cover story Warehouse Management
their native-born counterparts to be employed in production,
transportation and material-moving occupations (16.4 versus
11.5 percent). This reality has enormous implications for the
world of logistics, validating what most distribution center and
logistics leaders have known for some time.
Technology has come a long way in improving productivity
and performance in the DC/warehouse. While there are many
different types of technology applied, one solution in particular
has a special niche to play in addressing this multi-language
aspect of human beings working together – voice. This article will
examine the merits of voice in the DC for supporting multiple
native languages.
Voice, Defined
But first, what exactly is voice, and how does it work? In a
voice-directed DC/warehouse, employee assignments are sent
via Wi-Fi from a warehouse management system (WMS) to a
lightweight, battery-powered computing device worn or held by
the worker. Once received by the device, the work assignments
are converted into a series of discrete verbal commands, which
the worker hears through a headset. The instructions direct
the employee to an aisle/section and slot location. Once there,
the employee confirms he or she is at the proper location and
completes the task by speaking into the headset. The worker’s
words are recognized by the speech recognition software running
on the device, which translates the spoken response into data
and sends those data back to the WMS. The WMS issues the
next assignment and the process repeats itself.
in a Multicultural
DC/Warehouse
A sound solution for building
productivity and performance
By Tom Upshur
oday’s distribution center (DC) and warehouse labor
T landscape is infinitely different from that of previous
generations. Nowhere is change more evident than in
the proliferation of different native languages being spoken
within an individual distribution center. With the continuing
globalization of business, multinational companies face a variety
of challenges in managing their supply chain across multiple
languages and countries.
According to a March 2009 report from the U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics, in 2008, 24.1 million persons, or 15.6 percent of
the U.S. civilian labor force age 16 and over, were foreign-born.
The study found that foreign-born workers are more likely than
34 Supply & Demand Chain Executive August/September 2009
Warehouse Management cover story
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