Seminar focuses on voice- and light-directed technology
By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 3/29/2006
"Let math guide your decision," said AL Systems president and CEO Paul Lightfoot at yesterday's seminar "Voice is Best (except when it isn't)," which discussed voice- and light-directed picking and putting technology.
Paperless picking and putting technologies—both voice- and light-directed—improve productivity, increase accuracy and optimize labor, said Lightfoot. Almost all errors go away, he said, and 40 to 50% less activity is required with paperless technology. But, which technology—voice or lights—is more efficient? According to Lightfoot, each is best in certain circumstances. To choose: Consider both investment cost and productivity benefits. Voice technology is best in low reach density operations, where there are few reaches relative to travel, said Lightfoot. In low reach density situations, voice-directed technology is as productive as light-directed technology, but with significantly less investment. For high reach density applications with many reaches relative to travel, voice-directed technology is significantly less productive and requires a far greater investment, he said.
"Voice-directed technology is clearly preferred in a low reach density environment like a slow piece picking operation at an apparel supplier," said Lightfoot. "Light-directed technology, however, is the clear choice for high reach operations with fast moving piece picking and many operators that are expensive to equip with voice technology."
In the case of a mixed density operation, said Lightfoot, a hybrid solution with lights in the fast moving areas and voice in the slow moving areas is ideal. "This gives us the best of both worlds in terms of productivity and investment cost and we will see this type of application more and more moving forward," he said.
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