Voice Picking

Lydia® is the best technology for voice-guided picking at Voice Picking .

Voice Picking in intralogistics is a voice-supported technology for paperless picking. The picker communicates with the warehouse management system or SAP via voice.

Voice Picking solutions are among the standards among the many picking methods. The voice-assisted picking process was developed around 1995 and was intended to help pickers improve picking performance. However, at that time, voice recognition did not work well. As a provider and supplier of many picking methods, we decided to use Lydia® voice recognition.

Voice Picking Hardware

The standard system consists of the following components:

• headphones with a microphone (headset). Alternatively, the picker can use the Lydia® VoiceWear® as a system vest with built-in microphone and speakers during picking.
• Voice terminal with a belt or clip (e.g. Voxter® from topsystem or other devices). Guarantees WiFi communication with the system and performs voice recognition.
• Replaceable battery (the application lasts for 10-12 hours of work) with chargers.

Voice Picking Extensions

As a system provider, we have the following extensions available:

• Back of the hand barcode scanner for reading articles or serial numbers (logistics standard for order picking)
• ePaper displays as dynamic check digit displays at each storage compartment (change e.g. every 10 minutes)
• Pick-by-Point^® as a complementary picking system for direct display of storage locations. This hybrid solution enormously increases efficiency and performance.

If you have any questions about the voice-based system, we will be happy to help you as a supplier. In further articles we will describe the topic Voice Picking in more detail.

Voice Picking and SAP

No problem. Our LUCA-Server ensures an optimal connection to any warehouse management system and also to SAP. The systems can exchange data with each other via RFC, IDOCs, databases or TCP/IP.

How does Voice Picking work ?

1. The pick list (order) is prepared by the warehouse management system in the process route-optimized process sequence and sent to the LUCA-Server . Paperless picking can begin.
   
2. The LUCA-Server controls the process and sends the commands to the voice terminal. The instructions are issued to the picker via headset.
   (e.g. "go to aisle 7", "storage location A02 05 14", "3 pieces").
   The picker can have the current voice instruction repeated over and over again with a voice command "repeat" while working.
   
3. The picker confirms the aisle ("7 OK"), the storage location ("57 OK" as a check digit) and his pick ("3 OK") by voice input. The software on the voice terminal analyzes his voice. The high-quality Lydia® software converts the voice commands into text commands.

The picker can adjust volume, speed of pronunciation and other parameters by voice control during picking.

The confirmation of the removal (acknowledgement) is sent to the warehouse management system via the LUCA-Server. The further processing, the next voice dialog of the picking process and the communication with the Voxter® hardware is also done centrally via the server.

Voice Picking Advantages

The advantages of Voice Picking at a glance:

• Flexible use in warehouse logistics through lightweight, portable voice technology (wearables)
• Order-oriented, voice-guided picking with direct data entry of picking lists
• Optimal for working on one job (only then high efficiency)
• Hands and eyes free during picking (freedom of movement and good voice output)
• With Lydia® from topsystem: speaker-independent voice recognition (voice system without teach-in). We trust Lydia® as a system provider.

Voice Picking Disadvantages

Voice Picking However, also has some disadvantages that burden the system:

• High error rate due to memorization of check digits for smaller warehouses
• Loss in picking time and picking performance due to a lot of voice input (the picker has to talk a lot).
• Not suitable for Multi-Order-Picking (only simple pick lists work well). The picker can lose orientation at the storage location when distributing the goods to several orders.
• Relatively low picking performance compared to other pick-by systems.
• High employee load at high pace (weak cognitive ergonomics with the system and low employee acceptance when used incorrectly).

When should the Voice Picking system be used in warehouse logistics?

The voice-guided (voice-controlled) method can be used very well in the logistics of a company for slow and medium-fast paperless picking in large pallet warehouses with advantage. However, the demands on the operator(picker) must not be too high. The picker must adapt to the voice control. Otherwise, errors increase very quickly and productivity drops. This is where voice-assisted picking has its limits.

Voice Picking is not well suited in logistics for high performance picking from shelf racks or flow racks. For picking from pallets Voice Picking is very well suited. As a provider of many picking methods, we also like to combine Voice Picking with other systems to create an optimal overall solution (read also about our hybrid concepts).

Supported languages

Voice speech outputs (output)

Arabic, Basque, Bengali (India), Bhojpuri (India), Bulgarian (Bulgaria), Cantonese (Hong Kong), Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dongbei (China), Dutch (Belgium, Netherlands), English (Australia, Great Britain, India, Ireland, Scotland, South Africa, USA), Farsi, Finnish, French (Canada, France), Galician, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Malay, Mandarin (China, Taiwan), Marathi, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil, Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Shanghainese (China), Sichuanese, Slovak, Spanish (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Spain), Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Valencian, Vietnamese

Voice speech input

Arabic (Gulf Region), Bulgarian (Bulgaria), Cantonese (Hong Kong), Czech (Czech Republic), Danish (Denmark), Dutch (Netherlands, Belgian), English (USA, England, Australia, Scotland, Ireland, India, South Africa), Farsi, Finnish (Finland), French (Canada, France), German (Germany), Greek (Greece), Hebrew (Israel), Hindi (India), Hungarian (Hungary), Indonesian (Indonesia), Italian (Italy), Japanese (Japan), Korean (South Korea), Mandarin (China), Norwegian (Bokmal, Norway), Polish (Poland), Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil), Russian (Russian Federation), Sichuanese (China), Slovak, Spanish (Spain, Catalan, Basque, Mexico), Swedish (Sweden), Thai (Thailand), Turkish (Turkey)

Conclusion

Voice Picking, as a voice-based solution for paperless picking, is very flexible in intralogistics and can be excellently used for slow and medium performance picking in large storage areas. The speaker-independent Lydia® software ensures an easy introduction for the picker and provides very good results of the speech analysis in the set language. Even in difficult and noisy environments the error rate with Lydia® is very low! Suitable also for logistics in a cold storage warehouse. The check digit at the storage locations should be better replaced by scanners or various extensions.

We supply Voice Picking systems with Lydia® and connect our systems with any warehouse management system or SAP.

Note: Lydia® is a registered trademark of topsystem.

As a system provider, we also supply alternative pick-by systems:
Pick-to-Light, Pick-by-Point ^®, Pick-by-Cart, Pick-by-Frame ^®, etc.

Overview of all picking systems from LUCA can be found on the page: LUCA systems.