Out with the old Voice system, in with the new: Coop Netherlands boosts productivity with Vocollect by 10%

Several years ago, as part of a programme to introduce an integrated SAP system, Coop Netherlands implemented a Voice system which was not from Honeywell Vocollect. From the start however they experienced recurring problems. Performance problems. Issues with the hardware and cables. Most importantly, continuing speech recognition problems, particularly for their many Polish workers who were obliged with the then system to speak Dutch which the voice system struggled to recognise.

"Together with our operators in the warehouse we decided to look for a better and more effective Voice solution," says Marco van der Zalm (ICT Manager). "From a list of five companies we eventually selected Honeywell Vocollect Solutions ." Vocollect specialises in speech recognition, and the discussions revealed that they have a clear roadmap for the coming years in terms of new developments."

Improved productivity and worker experience

Selecting a new supplier with a voice solution that integrates directly with Coop's SAP system has resulted in clear improvements in speech recognition and overall system performance. Peter Lokerse, Logistics Manager, adds, "Compared to the old system, we've seen a 10% increase in productivity and our employees are much more satisfied with the new system."

Barry Latumahina, a warehouse picker at Coop, is enthusiastic, "The Vocollect voice system works better, because we need fewer commands to pick the orders."

Mastering the System in 15 minutes

The Vocollect Voice system is easy to understand and new staff are up and running and productive much faster than with the previous system. "It takes only 15 minutes to train people on the Vocollect system. With the old system it took much longer, " says Van der Zalm, "as people were constantly having to repeat and repeat words before the system could recognise them. What's more, both the Dutch and Polish workers can be trained in their own language."

Honeywell provides superior equipment

Van der Zalm: "Besides the Vocollect Voice system, we have also chosen Honeywell devices because Honeywell really understands warehouse processes and workflows. So as well as Vocollect for picking we use Thor vehicle-mounted devices for replenishment and Tecton systems for goods-in. "

In this video you can see Coop staff working with Vocollect Voice Solutions, and share their experiences.