Voxware.com Articles Feed

Food Banks Raise Interest in Voice to Keep Costs Low

Sun, 01 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Hunger? Here in the USA? Many are not surprised that some hunger exists in this land of plenty — but most are shocked to learn that one out of six Americans does not have enough to eat. Hunger is not confined to certain neighborhoods, education levels, or the homeless, but increasingly afflicts college-educated people and those with good jobs who just don't make enough to afford adequate food for their families.

“Food Banks are one of the few industries where you hope that the need for your services goes down each year,” says Bill McKnight, operations director for the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. Unfortunately, that has not been the case, as deteriorating economic conditions have left more people needing assistance

Voice technology: State of the industry

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:13:00 -0500

Scott Yetter, CEO and president, Voxware: “We’ve broadened the footprint of our applications in terms of doing more things in the warehouse such as loading, putaway, replenishment and cycle counting. We’re starting to see a convergence of technologies and you’re seeing different kinds of user interfaces. A number of the devices that are now being made support 3G or 4G, thus making it a lot easier to do mobile applications outside the warehouse; and now that cellular networks are becoming ubiquitous, there are new opportunities for voice beyond the warehouse.”

Three Unique Approaches to Voice Picking

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 11:32:00 -0500

Pierre’s Ice Cream Company distributes approximately 1,000 ice cream products and frozen treats from its 40,000-square-foot, all-freezer warehouse in Cleveland, Ohio. And as one can expect, picking cartons of ice cream using paper picking tickets in temperatures of -20 degrees Fahrenheit clearly presented its own set of challenges. In March 2008, the company selected Voxware’s speaker dependent software operating on LXE’s rugged, freezer-proof HX3 unit. Access points were added to beef up RF coverage, and in June 2008, voice picking at Pierre’s went live. Productivity quickly skyrocketed, reducing the need for pickers from 15 to 9. Order accuracy went from 99.7 percent to a consistent 99.96 percent and above. And training is now a piece of cake.

Safe & sound

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:50:00 -0500

Once food is shipped to the warehouse, many warehouse managers are employing Voxware, a system that replaces the manual tasks of using clipboards and scanning with voice-activated software. “We have a lot of grocery customers who collect information regarding country of origin and lot numbers,” says CEO Scott Yetter.

According to Steve Gerrard, Voxware’s vice president of marketing, much of the information needed for the Produce Traceability Initiative simply isn’t captured because it was never required before, and that can add up to an added expense that is sent through the supply chain. “Our customers have been talking to us about how they can capture this information without having to raise prices unrealistically high or reduce margins,” he says. “You need to be able to make sure that at the point where the food is being handled that the correct steps are being taken.”

Voxware launches Voice Picking Blog

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0500

“Voice picking technology has evolved tremendously in recent years, with a profound shift away from custom, proprietary technology in favor of open voice solutions that maximize flexibility and control,” said Scott Yetter, Voxware president and CEO. “Voxware’s Voice Picking Blog serves as an important vehicle for communicating timely insights as voice technology enters the mainstream and continues to evolve at a rapid pace.”

Belron picks Voxware

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 10:30:00 -0500

John Cooper, head of logistics at Laddaw, said: “We selected Voxware because they offer a packaged software product with a toolset for configuring voice solutions… We also wanted an open and configurable software product to give us flexibility for the future to enable a global roll-out across our distribution centres.”

Voxware's voice-directed picking system expands into new markets

Wed, 12 May 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Scott Yetter, president and CEO of Voxware, said these trends are opening up new markets for voice systems both inside and outside the warehouse. External applications where voice is making inroads include direct-to-store delivery and yard management, he said. Retail, grocery and food distribution, and consumer packaged goods continue to be strong markets for voice.

Voice technology: It’s all about the software at Voxware

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500

While most companies I visit use scanning guns from a single vendor so they don’t have to carry extra inventory and parts - they’re a Motorola house or an Intermec house - in theory, the guns and mobile computers can plug and play. Now that same thing is happening in voice and that’s probably a good thing for end users and voice
technology overall. “It’s validation of the space,” said Yetter. “It shows an end user that voice is no longer a science project. It’s an open market where users have options.”

Voice Broadens Its Horizons

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500

The verdict is in and there’s very little debate: Voice-directed picking has proven time and again that it can help companies make significant strides in productivity, accuracy, and safety improvement. By converting pick lists to voice commands and transmitting them to workers via headsets linked to wearable, mobile computers over wireless networks, voice allows workers to free their hands and eyes for the most important task at hand—the picking of product. And by all accounts, interest in voice, especially in grocery and retail verticals, is not expected to wane anytime soon.

Best Practices: Voice Directed Picking

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500

That’s one of the reasons Dunkin’Donuts replaced a paper-based system with a voice-directed order picking system (Voxware) at its Mid-Atlantic distribution center in Westhampton, N.J. In fact, Dunkin’ bypassed bar code scanning altogether. The result: Double-digit productivity gains and increased accuracy. But beyond that, the donut maker has also seen a better, safer work environment, and a 50% drop in turnover.

Plan for a Better Supply Chain

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Effective warehouse management aids in the supply chain’s speed to market by increasing productivity. For instance, voice-based applications used in conjunction with inventory applications increase efficiency with picking, put away, loading, and receiving. “Voice-based applications lead to efficient warehouse management because employees don’t have to write anything down or punch in numbers,” explains Scott Yetter, CEO and president of Voxware. “Their hands are free, and more importantly, their eyes are free, which results in increased productivity and fewer errors.”