WINN-DIXIE TO UPGRADE PAGING WITH RECORDINGS

DEENA AMATO-McCOY

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Winn-Dixie Stores here plans to expand and improve its front-end paging program by installing a wireless system integrated into its existing overhead paging infrastructure in a fourth store next month.

Instead of having to make announcements themselves, cashiers using the new system will have access to digitized prerecorded messages. The retailer plans to integrate the paging system in all 98 stores in its division here.

"The main result we are striving for is speeding up the way our front-end associates page managers or other associates to their checkout lane," said Bill Tyjewski, marketing director for the retailer's Jacksonville division.

The new paging system enables cashiers and customer-service representatives to press a button that triggers a prerecorded message to alert the needed party. The system replaces employee reliance on microphones to request assistance.

Each checkout lane is equipped with a unit that sends a wireless transmission through an antenna erected on the store ceiling. The signal is transmitted to the store's office, which houses a modem that transmits prerecorded digitized message to the overhead speakers.

Winn-Dixie is slowly rolling out the system he told SN. "The next system will be installed in February," he said. "The first store went live in September, and the next two followed in October." He declined to comment on when the division's installation would be complete.

The paging system is from Indyme Electronics, San Diego.