Legacy voice-directed picking has been around since the early 2000s. I sometimes think the inventory and logistics industry doesn’t get enough credit for being on the cutting edge of technology back in the “oughts.”
Think about it. Were there any other mission-critical applications at the time that were as groundbreaking as using voice commands for inventory picks? I can’t think of one.
But as paradigm-busting as voice-directed picking was, voice alone is simply not enough anymore.
With the new generation of GS1 barcodes, companies increasingly require applications that can use an integrated combination of voice AND scanning, and, in some cases, vision too.
That requires automated data collection solutions capable of evolving with the needs of today’s manufacturers and cutting-edge 3PLs and 4PLs.
These organizations are increasingly data-driven and racing to meet reporting requirements driven by their customers and, in some vertical markets, federal requirements such as FSMA 204 compliance.
More Powerful Devices Are Changing What’s Possible
Compound those market drivers with the ever-improving hardware devices now being used for scanning.
Today’s devices offer an impressive combination of processing power, memory and sophisticated features. They come equipped with powerful applications and can readily be outfitted for voice recognition.
Together, these capabilities provide organizations with the technical ecosystem needed to create a state-of-the-art, fully automated, multimodal data collection process.
The goal is to provide performance architecture that can be installed today while providing a foundation for improving and expanding deployment and usage over the next decade.
Data Drives Everything
Data drives everything today.
● How you use it
● What you charge for it
● How effectively you report it
● How you analyze it
● And even how you market it
But one critical component of data strategy is often overlooked: How effectively and efficiently is that information collected in the first place?
How quickly can it be turned into usable decision-making criteria? And, most importantly, does the data have integrity?
Is it correct? Is it timely?
Over 300 data points reside in a single GS1 barcode label.
That creates an important operational question: How do you collect all that data with a single scan, parse it out and get it to the appropriate input fields in your data collection applications—and then into your WMS or ERP systems for fast, reliable and measurable quantification for strategic and tactical decision-making?
That’s where multimodal automated data collection becomes particularly powerful.
Automated Data Collection at the Point of Action
Automated data collection at the point of action provides speed, accuracy and peace of mind.
Today’s warehouse employees have access to a powerfully blended technology solution capable of taking data collection to entirely new levels.
A worker can use voice while simultaneously scanning the entirety of a GS1 barcode, parsing ALL of its data points and instantly sending those individual data elements to the appropriate fields within an application.
At the same time, that information can be sent to the organization’s ERP, WCS or WMS.
That has fundamentally changed the paradigm for mobile data collection.
Instead of simply collecting information, the system can capture it, understand where it belongs, populate the appropriate fields and transmit it—all as part of the worker’s normal workflow.
The Warehouse Worker Is the Keystone of the Data Strategy
Organizations that have targeted data as tactical ammunition for growth, analysis, AI agents and AI engines are beginning to understand something important:
The warehouse worker is the keystone of this data collection process.
Some warehouse environments can employ robotics for specific use cases. But robotic solutions tend to be expensive, software-integration intensive and often limited in capability, performing one repetitive action.
Warehouse employees offer something different: Flexibility.
Today’s warehouse employees can become significantly more flexible in their job capabilities when automated data collection is combined with seamless information integration.
This allows for cross-application usage, from picking to replenishment, for instance, without the employee even having to look at a screen.
How the AccuSpeech Runtime Connects Everything
Voice commands combined with scanner input feed the AccuSpeech runtime, directing all information exactly where it needs to go within an application’s screens.
And importantly, those screens don’t even have to be visible to the user.
Once the data has been scanned, AccuSpeech can populate any required data field on any screen.
The information can simultaneously be sent over the network to the back-end information management application while AccuSpeech directs the user where to go or what to do next.
This creates an automation layer between the employee, the device, the applications and the enterprise systems behind them.
It Goes Far Beyond “What Do I Pick Next?”
This isn’t just about telling an employee which item to pick next. The technical workflow can be designed to access another application while combining tasks. Or consider automatically counting a high-volume product.
Keeping count of 154 units manually becomes unnecessary when the system does the math for you and provides audio updates throughout the process.
● The employee keeps working
● The system keeps counting
● And the information is captured as part of the workflow
These seemingly small interactions can become significant when repeated hundreds or thousands of times across warehouse operations.
Robotics Can Be Part of the Same Ecosystem
Robots and robotic equipment can also be included within the data collection and voice ecosystem.
Speaking and listening to Android-based devices is one of the capabilities that makes the AccuSpeech product set so compelling.
From the perspective of the integrated workflow, a robot is simply another data collection or product-picking device.
Users can listen to, direct and combine tasks with robotic technologies to enhance their capabilities.
Instead of treating robotics and warehouse employees as two separate automation strategies, organizations can integrate tools and technologies that make employees better at their jobs while extending what robotic systems can accomplish.
User Input Remains Essential
The input from the user can be essential to integrating these workflows and tasks.
When properly implemented, these integrated workflows have the potential to double or triple productivity, while also eliminating errors.
Barcode scanning and automated wireless transport of the captured data help ensure its integrity and usefulness.
There is no need for the employee to manually capture the information and then enter it again somewhere else.
And there is another important operational advantage: No more workarounds or shortcuts.
Management can gain much greater control over exactly what happens, how data is collected and how specific requirements for errors and exceptions are handled.
Instead of leaving those decisions to the user screen by screen, they can be managed by the integrated solution.
Adding Vision to Voice and Scanning
Vision components such as the Zebra HD4000 can also be fully integrated into scanning, voice and automated data collection solutions.
Organizations can use these glasses as a powerful way to get employees trained and productive quickly by pushing useful visual information directly to the user.
That could include:
● Images of products
● Warehouse floor maps
● Other identifying information
● Navigation guidance
● Error alerts
● Exception notifications
These images can help differentiate between closely aligned inventory parts that may have very similar appearances.
They can show the employee a quicker route to take. Or they can provide an immediate visual alert when an error or exception occurs.
Combined with voice and scanning, vision gives the warehouse worker another source of information without requiring the employee to stop working and interact with a traditional computer screen.
Android Has Changed Warehouse Automation
Android has become the industry standard for almost all mobile and handheld data collection devices. That has helped make the integration of voice, vision, scanning and automated data collection significantly smoother.
Modern devices are extremely powerful. They combine processing power, memory, sophisticated scanning capabilities, wireless connectivity and voice functionality within the devices employees already carry.
As a result, organizations can automate data collection using the most effective combination of voice, vision, and scanning technologies and easily integrate, test, optimize and deploy those capabilities.
Because the devices themselves are so powerful, there are no integration servers or long engineering projects needed to connect automated data collection to mobile applications or their back-end ERP, WCS and WMS systems.
That changes both the complexity and potential scalability of warehouse automation.
Supporting Increasing Traceability Requirements
The growing importance of automated data collection is also being driven by customer reporting requirements and federal requirements in certain vertical markets.
FSMA 204 is one example.
Organizations increasingly need the ability to capture, maintain and retrieve more detailed information about products as they move through the supply chain.
That puts even greater importance on the quality, accuracy and timeliness of the data collected at the warehouse level.
Whether the information is ultimately being used for customer reporting, regulatory compliance, operational analysis, strategic decision-making or AI, it all begins with accurate data collection at the point of action.
Building for Today—and the Next Decade
Warehouse technology investments shouldn’t solve one problem today and create another problem tomorrow.
That’s one of the major advantages of a multimodal approach.
An organization can combine voice and scanning today. Add vision where appropriate. Integrate robotic technologies. Expand across applications. Combine workflows. And continue adding capabilities as operational needs evolve.
The result is a performance architecture that can be installed today while maintaining an eye toward improving and expanding its deployment and usage over the next decade.
That creates both flexibility and investment protection.
The Future of Warehouse Automation Is Multimodal
Voice-directed picking helped change warehouse operations more than two decades ago.
Now the next evolution is underway. The future isn’t voice or scanning or vision or robotics. It is the intelligent integration of all of them.
● Voice directs.
● Scanning captures.
● Vision informs.
● Automation connects.
● Robotics expands capabilities.
● People make it work.
Together, they create a fully integrated, multimodal data collection environment capable of increasing productivity, improving data integrity, reducing errors, eliminating unnecessary workarounds and giving management greater control over warehouse processes.
And organizations don’t have to completely redesign their operations to discover what this can accomplish.
See It Working in Your Own Environment
A simple proof of concept is easy enough to arrange with AccuSpeech.
And importantly, it can be demonstrated in your technical environment, with your WMS and with your devices.
That gives your organization the opportunity to see firsthand how powerful combining voice, scanning, vision and automated data collection can be.
● Start with the technology and infrastructure you already have.
● Demonstrate the workflow.
● Measure its impact.
● Then develop a solid roadmap that provides investment protection while allowing the automation environment to evolve and expand into the future.
Ready to see what multimodal warehouse automation can do in your operation?
Contact AccuSpeech to arrange a proof of concept.
● Visit Accuspeech.com
● Book a demo here: https://calendly.com/bbova
