The 154 store Ossian Retail Group, trading
under the value fashion fascia Internacionale
and home interiors fascia Au Naturale, has
selected VoiteQ's fully voice directed
Warehouse Management System (WMS), LogicMan,
to be implemented to their new warehouse.
Isabel McCabe, Systems Controller,
Internacionale Ltd commented: "We have been a
user of VoiteQ's VoiceMan voice picking
solution since the summer of 2004 and have
achieved significant benefits. These include
an accuracy increase of 20%, efficiency up by
15% and a reduction in personnel of 25%. With
results like these, a fully voice-directed WMS
was the obvious solution for the new
warehouse.
"Our existing relationship with VoiteQ made
the selection of supplier easy. VoiteQ has a
vast knowledge of distribution; indeed it
wrote LogicMan for its own distribution
company. VoiteQ doesn't just bring a voice
solution to the table, it brings a level of
expertise that we don't have internally."
The voice-directed WMS solution utilizes
Vocollect's wearable computers, which consist
of a securely fastened belt-mounted Voice
computer worn by the warehouse workers with a
headset/microphone. "How many times in the
warehouse do you see forklift truck drivers
trying to key information into a truck-mounted
terminal at the same time as they should be
concentrating on their driving?" said David
Stanhope, VoiteQ's CEO.
"By utilizing LogicMan and the Vocollect
device they are able to carry out all those
functions simply by verbal interactions with
the voice-unit in real-time — a much safer and
more efficient way of working," he added.
VoiteQ will be working in partnership with
Prologic, which has provided the central
product management systems to run Ossian's
business for several years; LogicMan will
integrate into Prologic's CIMS solution to
receive information on product updates and
expected deliveries, as well as sending back
information on stock movements and store
orders despatched.
In terms of the LogicMan implementation,
Ossian has already defined its project
initiation document and is currently
undergoing interface-mapping sessions.
Interface testing will begin in January 2008,
with planned go live scheduled for March
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