Sustaining a Successful Voice Deployment

Yesterday's tired approaches are simply inadequate for today's world where supply chain organizations are struggling mightily to squeeze as much profit and performance out of their operations as possible. These overwhelming expectations create many challenges — and opportunities — for distribution center and warehouse leaders. Their ability to inspire and enable their workforces to achieve peak performance gets tested on an hourly basis.

Part of this leadership dynamic is helping workers to understand and embrace the technological changes that come into the work environment. Experience shows that companies receive the greatest payback from their technology investments when they carefully consider the impact these systems have on the end users — frontline DC and warehouse employees — and plan for potential issues before the system goes live. These best practices are ideal for implementing a voice system.

Warehouses and DCs across the globe rely on voice to improve productivity, increase accuracy and reduce operational expenses. Voice is well established in more than 40 developed countries as an alternative to labor-intensive technologies.

Here's how it works: Assignments for selection, replenishment, putaway and inventory moves are generated by a WMS and transmitted via a wireless network to a wearable or mounted computer. That device translates the assignment data into verbal commands conveyed through a worker's headset, directing the worker to an aisle or section of the warehouse and a specific slot or pick location. The worker then verifies his or her action by speaking a check digit or quantity.

Voice is the most natural and intuitive of all data entry and order-management technologies because speech is one of the first skills people learn. However, like any technological innovation, voice systems introduce complexities that organizations must carefully manage. One of the biggest challenges DC and warehouse leaders face is anticipating and addressing employee concerns, which can range from productivity and safety to worries about stress, boredom and isolation. With careful planning, each of these issues can be alleviated.

Acknowledge Concerns

Stress is a natural result of the learning process. However, as people gain proficiency with a new tool or task, stress recedes. We have found this to be the case with voice. While any new system has a learning curve, workers quickly become comfortable using voice as a work process improvement tool.

Studies have shown that human anxiety escalates when workers know they are being tracked or monitored. Sometimes, employees may perceive an increased level of scrutiny that voice will enable. They should be assured that performance is measured through the WMS. What is different with a voice system is there is now another way to identify who handled what assignments and how long they took to complete specific tasks.

That said, it is important to clarify that tasks are being tracked, not employee behaviors. Workers need to understand that voice does not change the essential nature of their work; it is merely a different and more effective medium for communicating the steps to get the job done.