Warehousing is an important part of your logistics process and companies should never take it for granted.
However, it is a good idea to keep implementing new policies and systems that can improve your warehousing operations. Automation in eCommerce operations is not a new development after all.
With that in mind, let us look at what voice-directed warehousing is, and whether you should consider implementing it for your business.
What is Voice Directed Warehousing?
If you have a large-scale warehouse operation, you should consider opting for voice-directed warehousing. Voice-directed technologies can help you level up your warehousing operations wherein workers get commands and interact with voice commands.
Essentially, a voice-directed warehousing system can reduce the resources and processes involved in paper-based systems. Voice picking, warehouse receiving and other processes that are a part of voice-directed warehousing ensure that the employees are hands-free so they can get other things done.
With the help of voice-directed technology, warehouses can help employees complete tasks and navigate communication with them in a much easier and faster way. Voice-directed technology can also help employees accomplish complex tasks easily by assisting them in executing complex tasks and streamlining processes.
6 Benefits of Voice-Directed Warehousing and Picking
Now that you know what voice-directed warehousing is, let us also look at the benefits you can expect by opting for this kind of warehousing for your business.
1. Improved Speed and Accuracy of Orders
When it comes to warehousing, plenty of small and big processes take place simultaneously at any time. With that in mind, it is important to know that voice-directed warehousing can help users focus on their tasks and processes.
Getting instructions through voice commands can help workers find items more quickly for picking, follow the right directions, and navigate voice-directed warehouse operations more efficiently. As a result, your customers will be happier and their expectations will always be met or exceeded in terms of accuracy and speed.
2. Reduced Errors
When it comes to paperwork, humans are prone to making errors and there is little you can do to prevent the ripple effect of those errors. With voice commands driving your operations, you can successfully reduce the scope of errors and ensure that you can prevent most picking and order fulfilment-related ones.
In processes like picking, where an error may occur due to a small mistake such as looking away from the scanner, you can have verbal confirmation to solve the error immediately. What’s more, real distribution system voice technology combined with barcode scanning can help you reduce your error rates even further and reduce the costs associated with them.
3. Decreased Training Time
One of the biggest challenges in managing a warehouse is the constant onboarding of employees and the training associated with each new employee. Some of the documentation involved in warehousing and shipping operations is so technical and specific, that the employees have to be trained properly.
However, with voice directions and voice-driven processes, employees require minimal training. The only thing they have to be taught is to use the gadgets correctly, and the processes they should follow. Employees can receive instructions for every step through voice commands, thus eliminating the need for manuals and labels.
4. Increased Inventory Performance
As you may already be aware, Inventory management and warehouse management go hand in hand. But what you may not know is that the better your warehousing processes such as picking and packing, the better your inventory counts.
Voice-directed warehouse operations can use voice-directed picking and warehousing to organise items more effectively in the facility and reduce the turnaround times associated with the sub-processes. By organising your warehouses correctly, you will have a more accurate picture of your inventory, thus helping you make successful and strategic decisions.
5. Improved Customer Satisfaction
Imagine having a warehouse that has reached its fullest potential in terms of speed and accuracy, requires minimal training for employees to onboard, and boosts the overall operational performance.
With voice-directed work, you will be able to target ambitious goals for your business and always deliver on the commitments you make to your customers. You will be able to ensure shorter turnaround times and accuracy in orders, thus pleasing your customers and increasing their satisfaction levels.
6. Safer Warehousing
While warehousing is one of the safer processes in an order fulfilment cycle, it is still prone to causing injuries to employees. Most of these injuries are a result of distracted personnel or negligence.
With voice-directed processes, employees will be free to use their hands to focus on the task at hand rather than going back and forth with the paperwork. As a result, the risk of injuries caused due to distraction is eliminated.
Other than the fact that too much background noise can make it difficult for workers to hear voice commands, and that there is no significant change in the turnaround times, there are not many disadvantages of voice-directed warehousing.
How Does Voice-Directed Technology Work?
Voice-directed technology amplifies the functions that your current processes carry out, by adding more capabilities. This technology leverages a combination of hardware and software so that your employees can receive and respond to voice commands that deliver instructions to them.
If your warehouses utilise voice-directed technology, you will only need to provide a microphone and speaker preferably in the form of a headset to all your employees so that they can hear and respond to the commands. This headset will then be connected to a mobile device or computer which will integrate it with the rest of the system.
When done right, your warehouse will be able to utilise voice-directed technology to receive and respond to commands, confirm and ask queries about tasks, deliver reports, and put in requests for any kind of assistance. The system linked to the headset will record all the voice commands and generate analytics and insights as well as offer feedback to customers.
This central system will also be able to deliver voice commands to direct workers to the right items, or to alert them about potential safety hazards. This entire system will come together to ensure that your warehouse operations are much more streamlined, thus boosting the efficiency, productivity and safety of your workers.
4 Common Applications of Voice-Directed Technology in Warehousing
Now that you know enough about voice-directed warehousing to understand its merits and the contributions it will make to your overall system, here are some common warehousing applications that you might want to consider in the process.
1. Picking
Picking is one of the most crucial parts of your order fulfilment operations and warrants more accuracy and convenience for workers and warehouses alike. There are different kinds of picking that you can consider in the process, and voice-directed picking technology will assist you in almost every step.
Operators in warehouses can guide workers using voice commands and guide them about breaking down the pallets arriving at the warehouse. They can also use these voice commands to guide them in picking specific cases or products and place them on the conveyor belt containing outbound products.
2. Safety
To keep warehousing operations safe for the workers, companies have to put several policies in place. Even then, employees might overlook certain security measures and end up injuring themselves or others. This is because they are unlikely to revisit the paperwork or safety policy documents very often.
With voice-directed technology, operators can remind their workers about the safety policies while they carry out any process. For instance, if a worker is going to be handling radioactive material, the voice commands can remind them to wear HAZMAT suits and not have any direct contact with the goods or the containers they are kept in.
3. Cross-Docking
By enabling voice commands and integrating voice-directed technology in your warehousing processes, you can conduct processes like cross-docking much more easily. The voice commands will tell the workers exactly when and how they are supposed to unload cargo from a truck or railroad car.
Once done, the voice commands will also help them navigate the process of reloading those products onto an outbound transport vehicle.
4. Inventory Management
If you have not already realised it, voice commands and voice-directed technology can help you boost accuracy in every aspect of your warehousing operations. With the help of processes such as voice picking and warehousing, you can attain a higher level of accuracy in your orders too.
Needless to say, the more accuracy you gain in certain parts of your warehousing operations, the more chance you have to get accurate inventory counts and management processes.
How to Decide if Voice Directed Warehousing is Right For You?
As such voice-directed warehousing applies to and is suitable for all kinds of warehouses - no matter the size and scope of operations. But if your warehouse is large and has different volumes of items, where each SKU has a scannable barcode, then this technology is perfect for you.
It helps that voice-directed technology is highly cost-effective compared to other systems you can install in your warehouse and makes your processes faster and more accurate.
Apart from being useful in your picking process, voice-directed technologies can enable other parts of your warehousing operations including management of inventory and order processing. With workers active on headsets and receiving live voice commands, your order processing efficiency is likely to improve.
Voice-directed warehousing practices can also be useful when your workers are looking to pick up heavy items in the warehouse. Picking these kinds of items will warrant the usage of both arms for workers, and receiving voice commands instead of referring to paperwork will be more efficient.
Voice-directed technology can also help workers in warehouses that require them to wear gloves and make it difficult to use a computer. But if your warehousing operations are pretty small in scale and workers aren’t dealing with a lot of volume regularly, you can skip integrating voice-directed technology.
Concluding Remarks
Voice-directed warehousing is an approach that warehouses today deploy if the volume of goods they deal with warrants its usage. As such, workers in a warehouse deal with a lot of paperwork, and voice-directed technology is a way for them to direct their full attention towards the task at hand without being interrupted.
If you need assistance with your logistical operations, do not hesitate to get a quote from our website, and let the professionals at PACK & SEND help you out.