VOITEQ & CSI WORK TOGETHER TO VOICE ENABLE SAP R/3 WM AT apetito

'Voice' helps one of Europe's leading frozen food and catering specialists to dispatch their meals across the UK

apetito, one of Europe's leading suppliers of quality frozen food and catering solutions, is implementing Vocollect Voice, supplied by VoiteQ, as part of their deployment of SAP R/3 WM into their Customer Service and Distribution Centre at Portbury.  apetito are one of Europe's foremost suppliers of frozen meals to all sectors of the community - hospitals, community centres, private homes and pubs.  Their innovative approach has won apetito 'The Queen's Award for Enterprise' and the West of England Business of the Year Award. Their willingness to effectively use new technology continues as they become the first company in the UK to install the Vocollect Talkman T5s into a freezer warehouse.

The implementation consists of 30 'Talkman' T5 devices that are being used to voice enable key warehousing activities, including case picking, piece picking, returns and despatch, encompassing truck identification. The Talkman is a wearable voice computer attached to a securely fastened belt and headset worn by the employee which interacts with the user and a SAP Warehouse Management module (WM) via a native interface developed by SAP integration specialists CSI. Instructions are transmitted over a wireless network to the employee who follows instructions, such as the location and quantity for picking. The picker responds with the status of the pick then the device, programmed to recognise any set of sounds so that it responds to any accent, then updates the WM module in near real time.

apetito is planning to roll-out SAP R/3 WM into their Portbury distribution centre with CSI, Supply Chain Integrators. CSI are one of the first SAP integrators to develop a native interface into SAP R/3 WM, which was designed and developed by CSI with VoiteQ's assistance - all the required business processes are driven directly from SAP R/3 system. By working together, CSI and VoiteQ will provide a voice solution that meets the exact needs of the apetito business.

Simon Ring, apetito's IT manager, comments, "The voice element is key to the overall success of this project and we were therefore assured by CSI's decision to choose VoiteQ as their partner on this project. 'Voice' is easy to use and the recognition is excellent with the Talkman, significantly reducing any risk of an error. The new T5 offers us the flexibility to use other additional devices via Bluetooth in the future and increase operative efficiency with auto-logon. With VoiteQ's UK based Talkman support centre, we know they can respond quickly to any issues we may incur."

Ring continues, "As a company who believes innovation can provide us with a competitive advantage, we are pleased CSI is helping us to roll out the first native interface to SAP WMS. The partnership between VoiteQ and CSI has meant that we can have, what we feel is, the best of both world's and a solution which exactly meets our needs. "

About apetito

apetito is one of Europe's leading suppliers of quality frozen food and catering solutions, with over 70 years of specialist knowledge.

apetito meets the specific needs of each customer with a bespoke proposition using the most advanced and flexible mix of products, systems and service solutions.

Thanks to this innovative approach, coupled with the finest range of frozen food, apetito is ideally placed to offer the catering solution to meet specific requirements.

About VoiteQ

VoiteQ provides voice directed solutions enabling a hands-free and eyes-free method of warehouse picking that results in a smoother, more continuous operation, which increases productivity and accuracy.

Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Blackpool, UK, VoiteQ is the UK's largest supplier of voice directed distribution systems, supplying more than 70% of UK warehouses which have voice implementations.

VoiteQ supplies fully integrated retail solutions which incorporate Business Management Systems, Warehouse Management Systems, and EPoS systems, as well as VoiceMan, the UK's leading middleware software for voice solutions.

About CSI

Established in 1983 and with offices in Leeds, Nottingham and Oxford, CSI is one of the UK's leading business system integrators.  With over 100 staff supporting a wide range of customers across a number of sectors, CSI has the in-house technical skills to develop, design and manage all aspects of networks, systems, applications and e-business solutions to help businesses reach their IT goals.

Since the acquisition of SP Integration in January 2006, CSI has continued to expand in the SAP warehouse and logistics marketplace and strives to provide solutions to meet complex warehouse and logistics challenges.