Replacing Voice Input With Technology That Provided Immediate Visual and Audio Feedback to Reduce Employee Errors

Abstract

In this report from the field at two auto parts distribution centers, order selectors picked auto accessories (e.g., fuses, oil caps, tool kits) into industrial plastic totes as part of store orders. Accurately identifying all store order totes via the license plate number was a prerequisite for the warehouse management system (WMS) to track each tote to the correct sorting lane, the correct shipping door, the correct route, the correct store, and to invoice the store. Using voice technology, the order selector uttered the license plate number; however, in the event the utterance did not match the license plate number affixed to the lid of the tote, the tote was routed to a “penalty” area of the sorting lanes as a misidentified tote. Each misidentified tote cost the company approximately $500 in lost labor and lost sales. Replacing the utterance of the order selector with a scanning stylus that provided both a “good read” light indicator and a “good read” auditory beep informed the selector that the license plate had been scanned and reliably decreased the number of misidentified totes. The role of the organizational behavior management (OBM) practitioner in industrial settings in designing interventions that increase accuracy and productivity was examined.

KEYWORDS:

• auditory feedback
• order selection
• visual feedback
• warehouse management systems