Augmenting Reality in the Warehouse/TITLE

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OCTOBER2015
The European magazine promoting the effective use of IT in supply chain applications
MANUFACTURING&LOGISTICSITOCTOBER2015
Special Technology Report:
VOICE/WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Interview:
EMS PHYSIO
Also in this issue:
A vision built for the future
Pushing back the frontiers
Voice and multi-modal technology – the perfect combination
Taking planning and scheduling to the next level
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October 2015 3ITMANUFACTURING
&LOGISTICS
This edition of Manufacturing & Logistics IT features an in-depth special report on
Voice-directed technology and Warehouse Management Systems. Among the
comments from vendors and analysts related to a wide range of recent
developments and possible future trends within this solutions space, arguably one of
the most interesting and thought-provoking areas is that of augmented reality (AR)
technology.
Steve Wilson, vice president, practice lead – operational excellence at Capgemini, is
already seeing a number of retailers in Europe having started to use augmented
reality solutions for picking. In terms of the enhanced benefits, he explained that, with
Voice, workers have the commands coming into their ear, but there is now software
available that allows the picker to wear augmented reality glasses that include an
earpiece – so it offers the benefits of Voice, but on top of that workers can see the
instructions on a small screen in the eyepiece. They still have two free hands and,
according to Wilson, it can allow workers potentially to pick more quickly than if they
were picking with Voice or handhelds.
Wilson also points out that the camera on the front of the glasses allows barcode
scanning and quality checking, so it can check the accuracy of the pick while the
picker is picking the items. “All the picker has to do is scan the items inside the totes
to check that they have been picked correctly,” he said, adding that Capgemini is
seeing take-up of this technology particularly in automotive spares companies in
Germany at the moment. Wilson believes the warehousing industry is going to see a
growth in augmented reality technology. “The reason for that is with the amount of
pressure on cost people will be looking very aggressively at how to do things that
can reduce operating costs,” he said.
Andreas Finken, president of topVOX US, managing director at topVOX UK, also
believes augmented reality technology in the warehouse had a bright future. He
commented: “…when this technology is embraced it is clear that there is huge
opportunity here and we already have live operations where these technologies are
combined and delivering very real benefits to customers around the globe.” He
added that only a year ago they were not really viable for full-shift operations.
Vuzix Corporation, one of the leading suppliers of video eyewear and smart glasses
products, recently announced that Ubimax, a leading supplier for industrial wearable
computing solutions, has integrated its wearable apps xPick for pick-by-vision and
xAssist for remote service running on the SAP HANA Cloud Platform with direct
support for Vuzix M100 Smart Glasses. With the pick-by-vision solution xPick for
manual order picking, incoming, outgoing and sorting of goods, as well as inventory
processes, Ubimax's customers are reportedly achieving performance improvements
of up to 30 per cent in their productive environments. A number of international
customers such as Daimler and DHL are already using Ubimax's wearable solutions
on smart glasses including Vuzix.
Augmented reality in the warehouse and distribution centre has the potential to be
one of the big technology growth areas over the next year or two. I’m sure this
theme will be revisited many times over the coming editions of this journal as an
increasing number of AR implementation success stories begin to unfold.
Augmenting reality in the warehouse
Ed Holden
Editor
October 2015 ITMANUFACTURING
&LOGISTICS

&LOGISTICS
Manufacturing and Logistics IT
October 2015
The European magazine promoting the effective
use of IT in supply chain applications
Editor:
Ed Holden
Contributors:
Philip Jarrett, BEC
Anton du Preez, Voiteq
Darrel Williams, Vocollect Solutions, Honeywell
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ISSN:1463-1172
October 2015ITMANUFACTURING
&LOGISTICS
CONTENTS
Interview
5 EMS Physio
Special Technology Report
8 Voice/Warehouse Management Systems
Warehouse Management
20 2XL says ‘yes’ to customer demands with best-of-breed WMS ‘IBS Dynaman’
The Cotswold Company polishes its warehouse operation with the help of Snapfulfil
Vanderlande: A vision built for the future
Ergonomic Solutions launches SpacePole Essentials for the Warehouse & Distribution sector
Voice
28 topVOX Lydia runs swimmingly at J&K Aquatics
BEC: Pushing back the frontiers
BCP: Creed Foodservice boosts performance with Accord Voice WMS
Zebra Technologies: Voice and multi-modal technology – the perfect combination
Voiteq: Planning and executing for omnichannel success
Vocollect Solutions, Honeywell: Achieving greater productivity and higher morale
in the warehouse
Planning
44 Simatic IT Preactor: Taking planning and scheduling to the next level
Supply Chain
48 DynaSys: Planning has become the cornerstone at G.H. Mumm

&LOGISTICSwww.logisticsit.com
EMS Physio Interview
Manufacturing & Logistics IT spoke with James Greenham, managing director of
EMS Physio, about how its IT estate helps to ensure the company’s sales, manufacture
and support regime runs as efficiently and reliably as possible.
The right treatment
E
MS Physio is family-owned
business that manufactures
electronic physiotherapy
equipment. Established some 91
years ago, the company’s 17,000
ft.² headquarters and manufacturing facility is
in Wantage in Oxfordshire, where it employs
28 full-time members of office, factory and
warehouse personnel as well as temporary
staff. As well as enjoying a successful home
market, EMS Physio exports approximately 70
per cent of its products around the world. “In
essence, we are a typical small to medium-
sized manufacturing business with everything
under one roof,” said James Greenham, EMS
Physio’s managing director.
CRM
From an IT perspective, the company’s full
range of administrative, financial, human
resources, manufacturing and field service
activities are fully catered for. Over the past
few years, the company has run two separate
CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
databases with the same customer
information; one for the Service team and the
other for Sales & Marketing. However, as
Greenham explained, the past couple of
months have seen the company migrate both
databases from Act into Clik. “The rationale
behind both teams operating from the same
CRM database is they can access customer
information from the same core piece of
data,” said Greenham. “Because the
migration has only very recently taken place
there will naturally be a short period of data
cleansing and de-duping for the next month
or so. However, this will be very minor as both
historic databases have always held
essentially the same information.
Nevertheless, this latest move will be more of
a guarantee of uniform data across both
departments. Staff can now more easily
segment, prioritise, target and identify
different customer groups by categories such
as geography, product order and customer
profile etc.”
Online shop
EMS Physio also operates an online shop. The
main website comprises a Wordpress
ecommerce package, together with a
Wordpress plug-in called WooCommerce.
This manages the company’s product listing,
pricing, sales coupons and offer codes etc.
“Two or three years ago I thought very few
people would order our products on the
Internet,” said Greenham. “These products
retail for around £1000 including VAT and for
something in this price range customers have
historically preferred to have a sales person
visit them and give a demonstration in the
traditional way. However, we are definitely
seeing a gradual move towards people
buying equipment directly from the website.
This mode of sale is still easily managed by
us in the sense that the volumes are not high
when compared with lower-cost products, or
the type of output one might expect from a
tier 1-size company.”
Another major sales advantage for the
company is its global network of distributors.
“We have about 35 dealers around the world,”
explained Greenham. “Many of them are
exclusive to us, so, for example, our dealer in
Canada works solely for us in that territory. If
customers visit the website to buy equipment
from Canada we simply redirect them to our
Canadian dealer. We can manage this
arrangement very well based on our own
knowledge of the market and type of the sales
volumes we have come to expect.”
Manufacturing
On the manufacturing side, EMS Physio’s
MRP system of choice is Uniplan, developed
by Pinnula based in Sheffield. “It’s a package
that is bespoke for our particular
requirements, although the basic solution is
‘off the shelf’,” said Greenham. “Uniplan
James Greenham: “…being able to
respond globally to constant demand
from customers and business partners
with our relatively small team is critical.”

6 ITMANUFACTURING
&LOGISTICS www.logisticsit.com
installed the system for us a number of years
ago and it has proved to be a reliable and
efficient IT resource for us.”
The Uniplan system encompasses both the
business and operational side of the
business. On the business side it helps EMS
Physio to manage customer invoicing,
accounts, sales and purchase ledgers and
salary payments. It is also involved with
goods dispatch. On the manufacturing side
the company can schedule and pre-plan
works orders, and control stock levels in
terms of what needs to be replenished and
what volume of components needs to be
stored in line with anticipated customer
demand. EMS Physio also manages goods
dispatch through Uniplan.
Greenham pointed out that the Uniplan MPR
system is used by most people within the
business at some stage or other; whether in
terms of front-end customer invoicing or
planning or scheduling works orders by
components of equipment from EMS Physio’s
own suppliers. When customers place an order
through the website they pay online. EMS
Physio then takes that order and inputs it
separately into its MRP system to process the
sales order. The MRP system is not directly
linked directly to the company’s online shop.
“Of course, we can also take orders over the
phone, by post or by email – whichever
method is used we then feed this information to
Uniplan in order to fulfil the order and dispatch
the goods to the customer,” said Greenham.
Pinnula sends regular upgrades by email or
remotely updates the system. “Pinnula has a
business-day working help line and as and
when required its staff can make
modifications to the system make
improvements – for example, if there is any
general operation issues or if the functionality
needs to be adjusted,” explained Greenham.
“We simply ring up the helpline and the issue
is resolved within a very short timeframe.”
As well as quickly resolving all MRP issues
remotely, Pinnula also comes on-site to
conduct annual training sessions. “One of our
main IT challenges is when we take on new
staff, because many of them are likely not to
have used Uniplan before,” said Greenham.
“Therefore, we need to make sure they are
adequately trained on the system. However,
because the system is quite intuitive this
process usually doesn’t take long and staff
are actively using the system as effectively as
their longer-serving colleagues after the
training has taken place.”
Like many other businesses in all sectors,
EMS Physio uses Microsoft Office Excel,
Outlook and Word. “These applications are all
fully integrated with the MRP system, allowing
staff to regularly update information into
Uniplan and to migrate data from Uniplan to
Word or Excel,” explained Greenham. “Some
of our newer members of staff are more able
to use an ODBC link whereby we can specify
the data fields from Uniplan. These are then
October 2015
Interview EMS Physio

migrated to, for example, an Excel
spreadsheet.”
Field service
EMS Physio has two full-time salespeople and
four service engineers out on the road.
Greenham explained that they are all
equipped with HTC1 smartphones, which are
used for emailing and to access back-office
CRM or MRP data in the field. “These mobile
devices have proved highly effective for
accessing customer data remotely,” he said.
“As long as our sales and service personnel
can get online through a local Wi-Fi hub they
can access our server. They are now also
required to remotely update the customer
database we have within the Clik CRM
system. For example, after visiting a customer
at a clinic in, say, Bicester, they will update
the system; recording details of the visit such
as what equipment the customer currently
uses and how they plan to manage that
customer moving forward in terms of repair or
replacement of the equipment.” In terms of
accessing data in Uniplan, Greenham
explained the software links through an ODBC
link with Excel to help field service personnel
manage and understand that data.
“We have had a couple of instances where
staff have wanted to bring in their own laptop
and use it for their daily business tasks,”
added Greenham. “However, I’m not entirely
happy with that scenario because of the data
control element. We have to know that the
data they are managing is all part of our
single source of up-to-date information, as
well as be confident that the devices are as
secure as possible.”
Printing technology
In terms of printing technology, three years
ago EMS Physio had several individual
desktop printers situated throughout the
factory and offices linked to people’s
individual computers. “This meant we spent a
small fortune on printer ink each year,”
remembered Greenham. “However, we have
now linked all the computers to one central
high quality photo copier, printer, fax and
scanning machine – an Ineo 224e. The return
on investment in print savings alone has
justified the outlay.”
Cloud Computing
EMS Physio also looks to leverage the
advantages of the Cloud. “Our CRM server was
rebuilt about six months ago, and this is now
backed up daily in the Cloud,” Greenham
pointed out. “The CRM system is managed in
the Cloud so everybody within the office or out
in the field has access to it through the Internet.
When you run a business every minute counts
of course so when you are reliant to some
extent on Cloud-based applications the weak
link could be the broadband speed. Fortunately
for us, BT recently upgraded our business park
to fibre broadband. As soon as this was
installed we really started to appreciate the
value of the Cloud.”
Game-changer
Greenham reflected that current IT
technology has positively changed the way
EMS Physio operates as a business. “From a
front-end point of view we export globally to
customers in Europe, Asia, Australia,
Canada, Africa and the Middle East who
contact us 24 hours a day usually by email.
The challenge for our business is to be able
to respond those emails within 24 hours
because most people now use smart devices
and expect a very swift response to their
emails etc. So, being able to respond
globally to constant demand from customers
and business partners with our relatively
small team is critical. We have been in
business for a long time and, as you would
expect, we have members of staff who
remember relying on Telex and fax machines.
It doesn’t seem so long ago that a fax
machine was the quickest means of sending
a written message around the world.
Nowadays we can all do this on our mobile
phone or on Twitter. So the speed with which
you have to respond has increased
significantly in line with the technological
advances we have seen in recent times.”
The value of face-to-face contact
However, despite the benefits and
expectations that come with modern mobile
technology, Greenham still recognises the
value of meeting people face to face in order
to forge stronger business relationships.
“Meeting dealers face-to-face, often at some
of the big global medical exhibitions, makes
things so much easier when you then
communicate with them via electronic
technology. Non-remote human interaction
can definitely make a difference.”
Moving forward
Are there any plans for additional IT
enhancements within the business? “The next
logical IT step for us is to link the front-end
customer ordering experience with our back-
end manufacturing operations,” said
Greenham. “So, over the next two to three
years we plan to merge these so that orders
that are placed online can be fed directly to
the factory floor.”
Greenham concluded: “Over the past few
years, we’ve seen some major technological
changes, and most of these have been very
positive for our business. However, I believe
first and foremost it is important to remember
that you are dealing with people with their
own specific requirements. Therefore, we see
technology primarily as the facilitator that
makes it easier for us to communicate with
those people and to serve them in the best
and most efficient way possible.” n
EMS Physio Interview
As well as enjoying a successful home
market, EMS Physio exports
approximately 70 per cent of its
products around the world.

&LOGISTICS
Special Report Voice/Warehouse Management Systems
S
ome of the most dynamic and
fast-changing technology areas
have to be the ones deployed in
warehouse and distribution centre
operations – helping companies
to better serve increasingly demanding
consumer expectations while also aiming to
improve business profitability. So, what are
some of the key discussion points in terms of
current and ongoing innovations and
developments within this space? Bob Heaney,
research director, principal analyst – retail &
consumer markets at Aberdeen Group,
observes that omni-channel is a major current
trend. “The web is now much more prevalent
as an ordering mechanism,” he said. “If a
customer places an order through an e-
commerce site typically there is now often a
one- to two-day delivery expectation. So, if I
have work that is flowing out into my distribution
centre that has been batched up prior to these
orders coming through I’ve now got to
determine where I’m going to insert those extra
orders into the flow throughout the day.”
Heaney continued: “Typically, any company
handling a reasonably high volume of products
is already going to be using some form of
picking waves and replenishment waves where
the day is broken up into, say, two-hour
sections of work. When one wave completes
the next one queues up etc. With RF and Voice
you have the capability to in some cases insert
new orders directly into the current pick waves,
depending on where the worker is. We call this
task interleaving.”
Heaney explained that there are other advanced
techniques – within the picking process, for
instance – that also demand more interactive
communication with the actual worker. “For
example, there is something we refer to as
cluster picking, whereby workers can pick to a
batch cart or pick to light system,” he said. “It’s
not discrete order picking necessarily; it’s about
picking multiple carts. Therefore there’s a little bit
more interaction as workers pick an item, scan it,
use the Voice mechanism to indicate the pick
has been completed, and as they move through
the instructions the next ones queue up on their
device or they receive a verbal instruction on
their Voice system to proceed to the next. So by
having a way of communicating in near real-time
with workers you are able now to address some
of the more event-driven needs.”
Steve Wilson, vice president, practice lead –
operational excellence at Capgemini, considers
that one key talking point is driving rugged
proactivity from WMS controlled operations.
“That’s really coming about because of price
stagnation or price deflation in retail, which is
putting pressure on cost,” he said. “And now
with the living wage there’s an increased level of
pressure being put on the cost base, which has
meant that there’s a renewed focus on how to
get that cost back under control.”
Wilson explained there are now tools available
that allow productivity management at an
individual level. “These tools are integrated with
the key warehouse management systems,” he
said. “For example JDA RedPrairie has a tool
called Workforce Management which connects
to its WMS, and Manhattan has one called
Labour Management, which also connects to its
WMS. These tools are very good at capturing the
transactional data off of the WMS and allowing it
to be analysed and validated against
productivity standards in quite some detail down
to individuals and groups. That allows many
clients to manage productivity at a different level
to the way they’ve managed it in the past.”
The second main trend Wilson is seeing involves
the integration of store replenishment and e-
commerce into a single operation. He explained:
“The purpose of this is primarily to drive a single
stock pool; i.e. one location that contains all of
the inventory in a logical way so that if it’s
needed for e-commerce it can be sent to e-
commerce customers, or if it’s needed for the
replenishment to store it can be used for
replenishment to store. In the more traditional
model e-commerce stock tends to be separated
logically from retail stock and therefore either you
could end up with
lower availability or
with more
stockholding to cover
the availability. Neither
of these scenarios are
particularly good
business outcomes.”
What it now taking
place, according to
Wilson, is that some
retailers use WMS to
Voice of reason
in the warehouse
Manufacturing & Logistics IT spoke to a number of key spokespeople from the vendor and
analyst communities about recent developments in the world of Voice-directed software and hardware
and warehouse management systems – including those involving mobility, Cloud/SaaS and Big Data.
Andy Briggs, technical
director,
www.logisticsit.com

Special ReportVoice/Warehouse Management Systems
pick both e-
commerce and store
replenishment at the
same time and from
the same location and
same stock pool. “This
gives them better
availability at lower
overall levels of
inventory,” he said,
“and because of the
huge growth in Click
& Collect that’s
become more and
more important because a lot of Click & Collect
parcels are picked in the warehouse and then
they are put onto the same replenishment
vehicle that is going to the stores because it’s
much more cost-effective than putting them on
the carrier. Consequently, it makes sense to try
to pick them in the same warehouses where
they’ve picked the store replenishment work.”
The third key trend Wilson is seeing is where a
number of retailers in Europe have started to use
augmented reality technology for picking. He
explained: “With Voice, workers have the
commands coming into their ear, but there is
now software available that allows the picker to
wear augmented reality glasses that include an
earpiece – so it offers the benefits of Voice, but
on top of that workers can see the instructions on
a small screen in the eyepiece. They still have
two free hands and it allows workers potentially
to pick more quickly than if they were picking
with Voice or handhelds.
Also, explained Wilson, a camera on the front of
the glasses allows barcode scanning and quality
checking – so it can check the accuracy of the
pick while the picker is picking it. “All the picker
has to do is scan the items inside the totes to
check that they have been picked correctly,” he
said. “We are seeing take-up of this technology
particularly in automotive spares companies in
Germany at the moment. Providers currently
offering this technology include Ubimax and
Vuzix.”
Happy marriage
Ed Spotts, senior ERP consultant for Panorama,
considers that if ever a need existed to marry
two technologies, it is warehouse management
systems and Voice recognition solutions. “Even
in highly automated warehouses, the warehouse
worker is frequently called on to move objects,
large or small,” he said. “In more manual
warehouses, the typical warehouse worker often
wears heavy gloves and moves heavy boxes.
For that same person to then turn to a computer,
even a rugged handheld device, requires the
worker to stop the work they were doing, focus
on the device, and enter or scan data into the
warehouse management system. The appeal of
Voice recognition systems is that they free the
worker’s hands and arms. If the worker can
communicate to the warehouse management
system through speaking the hands of the
warehouse person can continue to conduct the
warehouse work without the interruption of typing
or scanning information into a computer.”
Bart Riviere, business development director for
speech solutions at Zebra Technologies, points
out that Zebra has seen an increase in multi-
modal Voice picking – both hardware and
software elements. “Devices with easier-to-read
screens and more intuitive interfaces using the
latest operating systems will also make it easier
to support multi-modal devices and provide
greater rewards,” he commented. Riviere added
that Zebra has a large portfolio of Android
devices such as Android versions of the MC92,
MC32 and the all touch TC75. “Going forward,
we will see more capabilities for supporting
Android in the warehouse and linking to Voice
picking from Zebra,” he said.
Riviere also sees a growing interest for non-
proprietary solutions that can be opened up and
more easily managed. Additionally, he sees a
key user need in having Voice solutions that
require zero training. “This is especially important
for seasonal workers but also for reducing re-
training requirements for all workers,” he
explained, adding that a key enabler in this
regard is the growing capabilities of speaker
independent systems.
Anton du Preez, group sales director for Voiteq,
is seeing an increase in the use of Voice beyond
picking. This, he says, is something that has
been talked about for a number of years, but the
rate of uptake has accelerated. “This is being
driven by the maturity and breadth of product
integration and pressure on warehouses to use
their existing assets to drive additional cost
savings,” he remarked.
In terms of other key developments, du Preez
points out that quality ‘screen to Voice’ solutions
– which take the text prompts displayed on
handheld terminal screens to be translated into
Voice and which then enter the user’s spoken
responses back into the screen – have enabled
companies with legacy systems or limited IT
resource to implement Voice into a range of
warehouse processes. du Preez also comments
that new commercial models – including
Subscription and Software as a Service (SaaS) –
are becoming popular with companies that have
Capex constraints but want to get the benefits of
Voice today.
In addition, du Preez explains that retail and
FMCG companies – driven by omni-channel,
convenience retail and changing retailer order
profiles – are having to manage more case and
piece picking to even tighter deadlines.
Business intelligence
Business intelligence and predictive analytics
(now often revered to as Big Data) are also
attracting a lot of interest from Voiteq customers,
explains du Preez. “They want clear, actionable
visibility of their operations and want their
systems to predict and manage issues before
they occur,” he said. “Our Voice solutions have
always captured low-level process data and
we’re now using this data to provide higher-level
visibility and control of the operation.”
Vision-based systems are being talked about
and are something that Voiteq has trialled with
customers. However, du Preez considers that
they have a number of challenges still to
overcome before they will be viable alternatives
to current, proven technologies.
Andy Briggs, technical director for BEC,
considers that one of the main current key
discussion points is the spread of Voice
applications, i.e. not just for picking but for doing
every task within the warehouse using Voice to
get the best out of a company’s technological
investment and the solution as a whole. “Door-to-
door Voice applications – as well as picking –
can include dispatch, stock counting, quality
transactions, stock rotation and stock control, i.e.
any movement or transaction which can be done
Gavin Clark,
commercial director,

www.logisticsit.comOctober 201510 ITMANUFACTURING
&LOGISTICS
should be done with Voice as it has so many
advantages,” he explained.
Andreas Finken, president of topVOX US,
managing director topVOX UK, reflects that there
are always new developments in WMS and
Voice. He commented: “And because of the way
technology is moving forward it is important for
us as a Voice solutions provider to be very
adaptable to these changes in a way that will
maintain performance of the Voice system itself
and also to add real benefit to the end user.”
Finken added that with the ever increasing
speeds and reliability of high-speed Internet
worldwide, the increasing interest in SaaS/Cloud,
topVOX continues to provide and enhance its
Voice as a Service offerings in line with these
trends; something it has continued to do for a
number of years.
Additionally, with the movement to lower-cost
highly flexible mobile OS such as android and
iOS, Finken believes it is essential for both WMS
and Voice providers to not only move with this
technology but also to allow customers flexibility
in transition between platforms. “So for topVOX it
has been a key priority to move with these
developments, and not just to enable our
technology to work on these platforms but also to
allow customers the flexibility to be able to
transition between them at a pace that suits their
needs rather than an overnight transition.” This,
he explains, is why topVOX has developed its
Lydia speech solution to work on all of these
platforms while also being able to mix and match
them in the same operation so that they do not
have to change their hardware overnight but
rather be able to pace their investment.
Finken adds that there is huge growth in the
number of e-commerce operations, many of
which have grown
from small one-person
operations starting a
business in the
person’s house,
growing into the
garage then into a
small business unit
with a small number of
staff. Finken explains
that a key area of
focus for topVOX is to
work and engage with
as many of these growing operations as
possible; many of whom need help to manage
and control their costs and also to improve
efficiency and accuracy in order to grow into
major companies. “We have a few of these types
of operations where growth has been
phenomenal and we are very proud to have
been a part of that growth,” he said.
Finken also points out that there has been a lot of
development regarding augmented reality
technology, such as smart glasses. “This is an
area where there is huge growth potential and
can be seen as a potential threat to Voice
solutions,” he said. “However, when this is
embraced it is clear that there is huge
opportunity here and we already have live
operations where these technologies are
combined and delivering very real benefits to
customers around the globe, which only a year
ago were not really viable for full-shift
operations.”
Darrel Williams, region director, Northern Europe,
Vocollect Solutions, Honeywell, considers that
Voice is now firmly established and recognised
as the optimum work interface for delivering
productivity and accuracy benefits in the
warehouse. The most interesting change he sees
today over previous years is the
acknowledgement of this fact by WMS and ERP
vendors who have adopted Voice as a value-
added mechanism to their offerings.
“Understanding that a seamless delivery of all
types of instructions to the worker is paramount
to achieving today’s warehouse challenges has
led the WMS community to offer Voice-ready
systems in much the same way that barcodes
were adopted over 20 years ago,” he said.
Williams believes the trend and differentiation is
now more about the scope of the Voice offering
rather than the availability. This, he maintains, is
driven into even sharper focus with the need for
business agility driven by surge in omni-channel
and click and collect type operations. “Late
ordering for next-day delivery, for example, relies
heavily on timely execution of work instructions –
doing job right first time in good time to meet
demand and greater visibility of order progress,
whether click and collect, timed or next day
deliveries,” he said.
Bill Tomasi, VP product management at IBS,
comments that because the WMS market in
general has evolved well into the maturation
cycle, the key topics in IBS’s discussions with
customers haven’t changed substantially over
the past 10 years or so – but the focus on the
details behind the questions has. He added: “For
example, customers have long recognised the
need for real-time visibility into operations within
their fulfilment facilities (and indeed no WMS
solutions provider can exist nowadays without
this functionality). However, more recently the
discussions have focused on the format of
retained information, faster and easier retrieval of
this information, and intuitive UI (user interface)
design approaches. All of these drive not only
end user productivity but also are imperative with
the new government regulations being placed on
businesses.”
Gavin Clark, commercial director at Snapfulfil,
observes that Software as a Service (SaaS)
continues to gain traction, not only with the
company’s traditional SMB customer base who
are embracing the Cloud as a competitive
differentiator, but also among Enterprise
companies who have fixed IT budgets and are
adopting SaaS solutions to help subsidiaries
accelerate speed to value.
Real-time management
information
What has driven these developments? Martin
Eppert, product manager for Vanderlande,
believes one key driver is the requirement for
real-time management information. “Presenting
the right information to warehouse managers in
an appropriate way, whenever they would like to
see it, is still a hot topic in WMS development,”
he said, adding that this will increase visibility
over warehouse processes. Eppert also
considers that dashboards are becoming more
prevalent, combining WMS and process
information from the system; for example the
lower control levels due to automation. This, he
explains, enables supervisors to make the most
of available resources and reduce costs within
the entire logistical process.
Another key driver for change, according to
Eppert, is the continuous growth of ecommerce.
He commented: “The e-commerce market
continues to influence WMS developments.
Orders are becoming smaller while lead-times
Anton du Preez,
group sales director,

&LOGISTICS
are getting shorter. In addition, same-day
deliveries are on the rise. The number of SKUs in
a warehouse is also growing. Distribution centres
need to be able to support multi-channel
processes, which increases the overall
operational complexity. WMS has to support
these developments with suitable planning and
scheduling functionalities to maintain warehouse
efficiency. Consumers expect to be informed in
more detail – and at short notice – about the
delivery status of their order. Therefore, the WMS
of the future has to support increasing track and
trace demands.”
Eppert believes the increasing demand for
ergonomic working environments is also a
pertinent subject. “This can be achieved through
a combination of user-friendly interfaces and
optimised workstations,” he said. “Enhanced
working conditions have a positive impact on
both the motivation of operators and their
performance while reducing absenteeism due to
sickness. An ergonomic and user-friendly
interface also requires shorter learning curves for
employees, which is especially important in
dynamic workforce environments.”
In Eppert’s view, the experience for customers is
also crucial. “Online reviews and easy ordering
procedures mean there are many factors to
consider in ensuring consumer satisfaction,” he
said. “To facilitate this, same-day deliveries, at
the lowest cost, with zero errors in order
fulfilment are essential. Also store-friendly
deliveries can help turn this trend into a solution,
allowing for shelves to be replenished quickly,
while reducing ‘out of stock’ notifications to
customers. This requires distribution centres to
reassess their processes and look for ways of
optimising their supply chain. Important
decisions need to be made relating to the entire
logistical process. For example, in altering the
stacking pattern of a delivery pallet to match the
unpacking sequence of a certain store, the
individual layout of the shop must be taken into
account within the WMS.”
As a result of the factors he cited above, Eppert
maintains there is a trend towards the automation
of more warehouse processes. “This will not only
reduce running costs, but also increase process
quality and facilitate short order throughput
times,” he said. “A state-of-the-art WMS has to
support this in a very efficient way.”
Chris Pass, consultant for BCP, believes some of
the key drivers are transparency and rigorous
fulfilment procedures to accommodate the
demands of the multi/omni-channel market. He
commented: “The warehouse management
system must be able to handle orders of all sizes
– from single items to more substantial orders –
from a myriad of different sources, alongside a
much wider choice of delivery options – plus the
flexibility to mix and match those options in
whatever combination the customer demands.
Key to success is business-wide transparency –
stock availability, stock location, delivery data
and the whole spectrum of orders that are being
placed – through all channels – and using that
information, alongside accurate forecasting,
sophisticated pricing matrices and rigorous
fulfilment operations to deliver a seamless omni-
channel experience for customers at a cost
which is economical for the business. That’s
where truly integrated systems come in.”
Pass also observes that the new Alcohol
Wholesaler Registration Scheme (AWRS) is
shining a new light on Bonded warehousing as
alcohol wholesalers of all sizes have to check
compliancy with regulations. He said: “This
process does seem to be raising awareness of
the cash flow and administration benefits that
can flow from setting up a Bonded facility;
benefits which are magnified if they are also
involved in exporting activities. Voice technology
is an ideal tool for running a Bonded warehouse,
with its unmatched traceability capabilities –
provided it has been
thoughtfully designed
into the solution.”
Clark reflects that, in
the past, companies
wanting to streamline
their warehousing
operations had two
choices: a low-cost
solution – often their
ERP’s WMS – at the
expense of the
sophisticated
functionality required
to support a truly
efficient warehousing operation, or an on-premise
Tier 1 WMS with far greater ‘fit for purpose’ but
with a lengthy implementation process and
enormous price tag to match. Clark believes
Cloud computing and SaaS models are bridging
this gap, providing an affordable way for
companies to benefit from a best-in-breed WMS.
Williams believes ecommerce, changing buying
profiles and online availability mean that the
warehouse is increasingly under pressure to
perform in new and varied ways. “Often we find
that a warehouse or warehouse worker is now
the last (or only) touch point before the consumer
and is almost totally responsible for brand image
and customer satisfaction,” he said. “Get an
order wrong and both of these are affected with
the potential to lose a customer forever.”
Riviere considers that increased pressure on
warehouse and logistics in general has been
driven by ecommerce, and the evolving supply
chain means warehouses need to cope with
increasing demands; including more SKUs,
greater returns and stock visibility. “This has
meant that warehouses and DCs need to
continue to evolve to increase accuracy and
efficiency,” he said. As a result, Riviere pointed
out that Zebra customers have very much driven
these changes to meet these underlying needs:
• Non-proprietary hardware to increase
flexibility.
• Speaker independent systems to reduce
training requirements and also grow the
capabilities of these systems, which, claims
Riviere, are now outperforming speaker-
dependent ones.
Andreas Finken,
president of topVOX US,
managing director UK,
www.logisticsit.com

According to du Preez, key drivers for change
include the omni-channel; the growth of
convenience retail and lean retailer initiatives
have resulted in warehouses having to handle
smaller orders and make more frequent
deliveries. “This, in turn, has increased the need
for handling cases and eaches, which is where
Voice excels at providing an accurate and
efficient process,” he said.
Integration
Have ways of best integrating WMS and/or
Voice-directed systems with other systems
developed to any notable extent over the past
year or two? Finken believes this question
depends on the customer organisations and
what they want. He commented: “If they want to
have a system that can add functionality then a
database and middleware can do this. If they
want a direct real-time connection to their host
system then there are many ways that this can
happen depending on their host system. A
database, telegram, html or .NET type of
communication can do this. If they want total
freedom to develop their own system changes
then training them to do this and providing a
development kit and support would be
appropriate.”
Riviere considers that integration of Voice and
WMS is quite stable today. “However, Zebra
has added more support for faster and easier
integration over the past few years,” he
pointed out.
Andy Briggs points out that BEC has various
integrations into all the major ERPs (SAP, Oracle,
Infor, Dynamix, IFS & many others). “There is no
need for bespoke
development to add
Voice to a business’s
ERP system – we
have proven
technology
connectors,” he said.
Wilson thinks things
have become
increasingly
standardised in the
sense that most of the
packages now have
standard connectors
to the leading ERP systems. “That makes the
whole process easier, however this is not
something that is in my view plug and play at this
point,” he said. “This is because an ERP
normally is a configured solution, so the specific
way a company has set up its ERP solution can
have an impact on how the interfacing works.
That’s why there has always been a degree of
tailoring required to make the interfaces work.
Nevertheless, it is now a much easier process
than it used to be because a lot of the integration
is more standardised – it’s now more a case of
tailoring rather than building from scratch.”
Eppert has observed a strong trend towards
adopting responsive, near real-time interfaces
such as web services, over the more
conventional and less reactive batch-oriented
communication methods. “This allows for closer
process integration; for example, being able to
automatically print and add a delivery note – or
invoice – and shipping label reflecting the latest
pick results and parcel weights,” he explained.
Eppert added that customers are becoming
more aware of the value of their software
solutions and, moreover, the risks involved if they
do not work as expected. “Therefore, integration
tests of a new system within the customer’s
existing IT network have become more
important,” he said. “To test whether integration
will be effective before the software goes live a
special test environment is established. This
includes remote connections that mimic the
dynamic behaviour of the existing material
handling system. More customers are
participating in this test phase, which gives them
an excellent opportunity to receive training on
their new system and prepare for a smooth
commissioning phase.”
Eppert also makes the point that the world of
logistics still requires a flexible and adaptive
software solution that integrates smoothly into a
customer’s existing IT systems. “Choosing an
application with a set of predefined, best
practice integration scenarios, omits risks and
reduces costs in WMS projects,” he said.
Heaney makes the point that the price-point for
Voice is now lower and integration within WMS
has become simpler over the past few years. “I
am and industrial engineer by training and in the
days when I was looking at Voice versus RF and
other capabilities the price point wasn’t right,” he
remembered. “Also, Voice could be more
disruptive to the ebb and flow of the primary
WMS system and not very easy to interface, and
the devices themselves tended to be more
proprietary. Today, with the advent of the
smartphones and newer ways of engaging with
the worker, Voice systems are much more
integrated and most can plug and play with any
device you might already have. It is now easier
to justify and to leverage Voice across your entire
enterprise.”
According to Tomasi, the current trend in inter-
solution communications is to generate open
and transparent communication layers. “This
trend results in easier, faster, and less expensive
integration as more and more companies adopt
technological standards and publish their
interface requirements,” he remarked.
Spotts considers that in some ways integrating
the Voice-directed system with the WMS is
straightforward. “Because of the real-time nature
of Voice-directed systems, using middleware
may not be effective – a direct integration may
be the best choice,” he remarked. The good
news, according to Spotts, is that if a direct
interface is written between the WMS and the
Voice-directed system, the quantity and variety
of data exchanged will likely be very predictable
and limited in scope. “That is because the
transactions conducted by the Voice-directed
system must be limited in order to maintain its
accuracy and speed,” he said.
Bob Heaney, research
director, principal
analyst – retail &
consumer markets,

Pass argues that integrating Voice into WMS
continues to be more challenging than is often
represented by middleware providers “who
simply aim to bolt Voice hardware onto an
existing WMS”. In Pass’s view, a totally
integrated Voice WMS still, in general, offers
more functionality while being more robust and
less risky. “It’s important to appreciate that Voice
is now a mature technology with customers
much more aware of the potential benefits it can
deliver and the need to integrate it fully and
sensitively to other business systems if those
benefits are to be realised,” he said. “This
applies equally, whether it be a Warehouse
Execution System to Voice empowering an
existing WMS or a full Voice WMS interfacing to
other business systems.” The key, says Pass, is
to choose a supplier with a proven pedigree of
implementing Voice and a full understanding of
what is involved so that Voice can be made to
‘work for you’.
According to Clark, the main challenges when
integrating with existing business systems
usually rest with the ERP systems, as they are
often older versions and not configured for
connecting to external systems. He commented:
“The advances the vendors of these systems
have invested in have really made the difference,
allowing the use of real time web services, APIs
and other real-time transport methods. Obviously
the providers of WMS and Voice systems have
had to ensure they can accommodate as many
options as possible, providing flexible methods
for each new client system.”
Williams believes that, undoubtedly, more
business systems have wider ranging integration
to Voice systems than ever before. He adds that
Honeywell Vocollect solutions integrates with
over 200 business systems, often with several at
the same time, with the emphasis on seamless
integration to deliver the best performance
possible. “However, with the ever-changing
demands from the market there still remains the
need for functionally-rich applications or
middleware that is truly attuned to the business
in hand,” he said.
du Preez makes the point that, today, there is
a wider range of Voice integration options
than ever before. “The larger WMS vendors
have more deeply embedded Voice into their
latest versions and companies with older
versions now have access to high quality
screen-to-Voice solutions to voice-enable any
of their screen-based processes,” he said.
“There is still strong demand for Voice
warehouse execution systems that enhance
the lower level operational processes of
traditional WMS systems. For example,
Voiteq’s VoiceMan warehouse execution
system enabled Kellogg’s to realise a 40 per
cent productivity improvement by better
managing workload and pallet building using
Voice.”
According to du Preez, there is also growing
interest from SAP customers for Voice solutions
that connect directly to SAP and a number of
these solutions have gone live in the past 12
months in the UK and Europe – particularly as
the adoption of SAP’s Extended Warehouse
Management (EWM) grows.
SaaS and Cloud
Has the Software as a Service (SaaS)/Cloud
model had any notable level of impact on the
WMS and/or Voice-directed software solutions
market so far? du Preez comments that it is
first worth distinguishing how a Voice solution
is hosted and provided (which could be in the
Cloud) from the commercial model for
acquiring it (which could be pay-per-user-per-
month). He commented: “New commercial
models such as Subscription and SaaS were
accelerated in the economic downturn when
capital was hard to come by. Interestingly, the
appetite for these has not diminished now that
the economy is stronger.”
du Preez explains that Voiteq offers all three
hosting models: Cloud, data centre and on-
premise. “Primarily due to the mission-critical
nature of Voice systems, most of our customers
opt for high-availability deployments under their
control in data centres or at their warehouse
sites,” he said. “Examples of internet services
being unavailable, such as the recent Skype
outage, are often quoted by companies when we
speak to them about a pure Cloud service. The
cost and impact on customer service of a
picking system being unavailable for a few hours
is not something they’re willing to risk. That being
said, some of our larger customers have opted
for Cloud-like solutions (centrally hosted with a
browser user interface) in resilient data centres
that they can select
and hold to high
service levels.”
Eppert has seen few
notable requests for
a SaaS model so far.
“In the context of
automation projects,
WMS is seen as an
additional investment
to the traditionally
more expensive
equipment,” he said. Eppert has observed little
interest in a ‘public Cloud’ approach; however,
he has witnessed a greater focus on ‘private
Cloud’ solutions within small- to mid-size
systems warehouses. He commented: “The
benefits of Cloud-based approaches are well-
known: IT setup and maintenance costs are
reduced and the scalable nature of the solution
allows customers to respond quickly to
changing market needs, without compromising
response times.”
Going smaller
Spotts reflects that publications often focus on
gigantic organisations with massive warehouses
and large information technology staffs. “In
today’s environment, there is a growing number
of small boutique and specialty retailers who
manufacture and warehouse their products,” he
said. “These organisations do not have the
resources to maintain an ERP or warehouse
management system. For a growing number of
such small- and even medium-sized businesses
a Cloud-based solution can be desirable.”
Spotts added that people often associate SaaS
with Cloud-based technology. “While SaaS
computing is almost certainly Cloud-based,
there are other Cloud-based models available,”
he pointed out. “SaaS implies that the business
does not own the software, and even more
concerning, it may be unclear as to who owns
the data. With Cloud-based systems, the
business owns the software and its data, and
merely pays the hosting organisation to
operate its system. Such solutions have proven
to be very cost-effective and relieve the need
for an organisation to have the deep skillsets
necessary to support an ERP or warehouse
management system.”
Chris Pass, consultant,

For real-time systems, such as Voice recognition,
and any kind of automated warehouse cranes
and material movement systems, Spotts
maintains that the controls continue to need to
be local for reliability and speed. “Even the direct
supervisory systems should be local to assure a
reliable, fast connection, but middle tier and ERP
level software is being moved to the Cloud more
and more frequently,” he said.
Heaney explains that many multimodal units
have the Voice engines and the software kernels
that drive most of the heavy activity on the
devices themselves. He commented: “They can
send messaging back to either the local host
servers for Voice or to the Cloud etc. So, by
decoupling where a lot of that heavy processing
is and then putting many cases right on the
device you are now able to support largely
Cloud-ready type operations.”
Heaney continued: “The same thing is true on
WMS. Today, there is a lot more bandwidth and
less latency between how quickly the systems
can receive information. In some cases we have
seen SaaS-based WMS providers actually doing
high-speed sortation where units pass by a
scanner at rates of 2000 to 3000 per minute. As
a result of that capability we are seeing many
more people opting for a solution that allows
them to leverage their WMS or their Voice system
etc. more in the Cloud and then take advantage
of a common system across their warehouses
facilities. Then, rather than having dedicated
servers and differences in how things are
implemented, they can take advantage of a
more common broad-brush solution that is easier
to maintain and also satisfy their needs.
Therefore, we are seeing the tendency for
people to start moving that way.”
Heaney added that,
particularly in the case
of new installations or
new facilities, this kind
of migration is starting
to happen. “There are,
however, companies
that are still tied to
their legacy systems
and to central
processing that
happens at the facility
itself,” he said. “This
often can make migration more difficult; so
instead of moving to the Cloud many companies
are moving to multi-modal open architecture
devices, such as Voice, which allows them to
deal with their everyday processes and event-
driven flows without necessarily needing to rip
out their legacy WMS.”
Finken thinks it is clear that SaaS models do
work and are growing. He commented: “There
are major strengths to this model as they
generally do not require large capital investment
and have flexible contract terms so it provides a
low risk option to companies providing they have
resilient and reliable connectivity. With the
massive growth over the last few years of mobile
communications I think there are some real
opportunities here.”
Tomasi believes SaaS is definitely becoming
more of a topic for discussion with customers as
they see the benefits. “I don’t believe we have
fully crossed the chasm and entered into the
Early Majority phase yet, but I see the market as
definitely trending in this direction,” he said.
“Much as we saw back in the 1990s when real-
time visibility crossed the chasm, we will see a
shift as some of the providers who failed to
adopt the prerequisite technological
underpinning fall to the wayside and new start-
up companies burst onto the scene. This is good
news for the WMS market in general as
historically these events drive the market
forward.”
According to Clark, the acceptance of SaaS
systems for CRM and ERP has opened the
floodgates for other pioneering system vendors
to create SaaS products that can stand shoulder
to shoulder with the established on-premise
solutions. “Increasingly, our SaaS WMS is being
evaluated alongside and chosen above on-
premise solutions and not simply because it is a
lower-cost option,” he said. “On this basis, we
predict that Cloud will overtake the popularity of
on-premise WMS within the foreseeable future.”
Pass explains that several of BCP’s Voice WMS
customers have been operating private Cloud
systems to manage multi-depot operations for
years, but BCP’s own research and experience
shows that customers prefer being able to see
their own hardware and control their own data.
“There’s still an inherent discomfort about the
data ownership issue which comes with the
SaaS/Cloud model,” he said.
Riviere comments that Zebra is seeing
increasing interest in SaaS as it is easier to
deploy and get up and running and offers a
different investment model for customers.
Williams points out that term ‘SaaS’ has been
around for many years, and its impact and
interpretation can vary widely depending on
one’s perspective. He commented: “To some it
means renting licensed software or pay to use,
to others it represents having a hosted system
that is run and managed by someone one else
and to yet another group it represents an
alternative cash flow profile.”
Williams adds that Honeywell Vocollect solutions
have been able to provide hosted or remote
systems for many years with a variety of
licensing models. “However in order to maximise
returns, Voice solutions often need to be
Bart Riviere, business
development director
for speech solutions,
Special Report Planning/Forecasting/S&OP

configured, personalised or tuned to individual
requirements, so as to deliver the most
significant returns,” he said. “As such, the astute
client will usually invest in a solution that
differentiates him in his market, whilst delivering
an outstanding ROI, typically within a year. SaaS
remains an option for voice that stimulates
interest but doesn’t always deliver the best
results.”
Mobility
Are mobility solutions having a greater impact or
influence on WMS and/or Voice-directed
solutions? Finken states that these are exactly
the sort of things that topVOX is developing and
deploying in augmented reality solutions now.
“This will extend not just within the warehouse
but also across the whole distribution chain,” he
said. “We are already seeing this happen and as
devices improve this will accelerate. We already
have many live systems not just in warehousing
and logistics but in healthcare, maintenance,
production and field service where these types
of hardware devices have made this possible.
Not only that, we also have several other
solutions that we have developed that are really
waiting for the hardware to catch up before we
can really deliver them. But it is happening.”
Heaney believes that, in today’s digital society,
we are becoming increasingly accustomed to
leveraging benefits of smartphones and
ecommerce etc. “For example, many consumers
now expect to be able place an order with
Amazon and receive it within a day or two, and
track and trace it on its delivery path,” he said.
“Consumers also expect to be able to easily and
quickly return unwanted goods. So we are
communicating needs fairly immediately and
getting statuses almost immediately. This
expectation of quicker delivery and traceability
also ripples into the workplace.”
According to Wilson, a growing number of
people who have the task of supervising the
pickers in the warehouse want to go out on the
floor with a tablet; bringing the supervisor layer
out of the office and to the operation. “Allowing
the WMS to display dashboards on a tablet
makes things much more convenient,” he said.
“One of our clients is in the process of piloting
this because that will mean the supervisor layer
is not tied to the desk. Through being able to see
dashboards on a tablet, supervision will be able
to be undertaken more effectively without
individuals having to go back to the office every
time they want to run a query.”
According to Pass, there is significant interest in
mobile devices at senior levels for management
of the warehouse, to quickly identify hotspots,
such as empty pick faces, for example, and in
the field to allow field sales staff to better service
customers with real-time information accessed
directly from the main system. However, he
believes there is no real movement in this
direction on a day-to-day operational basis
where it would only contravene the whole ‘hands
free, eyes free’ ethos that underlines Voice
technology in the warehouse. Nevertheless, with
the growing popularity of wearable technology,
and the rapid rate of technical innovation in this
area, Pass considers it is not unreasonable to
speculate that wearable mobile devices could
make inroads into the warehouse industry in the
not too distant future.
In Eppert’s view, mobile solutions are having a
big impact on WMS. “Recent innovations have
created a new world of opportunities and
improvements within warehouses,” he said. “For
example, if a service technician has to solve an
equipment-related issue, they benefit from
having all the relevant information on their mobile
device, such as a tablet. In addition, if they
require remote assistance, they can highlight the
problem with a mobile video camera while
discussing the situation with a specialist,
conceivably thousands of miles away (as per
Vanderlande’s EYE4U solution). As mobile
technology continues to evolve, we will see more
of these applications appear on the market. This
will help to improve the overall service level and
process continuity in warehouses.”
Eppert adds that being online is such a big part
of our personal lives that we expect to enjoy the
benefits of this in a professional capacity.
Alongside the easy to use applications, Eppert
makes the point that WMS provides accurate
information and reports, whenever it is required.
du Preez states that mobility has been core to
Voice solutions since their inception. “Mobile
access to the back-end systems that manage
mobile workers is a more recent development,
but demand is growing rapidly,” he said.
“Typically, managers
and supervisors want
the key information
and alerts pushed to
their mobile devices
with the ability to then
trigger actions in their
systems, even when
they’re away from their
desks. The
technologies to
enable this are well-
established and in
general the key areas of focus are data security,
making the information relevant and minimising
‘information overload’.”
Clark comments that the widespread use of
tablets and smartphones means all systems will
be developed to work on these platforms.
“Mobile Manager, our latest BI tool, will not only
be web-based to allow access anywhere, but will
also deploy native apps for iOS and Android
devices,” he explained.
According to Tomasi, mobility solutions are
impacting the WMS market in a two main areas:
Device selection and application development.
He commented: “On site, we see more
customers looking for alternatives to ruggedised
terminals and PC stations, and off-site more and
more companies are adopting a BYOD (bring
your own device) approach to technology, which
requires solutions to be either easily installed or
accessible through the web. Luckily,
development technologies like HTML5, reactive
screen designs, etc. are enabling software
providers to support a much wider range of
devices without additional investment in
development or support.”
Greater access
Briggs observes that the scope of people using
these mobile devices is changing; with more
people having access to information via
smartphones and tablets for reports and
dashboards while they are out and about/at
home – and more executive level personnel
using mobile devices than before.
Spotts considers that technology is benefitting
smaller and smaller companies. “How many
times have you been at a street fair and seen a
Ed Spotts, senior
ERP consultant,
Special ReportPlanning/Forecasting/S&OP

food wagon or a street seller collecting data off
of a phone or tablet mounted credit card
reader?” he said. “Smaller, inexpensive systems
allow small businesses to manage their inventory
and accounting with simple, affordable
technology. Benefits of inexpensive mobile
computing platforms don’t need to be limited to
small businesses. In the right environment in
large corporations, these inexpensive, versatile
devices can improve business efficiencies and
serve as data terminals, cameras, barcode
readers and – yes, of course – Voice recognition
systems. Because of the massive quantity of
such devices that are in use for personal and
business use, a great deal of technological
development has poured into making such
devices an integral part of day-to-day life.”
Williams believes mobile devices are de facto in
today’s world and interoperability should be the
norm. However, he adds that Voice enables end
users to do what their business requires of them
in the best possible way, rather than their being
encumbered by technology. “The trick is to
apply technology in the least invasive way to the
user, letting it assist rather than direct strategy,”
he said.
Riviere sees enabling mobile workers to make
real-time decisions based on actionable
intelligence as a major trend. “With the
development of technology and Voice-picking
solutions they provide greater access to data
and also data in real time through industrial
WLAN solutions,” he said. “This also links to the
key trend of increased mobility in the workplace.
By providing workers with real-time data through
handheld devices it can provide them with key
enterprise intelligence to enable them to make
key business decisions.”
Riviere explains that,
in the past,
warehouse operations
tended to look at
mobile devices as
one-size-fits-all.
“That’s no longer the
case,” he said.
“Today, with the
proliferation of
smarter, more
productive mobile
devices, the goal is to
make sure employees are using the right device
for the right task. Fixed and mobile printers
enable assets and inventory to be efficiently
tracked. Powerful, rugged single and multimodal
devices provide functionalities – from scanning
to tag reading to Voice picking and more – in a
variety of form factors such as handheld, vehicle-
mounted, wearable and hands-free mobile units.
Multimodal technology is rising in importance,
providing users with the ability to perform
multiple tasks on one device; for example, units
that combine scanning, Voice and text, with the
option of using Voice-only, text-only or
combination Voice and text for input.”
Big Data
Is Big Data now having a notable effect on the
development, operation and benefits of WMS
and Voice? Wilson considers that if one thinks of
Big Data as collecting and using the pool of
detailed transactional data, then this is what the
workforce management applications he referred
to earlier do. He added: “It used to be that data
collected in the WMS was cleansed each night
and the following day the process would start
again. The results were posted into the ERP but
the actual transactional data wasn’t analysed in
any great depth and was regularly disposed of.
Most WMS solutions aren’t particularly designed
to be data storage devices, however there is
now a recognition that this data does have value
and is often exported into workforce or labour
management modules where it is held and
where there is then analysed. That can help
improve how workers are performing, so that’s
how I see Big Data applying to warehouse
operations. There is a lot of transactional data
available, but it’s really about getting the value
out of that data which companies are
increasingly keen to achieve. This wasn’t so
much the case two years ago.”
Clark makes the point that by combining different
sources of information, a sophisticated business
intelligence tool can convert data into real usable
management information. He commented:
“Knowing what is happening and what
happened is one thing, but being able to know
ow that compares with yesterday, this time last
week, last month and forecast what resources
will be needed to hit deadlines and update that
throughout a working day will allow smaller
businesses to compete more effectively with the
larger corporates. This is why we will soon be
offering business intelligence and dashboard
tools within our Snapfulfil WMS, built on the
incredibly powerful MicroStrategy platform.”
Clark added that each reporting Pod within the
dashboard can be interrogated in a variety of
ways and the BI reports are easily customisable
with graphs, charts, gauges and other easy to
view options. Alerts can be set by the user and
reports easily exported via email, with
annotations to provide swift notification and
further investigation. “This data is all seamlessly
integrated with the data within the Snapfulfil ‘Data
Cube’ and non-linear reporting allows for rapid
searches of millions of rows of data,” Clark
continued. “By using the power of Software as a
Service, all Snapfulfil users will soon be able to
choose an Enterprise level business intelligence
tool that would usually be outside of their
budgets.”
Tomasi believes Big Data is another area within
the WMS market that has not progressed
beyond the early adopters, but nevertheless has
massive ramifications for our industry. “It’s not
just about data retention but rather how quickly
and easily the massive amounts of data can be
optimally searched and, most importantly, how
the results can be used in ways that propel a
company ahead of their competitors,” he said.
Pass considers that capturing performance data
and using it alongside advanced labour
scheduling, such as BCP’s Accord Voice Labour
Scheduling system, facilitates better
management of manpower resources, time
scheduling and identification of any underlying
issues. In the wider field of ERP solutions, Pass
believes Big Data promises much, but only if IT
solutions can manage the huge volumes of data
available and deliver it to users in a meaningful,
easy to use and interpret format.
Briggs explains that much of the business
intelligence in BEC’s solutions to date has
focused on users; for example the
performance/productivity of operatives. “We
expect that we are going to see much more use
of the masses of data that can be gathered
through our warehouse management systems,
giving the ability to monitor all business process,
transparency across many sites,” he said. “The
Bill Tomasi, VP
product management,
Special Report Planning/Forecasting/S&OP

large volumes of quantitative data will enable
very accurate measurement and forecasting of
resources – labour, energy, materials etc. – and
provide immediate real-time quality and reliability
measures, with triggers for anomalies, and
exceptions which can then be handled
immediately.”
Better insight
Eppert believes Big Data is having a noticeable
impact on the world of WMS. “These systems are
required to deliver more detailed internal process
data to the business intelligence platform, which
facilitates in-depth analytics,” he said.
“Combining this data from multiple points within
a warehouse can offer a better insight into areas
of improvement. The correct interpretation of
data will remain a human task for now and not
fully automated in the near future. In this sense,
Big Data can be understood as an approach to
making effective decisions based on reliable
information. One of the expected challenges will
be to incorporate media information such as
pictures and movies taken from warehouse
processes into data analytics.”
Spotts reflects that Big Data is a term coined to
describe data sets so large or complex that
conventional software and hardware are
inadequate. “This definition is a moving target,”
he remarked. “Data sets that were
incomprehensible and hard to manage a few
years ago have now become routine.”
Spotts continued: “Putting aside that rather
vague definition of Big Data, let’s talk about the
benefits that global companies can achieve as
the result of the technology employed to manage
Big Data. Companies can now have a global
view of their inventory. With the advent of
inexpensive sensors and computers, they can
collect vast amounts of data. Data can include
text, images, audio, and video. Big Data is often
characterised as high volume, variable, real time,
and accurate.
“Vast amounts of data do nothing but fill up disk
drives if proper organisation and analysis of the
data is not completed. When making the
decision to collect and store massive amounts of
data, advanced tools with algorithms and
analysis must be employed to transform it from
data to meaningful information. Cutting-edge
technology allows forward-thinking users to
quickly recognise changing patterns, detect
seemingly invisible issues, conduct predictive
analysis and enable confident decision making.”
Heaney reflects that, when one talks about the
event-driven warehouse this is not just about
adopting more interactive technologies and
solutions. “There is also a need to interleave
those very tightly into the workflows,” he said.
“After all, it does companies no good if they
bring in Voice but are then not be able to take
the input from the Voice unit and interdict or
interleave an order into the workflow. Why
provide the capability to communicate in real-
time with a system if it goes into a black hole and
doesn’t allow workers to react to it for, say, a hot
replenishment etc.? So you need to be able to
access the more granule data and be able to
react to it much more in real-time and deploy
courses of corrective action if necessary. The
whole purpose is to be able to take on workflows
that in the past were
simply batched and
delayed.”
Riviere explains that
Zebra’s solutions can
provide a much
deeper insight by
providing real-time
data that feeds into
the WMS systems. He
commented: “This
help provides visibility
of assets and visibility
throughout the warehouse and supply chain.
With the advent of today’s mobile technologies
and the Internet of Things (IoT), enterprises can
accelerate productivity, profitability and
operations with solutions designed specifically
for their processes. With the right IoT solution in
place, enterprises can connect all devices
across a centralised Cloud network, and capture
and share their mission-critical data, allowing
them to gain real-time visibility of their operations.
This actionable insight is what provides
organisations the Enterprise Asset Intelligence
they need to make improvements. This
enhanced business knowledge can be gained
through a set of enabling technologies in the
areas of asset management, Cloud, mobile and
Big Data.”
Riviere added that he sees enabling mobile
workers to make real-time decisions based on
actionable intelligence as a major trend. He
makes the point that Zebra’s solutions (WLAN,
RFID, scanners, mobile computers) are key to
capturing real-time data (barcodes, timestamps,
location etc.) to enter into WMS systems to
enable this. “With the development of technology
and Voice picking solutions they provide greater
access to data and also data in real time through
industrial WLAN solutions,” said Riviere. “This
also links to key trend of increased mobility in the
workplace. By providing workers with real-time
data through handheld devices they can access
key enterprise intelligence to enable them to
make key business decisions.”
Riviere is seeing this then being increasingly
analysed to make business decisions. “For
example, in Zebra’s warehouse in Heerenveen,
we integrated our own Real-Time Locating
System (RTLS) technology with the WMS system
Darrel Williams,
region director
Northern Europe,
Special ReportPlanning/Forecasting/S&OP

to enable a truly dynamic and real-time facility.
The solution enables staging requests from the
WMS to be dynamically staged, resulting in a
40 per cent space saving versus traditional
fixed staging and savings of over 400 man
hours per month.” In terms of hardware, Riviere
is also seeing increasing analytics available to
ensure optimal performance. For example, he
points out device-diagnostic services are
available to maximise the performance of Zebra
mobile computers and ensure visibility.
du Preez observes that most warehouse
management systems and Voice execution
systems have provided fairly detailed
transactional records of the activities in the
warehouse. “Increasingly, this data is being
used to provide more meaningful and
actionable insights into the operation, which in
turn enable managers and supervisors to make
better decisions,” he said. “Some providers
have evolved this historic view of activity into
predictive analytics that use past and current
performance to predict future outcomes such
as completion times and resource
requirements. These insights and predictions
are proving to be extremely valuable to users
and so the providers of these systems are
investing more into research and development
of these Big Data tools.”
du Preez points out that by combining real-time
operator performance with data from the WMS
and transportation scheduling systems, Voiteq’s
Warehouse Execution System is able to predict
the completion times of zones or routes and
recommend alternative resource allocations to
avoid or minimise missed shipping deadlines.
Larger data sets captured over longer periods
allow users to compare current and historic
performance and to
measure the impact
of changes to
processes.
Finken reflects that
there is a lot spoken
about Big Data within
logistics and
distribution. He
commented: “And
certainly there are
huge benefits already
being realised where
the consumer market is concerned and in trend
analysis. So I think so far there are clear
benefits in these areas and in intelligence
gathering for businesses. How exactly this is
being used in WMS and within the four walls of
a warehouse is yet to be fully understood. The
key is that we know it will as systems and
business processes become more and more
interconnected and as the consumer demands
more flexibility and greater service. That said,
there are some new developments that we are
progressing right now, which will materialise in
the next year or so.”
Williams considers that Big Data is a relatively
recent term for analysing what is happening
and using what one has learned. “Voice has
been applying these principles for many years
to streamline and optimise labour-intensive
warehousing activities,” he said. “The very
nature of Voice technology delivers visibility into
the component parts of every process, rather
than just reporting the outcome, providing
unprecedented data points to allow us to make
actionable change. For example, we notice in
the ‘profile’ of a product that is picked several
times a day that there is a higher than normal
percentage of walk time, so we are able to
analyse the actions and identify options for
immediate improvement, for example, why
aren’t we batch picking multiple orders or even
moving the stock location?”
Looking to the future
What might be the next innovations and
developments to look out for in the world of
WMS software and Voice-directed systems over
the next year or two? Eppert believes one area
of development will be the integration of new
technology such as automated shuttle systems
allowing for scalable storage or automated
mixed palletising solutions. These, he sayd, will
need specific WMS support in order to get the
maximum benefit.
Another challenge for WMS software, according
to Eppert, will be handling the conflict between
the impressive speed of innovation and release
cycles from the consumer market and the
demand for future-proof investments in the
world of logistics. “For example, mobile
terminals in a warehouse are often in operation
for many years, while the capabilities of an
average smartphone and its apps are
improving monthly,” he said. Also, Eppert
reflects that the discrepancy between the
‘always connected’ trend in the consumer
market and the demand for IT security within a
warehouse will be an interesting topic to work
on as a product manager.
Finken comments that topVOX is now deploying
solutions that combine new hardware with the
use of ‘Voice and Vision’. “This is very real now
and I think this will be a big growth area over
the next two years,” he said.
Finken pointed out that customers are
continually demanding more flexibility.
Therefore, he thinks the use of android in
warehouse operations will be a very noticeable
development as the hardware can be much
lower cost than traditional ruggedised devices.
“The key here is how we enable customers to
have this flexibility,” he said. “So we will be
developing our Lydia Voicewear to help with
this in keeping low-cost devices protected and
therefore viable in the harsh environments of
warehouses.”
Also, Finken believes the market will continue to
see the growth of ‘Pick and Pack’ operations as
businesses modify their models to allow
shipment direct to end customer. “We are
experiencing a growing number of customers
asking us to enable ‘Pick and pack’ within their
operations, and this has been a built-in option
on our ‘Lydia Plug and Play’ system for quite a
while now,” he said.
Wearable technology
Pass believes wearable technology is one area
that will become more prevalent within the
Voice space, while Clark considers that WMS
systems will continue to become more
sophisticated, with the ability to handle greater
levels of exceptions without requiring any
manual intervention or administration by
operators. This, he believes, will essentially
make the system smarter while keeping the
user experience simple and straightforward.
Briggs considers that Voice could spread
further from warehousing into manufacturing for
assembly, inspections etc. (for more comment
in this area, see pages 30 and 31).
Steve Wilson,
vice president,
practice lead –
operational excellence,

Within the next year or two Tomasi thinks we will
see improvement in the SaaS adoption, clarity
of purpose in the Big Data arena,
emergence/improvement of augmented reality
technology, and improved adoption of existing
development technologies. All of this will, he
believes, lead to a rejuvenated and much more
dynamic WMS market, which will be good for
vendors and customers alike.
Heaney makes the point that because
companies are adding extra complexity they
are also adding more cost. “So one of the next
frontiers is to become more profitable,” he said.
“One way to achieve this is through more
effective labour-management, which can, for
instance, help to take out non-value-added
work. Some vendors now offer labour
management solutions that are independent
from their primary WMS solution, so that if a
user has a legacy system it can bolt on a
labour-management solution. The idea is to
provide an effective way to become more
profitable in your work processes as you turn
on these new more labour-intensive modes of
fulfilment.”
Heaney also sees a growing trend towards
being able to take Big Data, analyse it and
determine what the workload is going to look
like tomorrow, the next day or the day after that
based on what has been seen today. He
commented: “If you think about an event like
Black Friday, orders are coming in, data is
being collected and the orders are being
processed – but there may be a certain amount
of backlog at the end of the day. There may be
an indication in the data itself that some items
are nearly out of stock, meaning you may need
to get extra stock from your supplier. You can
now turn this Big Data into intelligence in order
to be a little more proactive about where your
next failure point may be. For example, you
might need to bring in more temporary workers
tomorrow because the order levels are so huge
and the popularity of some of these items is
outstripping the pick face.”
Riviere considers that more warehouses and
distribution centres will be using multimodal
devices over the next year or two. He also
believes we there will be a sizeable increase in
all touchscreen devices being deployed in the
warehouse. Finally, he anticipates further
interest in SaaS.
Changing demands
du Preez comments that ever changing
demands on warehouses – driven by
consumers, retailers and regulation – will
force them to consider flexibility and rapid
return on investment as key factors when
choosing technology. “With the range of
proven integration options available from
experienced vendors, it will be easier than
ever for customers to implement Voice into
their operations,” he said. “Existing users will
seek ways to further leverage their investment
in Voice and will extend its use into
warehouse processes beyond picking. We
therefore expect continued strong growth
from the warehousing Voice market.”
du Preez also believes the market will see the
use of Voice rapidly expanding into non-
warehousing markets; particularly inspection
and in-store retail. “This will bring new device
and headset form factors as well as advances
in the underlying Voice recognition engines,”
he said. “These innovations will positively
impact the established warehouse Voice
market and provide more options for existing
users.”
du Preez added that, much like RFID, vision
systems need to pass through their hype
stage before their particular business case
becomes credible. “We do believe that vision
systems, combined with quality Voice
recognition, will offer innovative solutions to
certain data-rich processes,” he said.
“However, we don’t expect them to displace
current warehouse technologies any time
soon.” Finally, du Preez believes the
availability of new commercial models such
as subscription will give customers the ability
to select and implement Voice within their
budget cycle by shifting the costs from capex
to opex.
In Williams’ view, today’s advances in
technology and systems, coupled with the
increasing professionalism of the industry,
means that many things are being executed
well in the logistics and warehouse arena. As
such, he believes that occurrences of ‘game-
changing’ innovation are less common.
“However that does not mean that we stand
still,” said Williams. “We continue to make
small and subtle improvements and
refinements that still
add significant value
to costly operation.”
Williams explained
that some of
Honeywell Vocollect
Solutions’ more
recent innovations
are the inclusion of
‘hands-free’
scanning into a
Voice device;
allowing all of the
benefits of Voice-directed work with the
additional option of automatic data collection.
Additionally, Williams points out that the
company has produced advanced wireless
headsets with ‘sound sense’ noise
cancellation that has further pushed the
performance boundaries of industrial Voice-
recognition systems, whilst also offering even
more ability to integrate into multiple systems
concurrently.
He added that, in line with the ‘keeping it
simple for users’ philosophy, Honeywell
Vocollect Solutions continues to implement
practical improvements in both WMS
integration, ergonomics and ease of use.
Williams also explains that the company has
already witnessed the use of Voice into areas
such as MRO, healthcare and in-store and he
sees its usage expanding into even more
diverse environments.
Augmented reality
Wilson reiterates his earlier point; that we are
going to see a growth in augmented reality
technology in the warehouse. “The reason for
that is with the amount of pressure on cost
people will be looking very aggressively at
how to do things that can reduce operating
costs,” he said. “I think we will probably see
more of an interest in warehouse automation
because people who are reconfiguring their
networks or building new distribution space
will be taking account of the living wage and
the impact of that over the medium to long-
term. Therefore automation may start to pay
back a bit better than it has done in the past
in the UK.” n
Martin Eppert,
product manager,

F
irst established in 1999, family-owned
Belgium-based company 2XL opened
its doors as a transport specialist.
From day one, the family Van den
Poel had strong convictions around
customer service, employee satisfaction,
environmental impact, and quality standards.
One such conviction was that “no was not an
option”. If a customer had a challenge, he or
she could count on 2XL to deliver a solution.
This approach worked, and business grew
organically and at a steady pace. However, in
2005, 2XL knew it was going to need to make
some substantial changes if it was going to be
able to say “yes” to one of its most valued
customers. Critical to being able to fulfil the
needs of its customers would be the expansion
of 2XL from a transport company to a turnkey
provider of transport, logistics and storage.
The challenge
The customer collaborated with 2XL, based
on the DCS (Direct Customer Shipment)
concept that lifted the customer’s supply
chain from the European mainland to the
UK, to a much higher level. Introducing this
concept would require an equally
sophisticated warehouse and operations
management system to service it. 2XL
project manager, Mathias Van Den Poel
knew that stepping into this project with the
customer would irrevocably change the
2XL business model, and he was prepared
to do so. One thing was certain: an
information technology solution would play
a key role. Armed with the customer’s
business requirements for the warehouse
operations, 2XL immediately began
investigating the options for a warehouse
management system (WMS).
Meeting the stringent BRC Global Storage
and Distribution Standard for the storage of
ambient food and consumer products was
one of 2XL’s objectives, and many WMS
solutions could help Mathias Van Den Poel
to achieve this. In the end, the deciding
criterion for 2XL’s choice of WMS solution
was Mathias Van Den Poel’s faith in both
the flexibility of the product and the people
behind it.
“Our brand stands as a commitment to our
customers to follow through on the
promises we make,” said Jean Van Den
Poel, 2XL’s CEO. “Having a WMS provider
we could trust was paramount in our
decision to use IBS.”
In response
The IBS Dynaman warehouse management
solution was chosen by 2XL in September
of 2005. Dynaman would allow 2XL to not
only say “yes” to its customer, but to also
say “yes” to future customers with needs
just as sophisticated. The highly flexible,
embedded rules engine in the Dynaman
product provides 2XL with the ability to
customise workflow processes to match
customers’ needs, including the ability to
integrate value-added services, such as
case picking, cross-docking, and
returnable packaging. Furthermore,
&LOGISTICS
Warehouse Management n Success story
www.logisticsit.com
2XL says ‘yes’ to customer demands
with best-of-breed WMS ‘IBS Dynaman’
2XL’s convictions remain just as strong today as when it was first established in 1999. The company strictly maintains a minimum KPI target of
98 per cent for on-time arrivals, equipment, documentation, communication and more.

Dynaman could integrate seamlessly not
only with the different enterprise resource
planning (ERP) platforms of its customers,
but also with the full WMS array
represented by 2XL’s suppliers using an
integration platform and supplier/vendor
portal.
There was also the question of timing: the
system needed to go live within seven
months of contract award. While 2XL was
building its physical warehouses to meet
the demand of its customers’ projects,
Dynaman was continually phased in to
match each stage in construction. In March
2006, 2XL went live. From what was once a
completely manual system, 2XL has
continually worked to transition its
operations to automated systems and today
it is still exceeding customers’
expectations.
“IBS was intimately involved in the initial
integration process back in 2006 – and
beyond – serving on-site in a hands-on
capacity to ensure we met our project
goals,” said Mathias Van Den Poel.
The outcome
2XL has successfully transitioned from a
small, family-owned transport company to a
leading European ISO14001-certified supplier
that moves more than 300 loads daily.
Expansion has been significant and 2XL now
operates two rail-connected warehouses with
55,000 m2 of storage capacity.
At each stage of this expansion process, the
Dynaman WMS capabilities were also
extended to match. And, each time 2XL
welcomes a new customer – from Austria’s
RedBull to the UK’s Tesco Groceries – the
Dynaman solution is configured to meet that
customer’s needs.
2XL’s convictions remain just as strong today
as when it was first established in 1999. The
company strictly maintains a minimum KPI
target of 98 per cent for on-time arrivals,
equipment, documentation, communication
and more. To deliver on such high standards,
2XL embraces innovation at each turn. And,
whether it’s the automation of material handling
or the integration of automated guided vehicles
(AGV) in their warehouse, Dynaman has been
there every step of the way.
“Our Dynaman solution has supported the
doubling of our warehouse turnover, requiring
less staff in the warehouse for a significant
savings and bottom-line impact,” said Mathias
Van Den Poel. n
IBS AT A GLANCE
International Business Systems
(IBS) is a global integrated ERP
and supply chain distribution
software solution provider. For
more than 35 years, IBS has
helped over 1000 customers –
including Thermo Fisher Scientific,
New Wave Group, Pincroft,
Mayflex, Galexis, WorldPac,
MacFarlane Group and Volvo – to
streamline, automate and
accelerate their distribution
network processes, and drive
profitability and efficiency.

&LOGISTICS
www.logisticsit.com
The Cotswold Company
polishes its warehouse operation
with the help of Snapfulfil
E
stablished in 1999, The Cotswold
Company is an online retailer
which sells beautiful, inspirational
wood furniture and a wide range of
accessories for every room in the
house. The company is currently growing at
an exceptional rate and will service over
50,000 orders this year.
Headquartered in Norwich, the company
relocated its warehousing operation from
Norfolk to Wednesbury in the West Midlands
in 2013. At the same time, The Cotswold
Company took the decision to bring the
previously outsourced warehousing operation
in-house. In addition to the main 90,000 sq ft
warehouse, the company opened a further
55,000 sq ft facility in March 2015 to support
its continued strong growth.
The two warehouses handle in the region of
1200 SKUs and up to 1800 orders every
week, rising to 3000 in peak season.
The challenge
Prior to implementing Snapfulfil, The Cotswold
Company used paper-based processes
generated by the company’s SAGE accounting
system to run the warehouse. The Cotswold
Company’s warehouse manager, Paul Wilson,
explained: “Our pickers were going out with
reams of paper, which was fine until one went
missing and everything then came to a standstill.
“Our headcount was also too high – what we
lacked in process we made up for in people. We
had no real-time stock visibility and due to the
amount of room for human error, inventory
accuracy wasn’t great, which meant that we had
to shut down for an annual stock-take. All in all,
we just didn’t have the confidence that the
warehousing operation could keep up with the
growth and innovation in the rest of the
business.”
The solution
The Cotswold Company took the decision to
look for a professional warehouse management
system to automate processes and optimise
efficiency and accuracy within the warehouse.
Following a review of possible vendors, the
company selected the Snapfulfil SaaS WMS.
Wilson commented: “I used to work for a 3PL
and had had some experience working with
one of the big on premise Tier 1 WMS’ but
found it to be over complicated and difficult to
use. We ruled the biggest vendors out straight
away on this basis. We needed something
which was user-friendly for any warehouse
operative but at the same time, was functionally
sophisticated. Snapfulfil offered the best of both
worlds.”
Implementation
Snapfulfil’s Cloud deployment method and
Software as a Service model means that the
system can be implemented in as little as 45
days and The Cotswold Company was no
exception. This included the writing of
interfaces with the company’s in-house order
and carrier management systems.
“The Snapfulfil project team were excellent –
their preliminary work was good and we were
confident that they understood what we were
asking for,” Wilson remarked. “As a result, the
implementation was actually much smoother
than I thought it would be.”
Benefits
While The Cotswold Company’s volumes
have doubled since Snapfulfil was
implemented, headcount in the warehouse
has actually decreased.
“We saw an immediate improvement in
operational efficiency and, over time, have
used Snapfulfil to better manage and allocate
resources within the warehouse,” said Wilson.
“As a result, I’d say we’re around 30 per cent

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