Client company:
Italmark, a major company operating in Lombardy’s Mass Market Retail Industry, founded in Brescia, managing directly a hundred supermarkets with Italmark and Family Market signs.
Solution Scope:
implementation of the Vocollect voice solution, combined with ProGlove devices, in service of Warehouse Picking.
The Challenge
Every second counts when picking is intensive
Italmark’s distribution network is supplied daily through a central warehouse, where picking clerks operate with great intensity and every second counts. During these activities, the operators are guided by the vocal technology, Honeywell Vocollect, implemented by KFI in 2010. Picking volumes and rhythms are very high, even in other areas that house controlled temperature cells, where foods destined for the departments of meat, vegetable and fruit, cheeses and cured meat are preserved. Here, warehouse workers use, in addition to Vocollect, ring barcode scanners, that allow them to operate, hands free and to register the weight of picked items. As a consolidated practice, when faced with the need to renovate their fleet of wearable readers, Italmark contacted KFI to evaluate the most innovative suggestions present on the market.
The Solution
Vocollect and ProGlove in charge of warehouse picking
Regarding the perceived value of the implemented technologies, Giorgio Roncati – IS Manager of Italmark and project manager – observes:
“Having collaborated with KFI before, I already had the opportunity to see the ProGlove reader, and it impressed me right away. I found it extremely functional, ergonomic and simple to use: these are the reasons why we chose to test it”.
To put it to the test, the glove reader was compared with the latest models of ring scanners. The logistics personnel were involved in the comparison, in order to evaluate on site the pros and cons of the different alternatives and to gather the workers’ feedback. According to Roncati, in the last few years there has certainly been an evolution in ring solutions.
“Nevertheless, their structure, in relation to our processes, did not thrill us. ProGlove was able to develop a new and innovative device, perfect for our needs”.
The superior ergonomic qualities of the Pro Glove scanners, derived from an extremely reduced weight perfectly distributed inside the palm of the hand, fully satisfied the expectations of the employees in charge of picking.
“We are glad to be able to count on such a practical, wearable reader. You can use it over a work glove, while still keeping the hand free. Although very light, it does not seem to have elements of weakness that can easily damage it. Everyone is extremely satisfied. For this reason we have decided to introduce about 70 Mark Basic devices, and today we use them in all the warehouses used to preserve cured meats, cheeses, meats, fruits and vegetables; pretty much anywhere there is a need for frequent readings” claims Roncati.
Each operator has been equipped with a personal glove to wear over their single-use ones, in order to be able to operate with maximum comfort and efficiency, with hands completely free and gaze focused on activites.
The integration with Vocollect
The preference for the ProGlove reader, did non cause any problems with the integration process. Thanks to the collaboration between the german company and Honeywell, it has been possible, for a few months now, to allow the fantastic Mark readers to communicate with the hardware and software ecosystem of Vocollect.
“When we decided to adopt the ProGlove devices, their compatibility with the Vocollect system was not available, but it had been guaranteed to us”.
The necessary updates arrived gradually:
“We waited the release of the new service packs with the firmware able to modify the Voice Console. We then proceded step by step. In the beginning the matching time between hardware components (reader, head pieces, mobile device) wasn’t immediate but, thanks to the latest updates and once the pairing of the first kit ware completed, it became much faster and easier to proceed to the next step. Since the hadware kits have been configured, they have always been reliable and have never cause any problems during daily operations.”.
Italmark then prepared boxes with completed kits, numbered with QR codes for pairing. They delivered them to every single picker, in order to avoid promiscuous use, and to guarantee both a higher level of hygiene, and to involve the operators directly to the care of the hardware made available to them.
The Results
Maximum ergonomics and speed for operative personnel
The introduction of wearable ProGlove readers brought predominantly greater comfort during operational tasks.
“There has certainly been an increase in reading performance, but it is tied to a much longer and complex process. The change in technology was non dictated by the search for greater performance, but by the need to facilitate the operators, that now find it definitely less difficult to use. The ring technology, for example, does not represent an ideal solution when wearing gloves. Besides, the ring readers caused some impacts due to their greater volumes, hindering operators, so much so that, in certain cases, some of them did not wear them, choosing to keep them in their pockets instead. With ProGlove this does not happen any more”.
Giorgio Roncati, IS Manager of Italbrix Spa
Graduate of electronic engineering from Università degli Studi di Brescia. Since 2012, Giorgio Roncati holds the position of IS Manager of Italbrix S.P.A., facility in charge of the management of logistics for the Italmark Group.