Lots of people are investigating the benefits a Voice Directed Solution for their warehouse processes, and have seen the possible gains in productivity, accuracy, operator management, and the many soft benefits such as health and safety and customer satisfaction. However the one question that remains is “Can I implement this with my current solution or will I need to upgrade my WMS, ERP or CRM?”
Replacing the Host Solution for any business is a large and costly project that requires a large commitment by the business and should not be entered into lightly; the good news is that there is a strong probability that you can get a Voice Directed Solution without having to upgrade or replace the host solution.
The MoyaVox Solution is a product that acts as an extension to your current system, it is not a replacement. Concentrating on managing the operators’ actions in the warehouse it provides all of the gains associated with a quality Voice Solution. Firstly we have to establish that your current systems support the basics a WMS should supply. Can it do the following?
1/ Generate orders
2/ Schedule deliveries
3/ Provide at least a basic level stock control
4/ Manage stock locations
5/ Manage customers’ accounts and generate invoices
If the answer to all of this is “yes”, then a MoyaVox Solution will work for you, regardless of your host system. This includes all the major WMS providers and solutions that may have been developed or heavily modified by your in-house teams.
If you answered “yes” to most of these, then a MoyaVox Solution may be able to fill your process gaps, but it would be a more complicated implementation and would have to be investigated on a case by case basis.
If you answered “no” to the majority, or all of these questions, then you may need a new solution to help your business grow and improve your processes. As a division of Minster Logistics we can provide this, or as a partner with multiple vendors we can help you make a qualified decision and provide consultation through the process.
We have provided you with an initial answer, but how does this work in the real world?
All of our solutions are configured and developed with the customer’s input. We start and end with you. Initially we will ask to understand your business, where you plan to go as a business, what pain points you are currently experiencing and what additional gains we may be able to provide that you may not have considered.
Next, we will document a proposal and calculate your expected Return of Investment (ROI) period. The typical period to realise your ROI for a Voice Solution is less than 12 months. As the premium hardware we use from Vocollect by Honeywell has a mean-time between failure of around 5 years and the MoyaVox Solutions are built to be scalable you will realise these savings year on year, even as your business grows.
Integration is the next step. We will work with your current provider and create a limited number of interfaces. As MoyaVox manages your warehouse workers’ actions and provides reporting on their performance we only need to interface with the data concerning those actions. MoyaVox was developed to interface to a large range of solutions and support all the recognised methods of interfacing between these types of systems.
There are a number of documents on our website that detail the benefits of a Voice Solution as opposed to alternative technologies, so we will not dwell on them here, however as rule of thumb when replacing an RF Scanning solution we would potentially see an increase in efficiency of over 20% and an accuracy of 99.97% at the pick face.
The final question you should ask is “How long will this take and what will be the impact on the business during this time?” A straight forward MoyaVox project will take around 4 months from first proposal to implementation. Other factors may increase this dependant on the solution required and any additional development to customers’ business needs and interfacing with third party solutions, but the impact will be minimal to the day-to-day operation.
We will ask you to provide a number of Super Users to be part of the project team. They will be asked to take part in the design and testing, but during the majority of the development the call on their time will be kept to a minimum, allowing them to continue with their daily responsibilities.
The implementation will follow a plan agreed with you, the customer. This can be by a gradual implementation by warehouse function allowing a working knowledge to be built up gradually by the workers. This aids a successful implementation and will give your business the security of knowing you are preparing for the future with a partner who you can trust – MoyaVox.