Auto ID solution provider, Zetes has implemented a voice picking solution at Faber Music Distribution. Faber has seen immediate return on investment with pick times cut by at least 25% and virtual elimination of errors
Faber Music Distribution is one of Europe’s largest music distributors and a subsidiary of music publisher, Faber Music. The voice solution is the final element of a warehouse management system provided by Solarsoft Business Systems which also included installing a wireless network, handheld terminals and truck mounted terminals within Faber’s distribution centre in Harlow, Essex.
Faber Music is a sister company to book publisher, Faber and Faber. It prints under its own imprint and also controls the European print rights to Warner Brothers Publications and EMI Music Publishing as well as distributing numerous other music catalogues.
Faber Music Distribution stocks in excess of 100,000 titles each with its own unique SKU, and ships over 3,500 orders for sheet music and related products, generating in excess of 4,600 order lines per month. The company sells to music retailers and wholesalers worldwide together with sales to the end user through its website.
John Hepworth, managing director of Faber Music Distribution, says: “The new voice system has had to be very flexible to make our rather complex business work, with orders being split into three parts, general stock orders, bulk picking and also archive items which are manufactured on demand. But after careful design, implementation and testing, the system really works well for us.”
He adds: “The other important issue in the current climate is efficiency and switching to voice is even more significant, helping us to create a leaner machine. It means we can get orders out to customers more quickly, ship stock faster into stores and be in a position to take re-orders more quickly too. Looking ahead, the voice system will also make the warehouse more efficient, enabling us to reduce overtime costs during the year and operate a more flexible workforce to meet our busiest trading periods.” Faber’s picking system illustrates the benefits of voice directed picking as a warehouse optimisation solution for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). After its eight pickers had used the Zetes/Vocollect voice system for just one week, Faber Music Distribution was able to see an instant increase in picking rates compared with its previous paper based system. Now, a single picker can complete anything up to 200 order lines per hour compared with a previous average of 50 to 70 order lines per hour. In addition, due to a multi pick solution pickers can simultaneously pick 10 orders at a time, giving further productivity improvements.
Faber’s warehouse operators were involved in the migration to voice from the onset of the project and are reported to be enthusiastic about the new picking system, which has been customised to identify order lines according to their format: ‘copy’ for printed music, ‘CD’, ‘DVD’, or ‘set’ for music sets and orchestral scores. The system also switches from descriptive identifiers, such as the abbreviated title for the majority of mainstream and English language publications to item number identifiers, used for foreign language publications and more obscure, international composers.
“The users really love the new system and were very keen to start using it,” says Hepworth. “It is human nature to avoid change and at the start we had a few within the team who were quite apprehensive, mainly some of the older members of staff. But once they started working with voice, their concerns were allayed straight away and they have said they wouldn’t want to go back to a paper based system.”
“Voice picking has traditionally been seen as the preserve of large companies running very high throughput warehouse operations. This implementation for Faber demonstrates the flexibility of voice directed working, and proves that SMEs too can see an immediate efficiency and productivity return when they make the switch,” says James Hannay, senior VP for Northern Europe at Zetes.
Faber Music Distribution is using Vocollect Talkman wireless headset and belt pack devices with the 3iV voice application software supplied by Zetes. The voice system is integrated directly into Solarsoft’s ERP (enterprise resource planning) solution and warehouse management system.
