Apr 11, 2024

As the demands of the contemporary supply chains of today continually shift and swerve, the need for versatile and dependable solutions is as high as ever. At Heartland, through our partnership with Honeywell, we strive to bring your business solutions that provide the maximal benefits of optimization with low implementation costs. In a universe of relentlessly revolutionizing technologies, voice-directed solutions are rapidly gaining favor among businesses because of their adaptability and ease-of-use. For instance, voice technology assists in guiding an employee step by step for smooth completion of tasks and more efficient workflows—regardless of environment or industry. As labor shortages surge, user-friendly and adaptable technologies are only anticipated to increase in popularity. Moreover, while voice-based automation enhances processing rates for quicker inventory movement and shipping, it also grants an opportunity to advance inspection and maintenance to augment the availability of assets. By verbally breaking down step by step procedures, voice technology assists businesses in rapidly servicing their assets, safeguarding productivity from disdainfully lengthy downtime. Of course, the maintenance of assets is vital; however, the same can be said about repairing equipment as rapidly as possible—as it enables work to commence more quickly. Voice technology diminishes downtime that is caused by long repairs through simplified ease-of-use.

The future of efficiency is heard through voice-directed solutions. In fact, an estimation of almost half of warehouses across the country are planning to integrate some kind of voice automation into their operations by the end of this year. With that said, however, as businesses encounter increasing consumer demands while navigating a smaller pool of labor, that expectation may come to life much sooner than estimated. Unlike traditional fulfillment methods, voice-picking skyrocketed in popularity during the pandemic of 2020 as companies yearned for solutions that would bring some ease to their strained operations. Struggling businesses frequently dealt with things like high employee-turnover rates, additional expenses for complicated training, missed shipping deadlines, miscommunications between picking and receiving teams, as well as drains of over 10% in profitability. Many leaders in technology—Honeywell, most prominently—have transformed the space of voice-picking with durable, easily deployable technologies that are compatible with many next-generation and legacy systems. Along with decreasing time spent in training by 85%, voice-picking solutions have also assisted businesses in obtaining numerous benefits.

Our expert solutions bring the most out of your business, delivering a second-to-none ROI. Of course, before fully integrating an end-to-end voice-directed system into your operations, it is important to have a complete understanding of the benefits that can stem from them. The solutions created through the H2A partnership produce an abundance of benefits, such as:

1. Consistent Order Accuracy – Many technological developers believe that many order-picking errors are not solely the worker’s fault. With things like undependable inventory visibility during the put-away and replenishment processes, the result of the wrong product being placed on the right shelf may occur. Additionally, when picking teams are following directions that are on a touchscreen, they may not notice an inaccuracy until it is too late. In contrast, however, there is no need for employees to watch a screen when using voice-picking—which opens them up to freely verify orders more naturally and efficiently. Furthermore, by connecting voice-based systems with your central warehouse management system (WMS), your employees will be able to update inventory data more precisely, which prevents more than ¾ of errors from going unnoticed. While printed, paper lists can still be a functional method for order picking, paper systems will not last in the long term because it allows room for more errors when navigating through inventory data. Looking away at the screens of computers and other handheld devices can risk manual data entry errors, which can jeopardize accuracy. In contrast, voice-picking opens your employees to fully focus on the orders they are picking. Many distribution and manufacturing centers see a near-perfect accuracy rate when they integrate voice technology into their operations. In fact, Honeywell Voice provides 99.99% accuracy rates, improves productivity more than 30%, and amends about 80% of errors to increase operations throughout all facilities.

Related: How Modernizing your Warehouse Simplifies Mobile Device Management

2. Quicker Order Attainment – About 60% of consumers presume that orders will be shipped within three days of their placing of the order. Nonetheless, 80% of surveyed distributors still utilize a 5-to-8-shipping-day-method. In contrast, voice-picking will increase fulfillment speeds by over 10% without negatively affecting accuracy. Not only that, but voice-guided systems also diffuse and update incoming orders in real-time—optimizing your worker’s route and speeding up throughput. While traditional picking methods can still be precise and productive, a detriment is that sometimes they cannot keep pace with increasing consumer expectations for accelerated fulfillment and morphing supply chain demands. To maintain quick and accurate picking and data entry without overwhelming employees, voice-picking technology sustains about three seconds per pick compared to traditional picking procedures.

Related: Order Picking Strategies to Try in 2024

3. Step-By-Step Maintenance – Consistent maintenance is a key way in preventing injuries to employees, abrupt breakdowns, and downtime. Along with managing and facilitating the management of inventory, voice commands can also administer safety checklists. Employees equipped with headsets can seamlessly follow auditory instructions and affirm completion through a hands-free system. Moreover, wall-to-wall connectivity allows seamless checklist and uncovered issue documentation—which facilitates further audits without errors, enhancing your overall efficiency and profitability. Along with maintaining your equipment, voice technology aids in maintaining employee procedures as well. Getting new hires trained and dispatched is difficult when using traditional methods because these hires need to be brought up to speed with all procedures and gain a solid understanding of warehousing operations. Clearly, this simply does not help accelerate workflows when consumers already demand quicker and more accurate shipping. With modern voice-picking technology, however, you are able to train new hires in just a few hours and have them accomplishing performance goals within a week. By using voice technology, you will be able to quickly address demands and realize remarkable ROI and faster payback.

Related: How to Enhance Maintenance Workflows with Voice Technology

At Heartland, we leverage our great partnership with Honeywell to provide businesses with industry-leading solutions that deliver second-to-none ROI and maximal levels of modernization—driving efficiency and profitability. If you’re looking to bring modernization to your business, reach out to our team today!