MITCHELL GROCERY'S VOICE SYSTEM BREAKS WITH TRADITION

MICHAEL GARRY

ALBERTVILLE, Ala. -- Mitchell Grocery here has increased order selection accuracy by up to 60% at its distribution center since becoming the first U.S. grocery distributor to fully employ a voice-directed system from Voxware, Lawrenceville, N.J.

Voxware's voice technology is used widely by food-service distributors such as U.S. Foodservice and Labatt Food Service. However, in U.S. retail and wholesale grocery distribution centers, Vocollect, Pittsburgh, has garnered market dominance for voice systems, with customers that include Giant Eagle, Associated Grocers of New England and Mid-Mountain Foods, along with many of the top 10 food distributors listed on SN's Top 75 list.

Voxware, which supplies U.K. food retailer Somerfield, made its first inroads into U.S. grocery distribution in March. Supervalu, Minneapolis, signed on to use Voxware's voice system in the warehouses of subsidiary Deal$ for selection of a small number products earmarked for sale in Save-A-Lot stores.

But Mitchell Grocery made the first major commitment to Voxware in May with a six-week deployment of the vendor's VoiceLogistics system for both order selection and dock loading of trailers at its single DC.

Since then, in addition to greater selection accuracy, Mitchell Grocery has reduced the number of "shorts" -- missing cases -- by 50% for shipments to its more than 250 independents retail customers in the Southeast, noted David Mitchell, president, Mitchell Grocery. By last month, a return on its investment in the system was achieved, he added.

Asked why he bucked supermarket industry tradition and selected Voxware over Vocollect, Mitchell said he was impressed with the "flexibility" of the Voxware system. "We were looking for a system that would overlay our [internally developed] warehouse management system," he said.

"We didn't want to have to change the way we did things to fit voice. Voxware was able to fit their product to what we were doing."

Mitchell said he was also encouraged by observing the Voxware system in action at a local food-service distribution center. He also spoke to warehouses using Vocollect and found similar results, but ultimately decided to select Voxware.

Jennifer Clement, senior marketing manager, Vocollect, noted that many of its customers use a proprietary or home-grown WMS, to which "we can still create a direct [voice] connection," either for real-time or batch communications. "It's pretty flexible."

Voxware and Vocollect offer systems that allow warehouse workers to receive human voice instructions via headphones on order selection and other warehouse functions, while enabling them to send back voice confirmation of their activities. Vocollect's system has been documented to reduce selection errors, causing it to catch on among many food distributors over the past few years.

Marc Wulfraat, senior partner, Kom International, Montreal, observed that Vocollect "got a head start on Voxware" when it landed Wal-Mart Stores as a customer in 1996. "The grocery industry took notice of that," he said.

In Mitchell Grocery's loading process, warehouse employees announce a check digit associated with each pallet to confirm that the pallet is being loaded onto the designated trailer. "If anything is left off, the system tells him," Mitchell said.

By improving the accuracy of order selection for frozen and refrigerated cases, the system has also reduced the amount of unsalables in those departments, Mitchell said. The system has also speeded up the replenishment of cases in pick slots, allowing selectors to complete orders by returning to previously empty slots.

Mitchell also uses the voice system in a separate facility holding about 1,500 slow-moving items, which are cross docked through the main DC.