Trends in voice recognition
In just five years, voice recognition technology has moved from an emerging technology used by early adopters to a common practice delivering a real return on investment, especially in picking operations
By Bob Trebilcock, Editor at Large -- Modern Materials Handling, 12/1/2007
In just five years, voice recognition technology has moved from an emerging technology used by early adopters to a common practice delivering a real return on investment, especially in picking operations.
That's the conclusion of a new survey of warehouse professionals and Modern readers by ARC Advisory Group.
“Five years ago, if a warehouse was choosing between voice and pick-to-light technology for each-picking, the choice was usually pick-to-light,” says Steve Banker, ARC's service director for supply chain management. “Today, the choice is more often than not speech recognition.”
The survey highlighted several trends in the way voice recognition is being adopted.
Voice is no longer just for the big guys: While 60% of the respondents using voice had revenues exceeding $1 billion a year, 18% had revenues of between $250 and $1 billion, and 25% had revenues below $250 million, including several respondents with under $100 million in annual revenues.
Voice is being used across verticals: The grocery industry, representing 14% of respondents, was one of the first to adopt voice. However, the top three industries using voice in Banker's survey were retail, food and beverage distribution, and wholesale distribution, each representing nearly 22% of the respondents.
Use is likely to grow: 56% of all respondents were exploring voice in the warehouse, and 13% said they were strongly exploring the adoption of voice technology.
Picking predominates: Where is voice most frequently being used? “The sweet spot is picking,” says Banker. In fact, 100% of the respondents using voice were using it in picking operations. By contrast, only a small percentage used voice for putaway, value-added services, receiving, cycle counting or truck loading.
Voice is delivering tangible ROI: Nearly 60% of respondents saw productivity gains greater than 8% in their picking operations when they adopted voice, while another 26% saw productivity gains of between 4 and 8%. (“Greater than 8%” was the highest rating offered to survey respondents. When Banker conducted follow-up interviews, he found gains were often much greater than 8%.)
Banker's conclusion: “The best way to adopt voice in the warehouse is to begin by focusing on picking, then over time look to expand the use of voice to other tasks.”
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