When Feinkost Dittmann reorganised order picking at its logistics site in Diez in 2005, the smartphone was still a dream of the future. The family business purchased 18 commercially available PDAs at the time. The „Pick by Voice“ solution „Lydia Voice“ from Topsystem was installed on them. Since then, voice control has replaced paper picking lists. 13 years later, Dittmann continues to use Lydia Voice. Instead of PDAs, there are now a total of 30 mobile voice computers.
5,000 square metres is the size of the warehouse of Delicatessen Dittmann in Diez. More than 1,000 items from the dry and fresh product range are stored there. Deliveries are made to 28 countries around the world. Founded in 1901, the gourmet products company has its own brands such as Teufli, Ajolix and Pepperballs as well as sales brands such as Obela, Olitalia, Real Thai and Sharwoods. In Germany, Dittmann is the market leader for olives, antipasti, capers, garlic and anchovy specialities.
Almost all well-known supermarket chains are supplied. In total, more than 9,000 stores are supplied directly. The company also transports goods to central warehouses. In order to reliably fulfil this workload, it is essential to support employees in the manual handling of goods. Order picking through reliable and high-performance solutions.
Voice control increases warehouse efficiency by 15 per cent
Capacity bottlenecks were already becoming apparent at Dietz in 2005. Efficiency gains were expected by replacing the previous paper-based order picking with Voice-controlled picking processes. The partner chosen for the changeover was Top system Systemhaus GmbH from Würselen.
The goal was achieved. Following the introduction of voice control with Lydia Voice increased storage efficiency by 15 per cent after just a short time. At the same time, the number of complaints and the administrative workload were reduced. The previously randomised quality control was also eliminated. This is because paper-based picking also eliminated the potential source of errors.
After some initial scepticism, the employees were enthusiastic about the User friendliness technology, which was brand new in Germany at the time.
Lydia Voice continues to show the way through the camp
Even 13 years later, Feinkost Dittmann still relies on Lydia Voice. It guides the logistics employees through the entire production process in a route-optimised manner. 7,000 pallet spaces in the different storage areas. In practice, this means that the required items are first picked from the dry area. Then the fresh food area is visited, where fresh antipasti or caviar specialities, for example, are stored.
„From the very beginning, we have found our collaboration with Topsystem to be very trusting. We appreciate the innovative strength of the company, which is constantly adapting and expanding its product portfolio to meet the latest technological requirements of the market. The solutions used in our warehouse have always fully met our objectives.“
Christian Leberzam, Head of Warehouse Logistics at Feinkost Dittmann
The picked items are then sent to the Packing station brought to the warehouse. There, an employee adds the goods receipt before the finished pallet is wrapped in stretch film by machine and then loaded onto lorries.
Mainly for the induction of new employees, the Ergonomic „Lydia VoiceWear“ picking waistcoat“.
Fast and reliable speech recognition
On the hardware side, PDAs are of course a thing of the past. They have been replaced by a total of 21 mobile voice computers of the „Voxter Black“ from Topsystem. Nine new „Voxter Elite“ systems for mobile data collection were recently added.
Christian Leberzam, Head of Warehouse Logistics at Feinkost Dittmann, praises the performance of the new mobile voice computer: „One of the advantages of the Voxter is its fast and reliable speech recognition.“ All service functions such as volume and speed control or muting the microphone are controlled within an application via voice commands. The compact voice computer with its sturdy, robust housing is intuitive to use. Users do not have to touch it and therefore always have two hands free. This hands-free concept is particularly useful when working with gloves or in deep-freeze applications. Employees can concentrate fully on their work, Picking errors are avoided.
Further information can be found at http://www.lydia-voice.com
[infotext icon]Technology leader for voice-guided work processesTopsystem Systemhaus GmbH sees itself as a total solution provider for voice-guided work processes. It is the technology leader in this field with its „Lydia“ voice suite. Since 1995, the company has been developing standardised and individual solutions for process optimisation for the automotive, retail, production, logistics and maintenance sectors. All hardware and software solutions are developed in-house. These include the mobile voice client Voxter and the innovative voice waistcoat „Lydia Voice Wear“. The portfolio is complemented by comprehensive process consulting and after-sales service[/infotext].
