Voiteq, global providers of voice-directed work solutions, has been named as the Supply Chain Excellence Awards’ Order Picking Innovation Winner 2018, in conjunction with its customer Crown Paints.
Judges heard how retailers are continuously challenging manufacturers of consumer goods to make more frequent, smaller deliveries. This has led to an increased proportion of case picks and mixed pallets in the manufacturers warehouse. By working in partnership with Voiteq to utilise voice along with volumetric and weight information, Crown Paints - now part of a world leading coating specialist Hempel – saw an opportunity to provide its customers with the ‘perfect pallet’ that would ultimately improve their productivity and efficiency.
Voiteq delivered an initial 8-week VoiceMan Warehouse Execution System (WES) pilot which used data to automate and voice-direct operatives in the warehouse, through an optimised pallet-building process. The Order Picking Innovation Award was awarded for the use of technology in a new and innovative way, as well as celebrating the results which surpassed targets of maintaining accuracy and achieving significant productivity improvements of double-digit success. The award also highlights the strong partnership between both Voiteq and Crown Paints in their collaborative approach. Isabel McCabe, managing director at Voiteq UK, who was presented with the award on behalf of Voiteq and Crown Paints comments; “I’m extremely proud to receive this award as it celebrates the true working partnership we have with Crown Paints and gives recognition to the teams who have made this solution work so well. To be recognised within the industry as innovative experts enhances our quest to continuously help our customers grow and develop their operations with the latest supply chain technology solutions.”
Darryl Senior, supply chain director at Hempel Decorative Europe adds; “I’m delighted with the award win. The Voiteq team worked collaboratively with our operations & digital team to ensure a smooth and very successful Voice Picking pilot at our Darwen site. We were extremely happy with the results from the pilot which maintained accuracy levels, whilst improving operator performance, versus the previous handheld solution. As a result, both of our DC’s have now rolled out the VoiceMan WES solution and we continue to achieve great productivity results.”
With the successful rollout to Crown Paints’ second facility, the solution also takes in to consideration the load height and will build efficient pallets that will reduce the shipping of ‘fresh air’; reducing training times and improving order picking accuracy to enable Crown Paints to be more agile in satisfying customer demand and service.
Voiteq UK sales director, Matt Gregory commented on the pilot; ‘We are delighted to be working with CrownPaints, the fantastic results of the pilot are a testament to the quality of Voiteq’s employees and our solutions.
The combination of technologies being utilised will allow Crown Paints to better serve their customers by
maximising the efficiencies of their operations. The project has been a true partnership and proves that by
working closely with our customers, we can deliver an optimal solution.’
Setting the benchmark for supply chain best practice, logistics and supply chain professionals gathered at the
annual Supply Chain Excellence Awards, now in its 22nd year on November 6th at London’s Hilton Park Lane
Hotel. Winners from each of the nineteen categories were presented with their awards by BBC comedian and
actor Marcus Brigstocke. The awards have become the benchmark for supply chain best practice.