C J Lang & Son is Scotland’s largest independent retailing and distribution company, servicing over 45% of Scotland’s independent market from its dedicated Retail Distribution Centre (RDC). The company’s Cash & Carry depots service 7,500 customers a week and provide food deliveries to leisure outlets, industrial, healthcare and education catering establishments throughout Scotland.

To retain its position as Scotland’s premier wholesaler,
C J Lang is continually looking for innovative ways to service its customers as efficiently as possible. Recognising that its paper-based warehouse operations were becoming outdated and no longer offering the flexibility required to grow the business, C J Lang started to investigate alternatives to improve accuracy and customer service, looking for a solution that would cover all warehouse activities.

C J Lang decided to implement voice technology and vendor BCP was chosen to supply its Accord® Voice warehouse management system (WMS) to control all aspects of operation in its Dundee RDC. BCP’s Voice directed WMS, including the specialist voice tasks, uses the proven technology and advanced voice
recognition of Vocollect Voice®. Based on its previous experience, C J Lang was confident that BCP understood its business and the two companies worked together closely throughout the design and development phase of the project to ensure the system would meet C J Lang’s particular needs.

Following a comprehensive pilot, which demonstrated the dramatic increases in speed and accuracy that could be achieved, voice was implemented in several phases to ensure service levels to customers did not suffer during the implementation. The first phase was the installation of a radio frequency (RF)
network as the cornerstone for the system, then voice was introduced into goods receiving where it is used in combination with barcode scanning to enter delivery data directly onto the WMS. This ensures discrepancies are identified and addressed immediately and all data is accurate from the start. The next phase introduced voice for put-away operations, followed by picking and finally perpetual inventory, ultimately transforming the RDC from a paper-based operation to one totally reliant on voice with the WMS updated in real time to provide full visibility and a detailed, accurate audit trail.

With C J Lang’s emphasis on accuracy and customer service order picking was a critical stage of implementation. Voice instructions direct pickers to the appropriate picking location and indicate the quantity to be picked. The real-time nature of voice ensures replenishment of pick faces as soon as they drop below a predetermined minimum level, automatically generating instructions for forklift truck drivers to get a full pallet from storage. This optimises the use of forklift truck drivers, as well as eliminating re-picks and waiting time due to empty picking faces.

The introduction of voice has produced significant improvements across all warehouse operations. As anticipated, the biggest benefit has been in picking accuracy. Errors have been virtually eradicated and accuracy levels are now 99.99%. Productivity has also improved by around 10% – with some pickers consistently exceeding that – as time spent collecting or delivering jobs has been eliminated, re-picks have fallen and stock checking has become more efficient. Other benefits include improved safety and significant stationery and administration savings.

There has been a reduction of five man days’ effort per week in warehouse administration, allowing the company to redeploy staff more productively, resulting in considerable cost savings.

“Voice technology is now integral to how we manage our warehouse,” said Graham Murdoch, C J Lang IT director. “It’s the best thing we’ve ever done, exceeding our expectations in all areas. We will certainly deploy it across frozen and chilled goods when we move and consolidate our chilled/frozen warehouses in 2008.”

Contact

BCP – Business Computer Projects Ltd
www.bcpsoftware.com