Vocollect Voice & other Technologies

Avitech -Intermec Logistic Conference Bucharest October 2011

Training

Vocollect 2010

Frank Rissler Region Manager Central & Eastern Europe

Vocollect, a business unit of Intermec

Founded 1987- based in Pittsburgh, PA
Regional offices in Miami, London, Tokyo and Hong Kong

350 employees worldwide

1,750 global team including partners

Pioneered use of voice in industrial settings Over 250,000 users in 55 countries- 28 languages More than $2 billion worth of goods moved daily Sales exceed $100M (nearly 50% in EMEA)
15% of annual sales invested on R&D
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What is Vocollect Voice?

Term that represents Vocollects 20+ years of experience in Voice Includes expertise in:
Voice recognition technology Design & manufacture of durable equipment for use in distribution environments Development of optimized voice applications Voice from different providers is DIFFERENT!
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Many Potential Business Applications

How Vocollect Works

Assignment from WMS transmitted to user worn voice terminal via 802.11b WLAN Voice terminal translates assignment data into audible commands User provides spoken responses to confirm actions taken Responses translated to data Host system updated
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Vocollect VoiceWorld Suite:

Hardware platforms
Talkman wearable devices Vocollect Voice for Handhelds Accessories: Headsets, chargers, etc.

Software
VoiceClient software VoiceConsole management software Voice application software

Development Tools
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The Voice-Centric Warehouse An Evolution

Receiving Put Away Selection Replenish Outbound

VVSSD V SD D

VV VV V

VV VV VV VV VV V VV VV V VV V V

VV VV V

VV S S VS

V Voice Evolution of the Voice-Centric Warehouse: S Scanning D - Display Likely starts with voice-centric picking Adds cycle-counting, put-away, put-to-store, replenishment Adds outbound receiving
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Wearable Computers
Talkman T1 Talkman T5 & A500
SL-4

CK3

Talkman T2x

VMT for T5
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Vocollect Speech Recognition Headsets

SR - 15

SR - 20

SR - 30

SR - 35

SR - 14 SR - 40 SRX Wireless Headset

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VoiceWorld Suite Integration Options

WMS 2 1
VoiceLink or Partner Application Middleware Direct Interface

Business Logic / Back-end Workflow

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WMS Developed Process Logic
VIO API

Process Logic / Operator Dialogue Licensed Vocollect Software

APPLICATION INFRASTRUCTURE

Instruction Set

Device

VoiceLink or Partner Task

VoiceDirect or Partner Task Voice Interface Objects

Voice Client

Voice Client

Voice Client

Voice Client

VoiceConsole Managing the Client, Device and Task Vocollect SR-series industrial headsets and device specific adapters

Vocollect Talkman

Vocollect Voice on Handhelds (VVH)

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Key Benefits of Vocollect Voice

Accuracy Check digits confirm slot location 99.99% order accuracy with voice achievable Productivity
No paper, labels, or RF screens to read or handle 15% - 20% increase in full case pick Up to 50% increase in piece pick

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Key Benefits of Vocollect Voice

Training
About a 50% reduction in training time compared to other methods High degree of worker acceptance Supports multiple languages

Safety
Eliminates need to read or key in information Workers are more focused Hands free, eyes free
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Key Benefits of Vocollect Voice

Rapid Payoff
Decrease in errors higher throughput

significant cost savings

Typical return on investment is 9 12 months

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Vocollect Compared to Paper/Labels

Paper & Labels

Periodically during a shift:

Travel to assignment point Sort / get labels or find list Travel to desk to reconcile discrepancies Data entry (if required) all are eliminated with Vocollect

Vocollect

Elapsed Time

Vocollect Advantage Extreme Accuracy

Reduce errors by 85% vs. paper and labels

Productivity
Increased throughout- 10 - 15+% gains

Training
50% reduction in end-user-training

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Vocollect Compared to RF Scanning

RF Scanning

Vocollect

Elapsed Time

Vocollect Advantage Accuracy

Less errors- 24 less errors per 1,000

Productivity
Increased throughout- 15 - 25+% gains

Training
50% reduction in end-user-training

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How does Vocollect Voice Compare?

3rd party research: REFA Federal Association Compared Voice, Paper, and Scanning 4 types of picking
Item picking Case Picking Item & Case Picking Multiple Order Picking

120 pick jobs, 1800 picks, 3840 articles

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How does Vocollect Voice Compare?

Detailed results, unadjusted
Paper
Pick Method Piece Pick Unit Pick Mixed Pick Batch Pick

Scanning

Voice

Improvement % Voice vs. Paper

Improvement % Voice vs. Scanning

Average minutes per trip

6.404 5.082 7.744 7.549 6.562 5.916 N/A 8.465

4.189 5.816 4.847 5.398

35% 25% 26% N/A

18% 23% 18% 36%

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How does Vocollect Voice Compare?

Detailed results, adjusted*
Paper
Pick Method Piece Pick Unit Pick Mixed Pick Batch Pick

Scanning

Voice

Improvement % Voice vs. Paper

Improvement % Voice vs. Scanning

Average minutes per trip

3.711 2.893 4.381 4.143 3.538 3.104 N/A 4.206

1.779 3.084 1.990 2.981

52% 30% 44% N/A

39% 26% 36% 29%

*Transport and travel time removed

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How does Vocollect Voice Compare?

Minutes

The Result (including transport & travel time)

9.000 8.000 7.000 6.000 5.000 4.000 3.000 2.000 1.000 Piece Picking Case Picking Mixed Picking (piece & units) Batch Picking

Paper Scanning Voice

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Vocollect Compared to Pick-to-Light

PTL investment based on number of SKUs- very expensive* PTL inflexible and not portable* PTL difficult to reconfigure* PTL zone and batch limitations* PTL offers limited hands and eyes free activities*
* Source- Gartner 20

Value of Vocollect Compared to

Paper and Labels
Productivity 10 - 15% slower Accuracy Training Issues

RF Scanning
10 - 25% slower Same

Pick-to-Light

10 - 20 more errors per 1000 2 - 4 more errors per 1000 items items 2x longer Lack of real-time visibility and accountability: inventory, people, system update Difficult to batch-pick Data entry errors 2x - 3x longer Average 2 weeks of training Operator is distracted: data entry, read, scan Safety issues (Heads-down) Not ergonomic

2 - 4 errors per 1000 items Same Inflexible Expensive to add SKUs Cant efficiently manage two order selectors in one zone Difficult to batch-pick

Labor and materials cost to Not hands-/eyes-free Sized based on SKUs vs. handle paper people Battery issues Not hands-/eyes-free Thousands of points of failure Many points of failure (requires (we are talking about lights) back-up inventory of equipment)
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Speaker Dependent Recognizer

Why?

Clean language

Semi clean Dialect

Semi clean Dialect

In a language where you have good experience Where you collected a lot of voice templates Where you learned to tweak and optimize the system Where the environment and external noise is not too bad ..speaker independent works to an acceptable level Its still more wordy though, as usually it uses catch phrases!
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Speaker Dependent Recognizer

Why?

Clean language

Semi clean Dialect

Semi clean Dialect

The less experience you have with a language The less voice templates you collected The less opportunities you had to learn how to optimize the system Where the environment and external noise is challenging ..speaker independent will cause more repeats and drop ins!
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Speaker Dependent Recognizer

Why? Speaker dependent is working with any language or dialect!

Clean language

Semi clean Dialect

Semi clean Dialect

But if you use Speaker dependent, you cover ALL! languages and dialects with the same and best possible quality!!! Means less than 30 min training of voice profiles If you have 3 drop ins or repeats per day @ 10 sec If you have 260 working days So per year the less performing recognition costs Compared to 30 min training, ROI for this will be after = 1800 sec = 30 sec = 7800 sec 130 min 2.8 months!!!
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Questions ???

www.vocollect.com
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