Waukesha, WI and Pittsburgh, PA - RedPrairie Corporation, a leader in global supply chain technology solutions, and Vocollect, a global leader in integrated voice-directed distribution systems, announced a strategic integration and reseller agreement. Under the agreement, RedPrairie will integrate and resell Vocollect's "hands-free, eyes-free(tm)" Talkman® solution with RedPrairie's DLx® Warehouse and DLx Labor supply chain execution solutions. The integration with Talkman, available in a forthcoming release will allow RedPrairie to offer customers a total productivity solution that is voice-enabled. This will improve productivity and streamlines workflow in warehouses and distribution centers, while reducing error rates by as much as 80 per cent.
Comments John Jazwiec, RedPrairie Company Leader, "Voice technology has become a hot topic for our customers with case-pick and piece-pick operations because of the many advantages of hands-free, eyes-free processing, and we see real benefits from voice-enabling all of the primary warehouse operational activities in the near future. By providing our customers with standard integration to Vocollect, we can simplify implementation, reduce risk and provide a seamless user interface allowing them to realize the benefits sooner and reducing their total cost of ownership."
Vocollect's voice system, in use today by over 50,000 distribution workers in hundreds of companies throughout North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific, is built on its leading high-performance industrial speech recognition technology, the rugged, built-for-purpose Talkman wearable voice terminal, and industry standard Microsoft Windows CE and 802.11b WLAN technologies. The solution enables warehouse workers to send and receive real-time information from the RedPrairie host applications through a naturally spoken dialog. The primary benefits of the integrated voice-directed solution are the accuracy and productivity gained as warehouse personnel are directed by DLx Warehouse, the immediate real-time productivity feedback to supervisors and floor personnel provided by DLx Labor, and the simplicity and reliability of the direct interface of the combined system.
Jack LeVan, Vocollect president and CEO, says, "With the combined solution of RedPrairie's robust WMS and labor systems and Vocollect's configurable, extensible and easily scaled solution, our joint customers can easily add the accuracy and productivity of voice to their RedPrairie applications. Then, they can proactively analyze information about warehouse labor performance down to the second an item is received, stored, picked and loaded, and make informed, productivity-boosting decisions based on accurate, real-time reporting."
The RedPrairie and Vocollect development teams are collaborating to create direct, real-time interfaces between RedPrairie's distribution and productivity solutions and Vocollect's Talkman terminals. "Because the system will exchange data directly with the Talkman terminals without the need for middleware or a voice server, the architecture will eliminate the need for server-related IT support resources, remove a potential point of failure in the system, and prevent unnecessary latency in the real-time interface," says David Erickson, RedPrairie R&D Group Leader – Facility Applications. "The Talkman terminals are as functional as traditional RF terminals, while the improved ergonomics provide measurable benefits in productivity, accuracy and safety."
Red Prairie delivers superior logistics results by driving out more logistics costs than anyone in the industry, enabling customers to consistently achieve their supply chain objectives. For additional information, call 1.888.624.8448, or access http://www.redprairie.com With more than 50,000 users at hundreds of companies and locations throughout North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, Vocollect has pioneered and deployed more integrated voice-distribution warehouse systems than any other company. For additional information, contact Vocollect at +1 412.829.8145, or http://www.vocollect.com
