Have you ever tasted something that was so good (a sticky, gooey chocolate cream filled doughnut, for example) you just had to share it?

Managers of the Dunkin' Donuts Mid-Atlantic distribution center had a similar feeling when they experienced the benefits of a voice-directed order picking system.

The New Jersey DC switched from paper-based systems to voice technology (Voxware, 609-514-4100, www.voxware.com) and a warehouse management system (WMS) several years ago. When the new systems helped the DC rack up double-digit productivity gains, the facility's managers knew they had to share their success.

Warren Engard, director of warehouse operations for the Mid-Atlantic DC (pictured above) called representatives of Dunkin' Donuts' three other regional DCs and invited them to come take a look. As of this summer, all three of those facilities are running on the same systems as the New Jersey facility, says Engard, and all are reaping similar productivity gains.

An enthusiastic proponent of voice, Engard is now working on plans to voice-enable putaway, replenishment and several other functions in the Mid-Atlantic DC.

Five years ago, Dunkin' Donuts ran its Mid-Atlantic distribution operations from a 125,000-square-foot facility with just 22 dock doors. With no WMS keeping track of inventory, pickers and receivers worked from paper lists (making back-office paperwork overwhelming), and the DC employed eight full-time quality checkers.

As business grew, facility managers knew they needed a new building and new systems to run it. They got approval for both, but building a new DC takes time, and they needed productivity and accuracy gains right away. So they chose to implement the voice-picking system in the old building, even before installing the WMS.

Voice-directed order picking was a particularly good fit for Dunkin Donuts' operations because the company's order pickers drive triple pallet jacks and heft 50-pound bags of sugar and flour—tasks that go faster and easier when pickers' hands and eyes are free. In addition, many of the company's order pickers work in freezers, where protective gloves make it difficult to handle RF devices or paper lists.

In the summer of 2004, the Mid-Atlantic operations moved to a new DC in Westampton, N.J., with 300,000 square feet of storage space and 134 dock doors. A year later, the facility went live with a WMS.

Engard says he's happy with the decision to make the upgrades in stages. “We didn't want a new building, voice and a WMS all at once,” he says. “That would have been too much change at one time.”

All of the improvements combined, says Engard, resulted in a 20% increase in picking productivity in the dry-goods section of the DC and a nearly 30% increase in the freezer. In addition, the DC no longer employs anyone to check order accuracy, and accuracy has improved from 99.8% to 99.9%.

The four DCs in the Dunkin' Donuts network share productivity and accuracy metrics with each other. As the Mid-Atlantic DC's metrics improved, the other DCs took notice.

“Our numbers just kept getting better,” says Engard, “so everyone naturally became interested in what we were doing.”

Representatives of Dunkin' Donuts' three other DCs traveled to see the Mid-Atlantic operations in action and liked what they saw. The Midwest DC in Mokena, Ill., soon added the same WMS and voice systems. About a year later, the Southwest DC in Groveland, Fla., followed.

This summer, Engard spent time in Bellingham, Mass., helping the company's Northeast DC with its WMS and voice installation, completing Dunkin' Donuts' distribution transformation.

Historically, Dunkin' Donuts DCs have operated independently, says Engard. Over the last year, though, the company has unified the four facilities under one umbrella. Having all four DCs running the same software systems has eased that transition and will help them work better together in the future.

Engard is a big believer in the power of voice technology, and he has big plans for voice-enabling much more than picking in Dunkin' Donuts' DCs.

The New Jersey facility currently uses the voice system for three major tasks in addition to order picking:

1. The voice system directs order pickers through required safety inspections of lift trucks at the beginning of each shift.
2. The voice system directs the in-sequence loading of completed pallet loads into over-the-road trucks.
3. The system directs truck loaders through trailer inspections that must be completed before a truck is loaded.

Engard's next project is to voice-enable inventory putaway and replenishment.

“My forklift operators are already asking for it,” he says. “With voice, the drivers will be able to drive with one hand and operate their hydraulics with the other hand, and just talk instead of scanning.”

Eventually, Engard says, he'd like to use voice technology to direct cycle counting and receiving, and he'd like to integrate the voice system with his yard management system.

He plans to perfect all of these implementations at the New Jersey DC—which he calls “an evolving voice-recognition showcase”—and then roll them out to the other facilities.

This commitment to voice technology isn't based on productivity and accuracy improvements alone. Engard keeps an ever-growing list of benefits that come with this technology.

Among the most dramatic benefits is an improved working environment for order pickers. “This kind of makes picking fun again,” says Engard, who started his distribution career as a picker.

The technology also keeps turnover low by helping workers achieve the accuracy rates Dunkin' Donuts demands. “Before the voice system, the bottom 50% of my roster was constantly turning over,” Engard says. “Turnover now is very minimal.”

Training new employees is easier with the voice system than it was with the paper-based system, he adds. “It took about eight weeks to get a picker up to full speed with paper. It's about half that now.”

The voice system also provides an easy way to communicate with pickers who are out on the floor. Managers can type a message for pickers, and the pickers will hear the message in their headsets.

At the New Jersey DC, managers use this voicemail function for everything from calling meetings to issuing productivity warnings to specific pickers. It's such an efficient way to communicate, Engard says, that he didn't bother installing a public-address system in the new DC.

Safety is another key benefit of voice. Order pickers are no longer looking down at paper lists as they're driving their pallet jacks, and that has dramatically reduced lift truck accidents and injuries.

“Our insurance company loves it,” Engard says. “Our workman's compensation claims used to be sky-high and it was hard to get insurance. Now, companies fight to get our insurance business, and we get dividends every year.”

See also: Voice keeps Dunkin' Donuts rollin'