goodwill.

– Along with frustrating customers, processing returns is expensive.

• Speed is differentiating

– Customers “need it now” and have plenty of choices.

– The expected delivery speed is increasing continually.

• Service excellence is expected

– You can’t charge extra, because your competitors won’t.

To compete, fulfillment operations need to be

more accurate, faster and cheaper.

Voice Delivers Fulfillment’s Needs–

Accuracy, Efficiency and Visibility

• Eliminates Errors

By validating each pick and quantity verbally, you reduce returns and minimize rework & QC.

• Improves Productivity

By allowing pickers to be hands- and eyes-free, they can pick more products in less time, which cuts down on overtime and seasonal hiring.

• Reduces Training

When seasonal hiring is necessary, voice reduces ramp up time for new worker, because it’s intuitive and easy to learn. New workers can be up to full speed in less than a week.

• Improves Visibility

Best-of-breed voice solutions also provide exceptions, workflow and performance management screens.

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How Jennifer works

Jennifer relays instructions from your WMS to DC employees–through a separate server or directly to a mobile computer.

Jennifer can add new functionality on top of your existing systems, including basic WMS functions for distributors with legacy host systems.

Employees communicate with Jennifer through a headset connected to a mobile voice-enabled computer. Their eyes and hands stay focused on the job.

Jennifer works at these e-commerce

and multichannel retailers:

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The Results

• Accuracy

• Productivity

• Reduce Seasonal labor costs

• Rapid deployment (~ 3-5 months)

• Fast ROI (<12 months)

For Example…Voice at ModCloth

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• Company had 40% year on

year growth in 2012

• Legacy host (no WMS)

• Installed multi-modal voice

for picking and sorting

• Results:

– Doubled productivity

(total outbound labor)

– Reduced training from 4

weeks to 1 week

And…Voice at Oriental Trading Company

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• Consolidated operations in

automated DC with sortation,

WCS, etc.

• Installed multi-modal voice for

multiple picking processes

• Results:

– Reduced picking errors 60% -

outbound accuracy at 99.9%

– Productivity increased 45%, to

475 units/mh (overall)

Not surprisingly, warehouse managers in DCs using voice are generally far

more satisfied with their warehouse operations than those in DCs without it.

But Different Voice Systems Get Different Results:

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Voice-

enabled

WMS

Multi-Modal Voice

Solutions

Advanced, multi-modal solutions combine the latest voice and mobile

technologies with sophisticated applications (task interleaving, adaptive

workflows, etc.) to drive transformational gains in DC efficiency – far beyond

what you would get with voice-enablement or voice-only solutions.

Capabilities Beyond Voice-Enablement

• Optimize the Voice-Directed Processes (not just voice-

enablement)

– Dialogue Optimization

– Task and Workflow Optimization using voice, scan, and display

– “Lean” the end-to-end process: Printing, pre-pick, staging, etc.

• Reengineer Processes

– Creative Design: Batching, interleaving, two-stage picking

– Work Management: Don’t be limited by your host/WMS

• Enhance Visibility and Control

– Performance management: Productivity tracking

– Work management: Assignment balancing

– Exception management: Real-time information speeds resolution

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Summary

• Voice is a proven solution for improving fulfillment operations – now

more than ever, it’s a critical technology

• The technology is changing fast – voice solutions of the past are

giving way to rich, multi-modal applications.

• To get transformational gains with voice you need to look beyond

voice-enablement

– Treat a voice project as a process improvement opportunity

– Don’t rule out scanning or screens

– Think about the warehouse floor – ease of use, up- and downstream

processes

– Look beyond the warehouse floor – management effectiveness, user

training and customer service

Thank You!

Lucas Systems, Inc.

[email protected]

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