Vocollect has set out its vision for the future: the voice-centric warehouse. It reckons that using voice technology for put away, replenishment and loading can replicate the benefits of voice picking, right across the warehouse.
Vocollect has updated its software architecture to be easier for WMS producers to control and adapt for multiple functions, and for individual clients’ needs. For example, Argos has taken on Vocollect’s voice solutions for put-away. After trialling the system over the past year the retailer intends to adopt voice for put away in all of its 700 stores.
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In its full year results, Argos’ owner Home Retail Group said: “This technology helps to automatically guide stockroom assistants to the correct location, with key benefits being quicker processing and further enhanced stock file accuracy, thereby improving availability and customer satisfaction. Having been extended to 130 stores during the year, ‘voice put-away’ will now be rolled-out across the rest of the portfolio over the next two years.”
Vocollect made better than predicted sales in 2009 and plans to grow its market share by expanding into new areas. As well as using voice for more functions within the warehouse, Vocollect predicts higher take-up by smaller warehouses, are extending into industries beyond their strong hold in the grocery sector, and are seeing global expansion, typically when a multinational moves into a new territory taking voice with it.
