BiRite Foodservice Distributors may be the largest independent foodservice distributor in northern California, but that doesn't guarantee it No. 1 status in the hearts of customers. One missed case or delivering the wrong product can change a reputation overnight in this business.

Although mis-picks were low, they were costly when factoring in the cost of fuel and labor. It could require one person and an entire shift to fix a mistake. All picking was manual, and selectors were guided only by a stack of labels.

“When you're picking orders at 2 a.m. even under the best of circumstances it's a challenge for any human being to maintain focus all night long,” says Dennis Collins, BiRite's general manager. “We knew we had to automate.”

After investigating warehouse management systems (WMS) to help improve operational efficiencies and deliver higher customer satisfaction, BiRite's WMS developer recommended voice-directed distribution (Vocollect, 412-829-8145, www.vocollect.com).

With annual sales topping $240 million, BiRite operates from a 235,000 square foot state-of-the-art distribution center. It handles a wide variety of products that have a range of handling requirements. These include dry groceries, meat, seafood, poultry, dairy, frozen foods, disposables, cleaning chemicals, equipment and smallwares. In this multi-temperature environment, associates must cope with temperatures as cold as minus five degrees and pick from among 35,000 SKUs.

With voice technology, the company hoped to improve order accuracy, increase productivity and throughput, and reduce employee training time.

“There was just no question that it had to help us reduce our mis-picks,” Collins adds.

Using test routes and test orders, trainers walked behind the employees, listening in on training headsets to gauge their understanding. Training went from two weeks to hours, order accuracy improved by more than 90%, and mis-picks dropped to virtually zero. Sixty workers now use the system.

“I always assumed that the return on investment would take a couple of years,” says Collins, “but we are already saving money every time we don't have to make an emergency delivery to a customer. Plus, it enhances our image with our customers because we aren't making emergency deliveries—we are not plaguing them with those kinds of mistakes anymore.”