Premier Decorations, a UK provider of decorations, has a new 262,000 sq ft of warehouse and office space on 15 acres of land in Wales. In June 2004 Christian Salvesen was brought on board to orchestrate the management of the NDC. Vocollect Voice Partner VoiteQ was chosen to install Vocollect's Talkman T2 terminals and VoiteQ's own proprietary middleware, VoiceMan, into Premier's warehouse procedures. VoiteQ provided full project support from management, installation and training to a 24/7 support service. VoiceMan adds voice functionality to Warehouse Management Systems.

Ultima is able to manage inventory and stock levels. It plans orders on size and geographic location. Ultima records information in real-time, capturing data using Radio Frequency scanning and voice solutions.

This system enables Premier to handle surges in stock at peak times. The partnership has also meant that through using a dedicated and a shared-user network, Premier has been able to improve delivery times from weekly to a 24 hour operation; resulting in greater efficiency and quality service to its customers.

With seasonal products the order process works differently to that of a food supplier. Rather than having orders being fed through daily, orders are placed months ahead of the delivery. For Premier its Christmas season starts in November of the previous year - a full 13 months ahead, when the catalogue is shot and developed through to December. Orders flow in from January up until June. Then the real fun begins! Containers arrive from May to October and distribution commences in July through to November. In between the Christmas season the Halloween season starts and finishes, because of the cross-over with Christmas, Christian Salvesen handles the Halloween product line from its Rowley Regis site. Adding to the strain, come December, the summer/BBQ stock is imported in. With goods to fulfil seasonal peaks constantly coming in and out of the warehouse all year round, there really is no rest period for Premier.

The process starts with goods arriving at the receipt bay. They are booked into the Ultima system and given a unique reference/barcode, more commonly known as a Stock Keeping Unit (SKU), at present this process is done by using handheld Radio Frequency terminals. The stock is then allocated an air pick/bulk position within the warehouse. All bulk stock is kept at the top of the shelving units, which is then lifted by the replenishment team using voice and folk lift trucks for a hands and eyes free operation. This not only means that the driver is more aware of the environment around them, but they are also free to jump off and on the truck as and when the need arises.

At the goods-in stage a dedicated pick-face is allocated and will remain as the product's home for a three month period. It's also at this stage that the planning process is carried out. Each pick consignment is fed into the Ultima system and the product line, availability, dimensions, weight, location and delivery process is worked out.

When the pick is completed Voice instructs the operator which loading bay to place the completed order in, eliminating delivery errors. Each pallet is then assigned a delivery number and label. This information is pre-advised from the Ultima WMS to the headset via VoiceMan. Each bay represents a vehicle planned either for direct delivery or through one of the Christian Salvesen distribution hubs. The pallet is delivered to the final destination within 24 hours. Premier Decorations has full visibility of the delivery using Christian Salvesen's track and trace facility.

The process takes three days from goods in, planning, picking and transportation. Premier' surge in deliveries can range from 50 pallets per day in July to over 500 in the run up to Christmas; resulting in 20 truck loads going out each day during the same peak season. In addition Premier's workforce has to respond to demand, expanding from 16 workers employed in summer to over 50 staff during Christmas.

Premier has been able to reap the benefits of implementing voice technology. Training time has been cut from days to hours, which is a considerable benefit when having to hire agency staff to cope with the extra seasonal work load. As Vocollect's Talkman system recognises all speech patterns and dialects, Premier has had no problem with foreign workers using the system.

Add to that, Premier has been able to enjoy a tidier and safer working environment. Ron Athwal, logistics operations manager for Premier added: "One of the reasons for choosing voice is that it makes operatives hands and eyes free, which has considerable advantages including that of health and safety - especially when there are forklift trucks whizzing around the warehouse. Also, as we no longer have to use paper for picking, the warehouse is a lot tidier and we have saved immensely on stationery and man-hours."

As voice allows the operative to continue with their work once a consignment has been completed, they are not continually returning to the control centre for new pick lists. In a warehouse the size of Premier's this can mean a huge saving on time and a boost in productivity. Actually, Premier has been able to report a 50 per cent increase in pick rates.

Premier has also been able to ensure that all pick-faces are stocked-up before the pick shift is started. Using voice for replenishment has meant that each time a pick is made the replenishment team is informed through voice and Ultima, eliminating stock outs and allowing orders to be completed in-time, every-time.

In addition, Premier has been able to account for a near 100 per cent accuracy of orders, thus equipping Premier to stand by its mission statement of providing top service to its customers and meeting its biggest criteria for picking voice - accuracy!

Contact
Vocollect
www.vocollect.com
Voiteq
www.voiteq.com