Blackpool voice technology specialist teams up to win award

Whitehills based Voiteq was called in by Crown Paints of Darwen to help with the changing requests for its products.

And its solution to the problem won the team an award – the Supply Chain Excellence Awards’ Order Picking Innovation Winner 2018.

Judges heard how retailers are continuously challenging manufacturers of consumer goods to make more frequent, smaller deliveries.

This has led to an increased proportion of case picks and mixed pallets in the manufacturer’s warehouse.

By working in partnership with Voiteq to utilise voice along with volumetric and weight information, Crown Paints - now part of a world leading coating specialist Hempel – saw an opportunity to provide its customers with the ‘perfect pallet’ that would ultimately improve their productivity and efficiency.

Voiteq delivered an initial 8-week VoiceMan Warehouse Execution System (WES) pilot which used data to automate and voice-direct operatives in the warehouse, through an optimised pallet-building process.

The Order Picking Innovation Award was awarded for the use of technology in a new and innovative way, and celebrating the results which surpassed targets of maintaining accuracy and achieving productivity improvements of double-digit success.

Isabel McCabe, managing director at Voiteq UK, who was presented with the award on behalf of Voiteq and Crown Paints said: “I’m extremely proud to receive this award as it celebrates the true working partnership we have with Crown Paints and gives recognition to the teams who have made this solution work so well.

“To be recognised within the industry as innovative experts enhances our quest to continuously help our customers grow and develop their operations with the latest supply chain technology solutions.”

The pilot scheme has now been rolled out to a second Crown site.