Using voice to improve supply chain efficiency

Tasty Fresh, a company specialising in workplace food manufacturing and delivery, has improved its warehouse productivity by 35% using a voice-directed picking system. The system has helped improve its stocktake and supply chain operations.

Tasty Fresh delivers fresh and hot food, snacks and drinks right to workplaces daily in Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Newcastle and Queensland. Dematic was recently engaged by the organisation to help it move from a manual system to a more automated and centralised solution for managing its supply chain.

The Dematic Voice Solution was selected for the task. It is a real-time logistics voice-on-Android system that works without paper and is hands-free, allowing operators to use a mobile device and voice headset to input information and scan products.

Data ranging from order-picking to replenishment and stocktake is fed into Tasty Fresh’s central supply chain system. The system was implemented at each of the company’s depots, and the two primary voice workflows that were implemented were pick-to-trolley and van loading.

The Tasty Fresh team is advised on which food or drink product SKUs and quantities are to be loaded onto trollies, after which point the vans are loaded. Team members are subsequently instructed, per van ID, which SKUs and associated quantities are to be replenished into each van in SKU sequence.

Product shorts, overfills and audits are all tracked at the same time. This saves workers time as they don't have to do these tasks separately. The system thus lets staff check expected stock from point-of-sale deductions versus physical van replenishment.

The technology has allowed the company to improve productivity by 35%, and errors have been reduced in the picking and packing processes. Additionally, counting errors have been reduced as this process is not done manually.

“The voice solution tells us what to load inside the vans and tells the system how many we are loading,” said Aline Parra Sanchez, Brisbane Warehouse Manager at Tasty Fresh Food Co. “This means that when we are loading we are also doing the stocktake. It’s a great system that ensures our stock is right by checking our sales match with the stock being loaded in the vans.”

“Voice has improved productivity across the business,” said Adam Van Bergen, National Operations Manager at Tasty Fresh Food Co. “We’re saving between 5 and 10 minutes a day per van sales manager, and while that may not sound like a big deal, 5 to 10 minutes across 170 employees a day is quite a significant cost savings.”