Irish supermarket chain Superquinn replaces label based case picking with voice directed picking
Supply Chain Manager, Ruurd Jellema, comments: "Since go live we have already seen improved pick rates, savings in stationery costs and we now provide our stores with accurate pallet manifests which were unable to do before."
Superquinn is a privately owned Irish supermarket chain operating more than 20 stores mostly in Dublin and the surrounding area. Stores are replenished daily from a distribution centre in Blanchardstown on the outskirts of Dublin that comprises both ambient and chill warehouses.
Wave picking in the ambient warehouse went live in late July 2006 with a "big bang" approach. Pick volumes vary widely with seasonal demand but 22-30,000 cases per day spread over 15-18,000 lines with 20-25 pickers is typical. Pick by line in the chill warehouse is planned for go live in January 2007. The voice picking system, hosted on the Psion Teklogix TekSpeech middleware platform, is interfaced to Superquinn's SAP 4.7 IS-Retail system and was implemented by Psion Teklogix UK in conjunction with local partners Heavey RF.
Picks are downloaded to TekSpeech when a wave is created in SAP. TekSpeech middleware features a supervisor user interface which allows waves to be prioritised and released to the shop floor at the appropriate time. TekSpeech is responsible for dividing waves into picking trips and assigning those trips to pickers according to criteria such as assignment of picker to pick area, priority and current aisle occupancy.
Superquinn operates store friendly picking where picks are grouped by merchandise category. Picking is mostly to 2 or 3 cages or pallets on high and low level order pickers where trip contents are determined by the capacity of the materials handing equipment. Pick to tote is also supported where a trip comprises all the picks from a particular area and new totes are created as required by picker. New picking processes will be introduced to support Superquinn's planned implementation of SAP Promotions Management.
Load carriers are identified by their five-digit licence plates, which are captured on voice at the start of the trip. Internally TekSpeech associates each licence plate with an SAP handling unit number. The walk sequence is defined by the SAP bin master. Pick verification is by means of the last three digits of the case EAN code with bin check digits being used as an alternative if none is available. The picker speaks the last two digits of the licence plate to identify the load carrier into which the picked goods are picked.
TekSpeech ensures that the load carriers are not over-loaded and that merchandise categories are not mixed. Picks are confirmed into SAP in real time and are traceable to individuals. The application may request the picker to count the quantity remaining in the bin and TekSpeech raises an exception if there is a discrepancy with respect to the SAP stock position. Circumstances determining the request of an in process stock check are configurable based on cycle counting rules. At the end of the trip TekSpeech manages the printing of handling unit labels and deposit of the load carriers at the door specified by SAP. Should an SAP outage occur, planned or unplanned, TekSpeech allows existing waves to be picked, labelled and staged. Confirmations are buffered and uploaded when SAP is available again.
"We have a long way to go before the full potential benefits are realised but the voice system provides much greater transparency of what is happening on the shop floor. This enables us to identify and focus on the key areas for improvement," says Ruurd Jellema.
The TekSpeech monitoring screens provide real time supervisory information such as current picker rates, work outstanding and exception reporting. Superquinn was spending 25,000 per quarter on label stock which is now not required.
The new system has enabled Superquinn to adhere more closely to standard SAP processes. Superquinn Project Manager Paul Leonard explains: "Under the label based system, pick waves for all stores were released in SAP at the same time, together with the replenishments required to satisfy them. In order for SAP to be able to create the transfer orders, we had to configure the pick face to allow negative stock. Replenishments were released for execution at the same time as the wave, which resulted in a lot of shorts. The voice system makes pick confirmations in real time which has allowed us to move to a continuous process of wave release. Replenishments are created only when the pick slot has dropped below minimum quantity and the next waves require the stock. We no longer allow negative stock in the pick face and we can be much more pro-active in addressing stock problems."
Fixed bin picking is used with defined values for min, max and replenishment quantities. Superquinn undertook a major warehouse re-lay in parallel with the voice picking project to ensure that pick slots are appropriately sized and appear at the appropriate point in the walk sequence.
The implementation timescales were extremely aggressive in order to meet a window of opportunity for go live. "From a technical point of view the go live went as smoothly as could be reasonably expected," remarks Superquinn Chief Information Officer, John Farrelly. "Issues such as training, knowledge transfer and changes to operational rocedures proved to be much more challenging".
Pre-go live service levels were achieved after 4-5 weeks of operation. Superquinn has a high turnover of contract staff many of whom are foreign nationals. Each new picker is required to train their voice profile using an application specific vocabulary. This process takes 30 minutes or so. Once this is completed the intuitive nature of the voice application means the picker becomes effective very quickly with a minimum of training.
Thirty five Vocollect Talkman T5 voice terminals communicate with the TekSpeech server over a Cisco wireless backbone. Wireless security is provided by Air Fortress for which Psion Teklogix is an authorised distributor. X Psion Teklogix 7535 handheld terminals and Y 8525 truck mount terminals use the same backbone to run SAP Console transactions for receiving, replenishment and other full pallet operations.
