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Sensing and Productivity Solutions: 3663 and Vocollect—Food for Thought
Technology Category
- Functional Applications - Warehouse Management Systems (WMS)
- Functional Applications - Remote Monitoring & Control Systems
Applicable Industries
- Food & Beverage
Applicable Functions
- Warehouse & Inventory Management
- Logistics & Transportation
Use Cases
- Inventory Management
- Warehouse Automation
- Fleet Management
Services
- System Integration
- Training
The Challenge
With an entire supply chain relying on its operations, time is of the essence for 3663’s Logistics division. The division has a long-standing commitment to moving goods to the right place at the right time without incident or error. For the business to sustain increased growth and profitability, 3663 could not afford unexpected costs such as sending out half-empty lorries or high levels of inaccurate selection. In addition to accuracy, productivity and speed are of vital importance to the company’s profit margins. The more products the company can move in a day, the greater the increase in revenue, so having a focused approach to ensuring processes are not duplicated needlessly is essential. In their quest for logistics excellence, 3663 turned the spotlight on the company’s long-standing, paper-driven processes to see how voice technology could help to increase accuracy, speed up order selection, gain better visibility of stock, streamline processes and make the best possible use of its workforce.
About The Customer
3663 supplies a wide choice of foods and commercial kitchen equipment to all areas of the foodservice market. They deliver frozen, fresh, chilled, non-food, and catering equipment products to a range of customers, from small independents to large national accounts. With 23 depots and 4 regional distribution centres spread throughout the UK, 3663 is the UK’s leading foodservice company with sales of over £1.6 billion a year, delivering quality ingredients, finished products, and equipment to the catering industry. 3663 has over 4,200 employees and a modern fleet of 800 temperature-controlled vehicles, making an average of 45,000 deliveries a week to their customer base which includes Burger King, KFC, and Nandos. The management team at 3663 is always looking for new ways of improving operational performance, with the aim of increasing profitability while continuing to deliver outstanding customer service.
The Solution
To meet its needs, 3663’s warehouse operations chose Vocollect’s Voice Directed Distribution in conjunction with the Manhattan Associates’ WMOS. This facilitated order verification very early upstream, as soon as the article is picked, not just on the basis of its location in the warehouse. 3663 approached one of Vocollect’s certified partners to roll out a fully integrated Warehouse Management System (WMS) driven by Vocollect Voice across four logistics depots: Banbury; Litchfield; Royton and Heywood. The Vocollect Voice application allowed employees on the ground to move stock more quickly and accurately through all stages of the warehouse cycle. The distribution centre employees wear a lightweight Vocollect wearable mobile computing device and headset, allowing them to work Hands-Free, Eyes-Free in a safer environment. The previous process was very complex, running almost entirely on a paper-based system, supported by manual control processes. Now, the WMS incorporates a voice management console, providing the business units with a unified overview of all processes in real-time throughout the day – allowing faster response times, the ability to spot variances in performance and better planning and reporting.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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