Web-ready version of the presentation: "Talking Points: Voice-Directed Order Fulfillment" given by Jennifer Lachenman, VP of Product Strategy and Business Alliances at Lucas Systems, for the Parcel Forum '13 event.

1. TALKING POINTS:
VOICE-DIRECTED
FULFILLMENT

2. Fulfillment Is Business-Critical
• Errors hurt your bottom line in multiple ways
– Delivery errors destroy customer goodwill.
– Along with frustrating customers, processing returns is expensive.
• Speed is differentiating
– Customers “need it now” and have plenty of choices.
– The expected delivery speed is increasing continually.
• Service excellence is expected
– You can’t charge extra, because your competitors won’t.
To compete, fulfillment operations need to be
more accurate, faster and cheaper.

3. Voice Delivers Fulfillment’s Needs–
Accuracy, Efficiency and Visibility
•
Eliminates Errors
By validating each pick and quantity verbally,
you reduce returns and
minimize rework &
QC.
•
Improves Productivity
By allowing pickers to be hands- and eyesfree, they can pick more products in less time,
which cuts down on overtime and seasonal
hiring.
•
Reduces Training
When seasonal hiring is necessary, voice
reduces ramp up time for new worker, because
it’s intuitive and easy to learn. New workers can
be up to full speed in less than a week.
•
Improves Visibility
Best-of-breed voice solutions also provide
exceptions, workflow and performance
management screens.
© 2013 PARCEL Forum. All rights reserved.

4. How Jennifer works
Jennifer relays instructions from
your WMS to DC employees–
through a separate server or
directly to a mobile computer.
Employees
communicate with
Jennifer through a
headset connected to a
mobile voice-enabled
computer. Their eyes
and hands stay focused
on the job.
Jennifer can add new
functionality on top of your
existing systems, including basic
WMS functions for distributors
with legacy host systems.

5. Jennifer works at these e-commerce
and multichannel retailers:
The Results
• Accuracy
• Productivity
• Reduce Seasonal labor costs
• Rapid deployment (~ 3-5 months)
• Fast ROI (<12 months)
© 2013 PARCEL Forum. All rights reserved.

6. For Example…Voice at ModCloth
• Company had 40% year on
year growth in 2012
• Legacy host (no WMS)
• Installed multi-modal voice
for picking and sorting
• Results:
– Doubled productivity
(total outbound labor)
– Reduced training from 4
weeks to 1 week
© 2013 PARCEL Forum. All rights reserved.

7. And…Voice at Oriental Trading Company
• Consolidated operations in
automated DC with sortation,
WCS, etc.
• Installed multi-modal voice for
multiple picking processes
• Results:
– Reduced picking errors 60% outbound accuracy at 99.9%
– Productivity increased 45%, to
475 units/mh (overall)
© 2013 PARCEL Forum. All rights reserved.

8. Not surprisingly, warehouse managers in DCs using voice are generally far
more satisfied with their warehouse operations than those in DCs without it.

9. But Different Voice Systems Get Different Results:
Multi-Modal Voice
Solutions
Voiceenabled
WMS
Advanced, multi-modal solutions combine the latest voice and mobile
technologies with sophisticated applications (task interleaving, adaptive
workflows, etc.) to drive transformational gains in DC efficiency – far beyond
what you would get with voice-enablement or voice-only solutions.
© 2013 PARCEL Forum. All rights reserved.

10. Capabilities Beyond Voice-Enablement
• Optimize the Voice-Directed Processes (not just voiceenablement)
– Dialogue Optimization
– Task and Workflow Optimization using voice, scan, and display
– “Lean” the end-to-end process: Printing, pre-pick, staging, etc.
• Reengineer Processes
– Creative Design: Batching, interleaving, two-stage picking
– Work Management: Don’t be limited by your host/WMS
• Enhance Visibility and Control
– Performance management: Productivity tracking
– Work management: Assignment balancing
– Exception management: Real-time information speeds resolution
© 2013 PARCEL Forum. All rights reserved.

11. Summary
• Voice is a proven solution for improving fulfillment operations – now
more than ever, it’s a critical technology
• The technology is changing fast – voice solutions of the past are
giving way to rich, multi-modal applications.
• To get transformational gains with voice you need to look beyond
voice-enablement
– Treat a voice project as a process improvement opportunity
– Don’t rule out scanning or screens
– Think about the warehouse floor – ease of use, up- and downstream
processes
– Look beyond the warehouse floor – management effectiveness, user
training and customer service

12. Thank You!
Lucas Systems, Inc.
jennifer@lucasware.com
© 2013 PARCEL Forum. All rights reserved.