February 1, 2008
NRF Afterthoughts: Now I am Starting to Hear Something
By Bill Bittner, President, BWH Consulting
I have always been a skeptic of voice directed pick operations so when the press relations representative for Vocollect contacted me regarding an interview I felt obligated to warn them about my predisposition. Nevertheless, Larry Sweeney, VP of Product Management, spent an hour with me at NRF. I cannot say I am a voice convert as much as I feel a chink in my armor and I do see the possibility for a long-range opportunity.
My concern with voice pick operations specifically has been that if you don’t put case labels on containers going to the store you cannot tell the store people what to do with the arriving merchandise. A lot depends on where you are starting from, and RFID has a big impact on where voice can go.
If you are currently using case labels to convey messages to store personnel, then you may still want to use voice direction but will also continue to put case labels on merchandise. This means you are using voice to address language barriers and immediate feedback requirements but you will not get the full cost reduction benefits.
Discussion Questions: What’s your take on the prospects for voice activated data collection in warehouse operations? Will RFID increase acceptance of voice?
[Author’s Commentary] I really feel there is a huge opportunity here to combine two technologies into a reasonable solution, neither of which may be economical alone.
Assuming case level RFID marking, voice direction can be used to tell someone what to do with a particular container. Because RFID gives each container its own “license plate,” the supply chain applications know why a case was sent to the store and voice direction can be used to send it to the end display, backroom, or regular shelf display as intended. When a case is stored in the backroom, the floor clerk can be quickly informed if there is more merchandise in storage.
Like I said, I am not yet a convert but I think RFID combined with Voice may be the answer.
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I still think we don’t have a good enough handle on the limits of the physics of RFID. Putting two essentially pioneering technologies together always has promise–and perils.
From a broader perspective, stringing new technologies or tech-combinations together always offers fresh opportunities to solve issues. This has traditionally been hard to do in the CPG space as many folks are looking for the “single-silver-bullet,” point solution. It has further been troubled by solution providers overstating the role their component can have in providing answers.
That said, I see a few VERY NEW solutions beginning to emerge that offset both the cost and the technical problems that have caused some of the RFID meltdown. Nothing that is a silver-bullet, but some things in combination that play well together and seem to offer hurdle-leaping capabilities. A fun time to be engaged in technology!
Voice activated data collection or any other technology is seriously undermined if it has to wait for widespread RFID adoption in retailing. Widespread RFID adoption has been expected (by its fans) since the early 1990’s. The best thing about any warehouse technology: cost savings and error reductions are very easily measured because distribution center activities are so repetitious.
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I still think we don’t have a good enough handle on the limits of the physics of RFID. Putting two essentially pioneering technologies together always has promise–and perils.
From a broader perspective, stringing new technologies or tech-combinations together always offers fresh opportunities to solve issues. This has traditionally been hard to do in the CPG space as many folks are looking for the “single-silver-bullet,” point solution. It has further been troubled by solution providers overstating the role their component can have in providing answers.
That said, I see a few VERY NEW solutions beginning to emerge that offset both the cost and the technical problems that have caused some of the RFID meltdown. Nothing that is a silver-bullet, but some things in combination that play well together and seem to offer hurdle-leaping capabilities. A fun time to be engaged in technology!
Voice activated data collection or any other technology is seriously undermined if it has to wait for widespread RFID adoption in retailing. Widespread RFID adoption has been expected (by its fans) since the early 1990’s. The best thing about any warehouse technology: cost savings and error reductions are very easily measured because distribution center activities are so repetitious.