Voice picking accuracy improvements

How is accuracy improved?

Voice directed picking uses a combination of check digits and quantity count down to drive up accuracy.

Check digits on the warehouse location label are read out by the picker to verify that they are in the correct location. Since Voice picking is eyes free the picker does not need to move their eyes away from the pick location to manually confirm the location with an RF terminal and check quantities – instead the voice system tells the picker how many to pick as soon as the location check digit has been read.

Check digits can also be used to identify specific products – for example, in picking mixed cases of bottles the last 2 digits of bottle EAN code can be read out to confirm the correct bottle has been picked. Since the confirmation can be done at the time the product is being physically picked, there is an advantage over RF Picking where the picker must scan the item/location first, then reach for the product once the scanner is put away.

By counting down quantities into the voice system pickers are helped to drive down quantity errors. For example when directed to pick 7 items the picker would read back pick 2, pick 2 pick 2, pick 1. These responses are spoken as physical pick action is taken and the system counts the quantity down from 7 at each response. If the picker is distract after picking the first 4 and loses count they simply have to speak “say again” and the voice system will tell them how many remain to be picked from the current location.

By increasing accuracy in this way voice directed picking delivers significant savings by avoiding the various types of pick error which occur in the warehouse. By understanding the real cost of pick inaccuracies it becomes clear how voice picking is able to produce a robust return on investment. SO what is the cost of picking errors?

There are three different types of error which can occur in a warehouse during the picking process: short, over and mis-picks.

Short picks

The cost of rectifying a short pick is the administrative effort of telesales and admin staff resolving the credit claim and the margin lost on goods sale.

Over picks

Over picks are where the customer receives more of an item than they ordered and paid for. Over picks may often go unreported for obvious reasons. If ran over pick is reported, the costs to rectify include return transport costs, admin as per short picks, labour costs in handling the return, and in the case of best before or perishable products the cost of writing off stock.

Mis-picks

Mis-picks are where the wrong item is shipped to the customer. If the error is correctly reported as a mis-pick all of the same rectification costs for over picks apply. If the error is reported as a short pick, i.e. not returned or paid for, there is the additional cost of replacing the or crediting the item which was not shipped which means that mis-picks can be the most costly type of error.