By Seth Patin, founder and CEO, LogistiVIEW
Warehouse workers can be faster, safer, and more accurate this holiday season.
LogistiVIEW’s “Visual Input Enabled Wearable” (VIEW) technology improves workforce productivity and job satisfaction by making processes hands free and eyes focused.
Intuitive voice and visual instructions make work easy and training rapid. These benefits can all be accomplished in time for the 2019 holiday season thanks to LogistiVIEW’s Connected Worker Platform.
Built on VIEW technology, it combines Computer Vision, Augmented Reality (AR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and smart glasses so a warehouse management system (WMS) can see and use what it sees to collect data and instruct the workforce.
VIEW devices – smart glasses in supply chain
WMS solutions are good at managing information, but not truly intuitive for the floor worker. This is primarily because lines of text are not the best way to tell someone how to do work; humans respond best to visual instructions.
For that reason, most companies discuss on-boarding and training in terms of days, or worse yet, weeks.
VIEW technology rethinks workforce instruction by creating a system that increases productivity and job satisfaction. It starts with rethinking workforce mobile technology with the VIEW device.
A VIEW device is a small-scale head-mounted computer with a high definition camera, field of sight display, audio input and output, positional awareness sensors, and wireless networking.
When properly integrated with a WMS, VIEW devices revolutionize warehouse operations by bringing a completely hands-free and AR directed worker experience. Today these types of devices are commonly called smart glasses.
Operational impact of VIEW devices
VIEW technology works with a WMS to help it “know” what tasks a worker is supposed to perform as well as where a worker is located, what product the worker is holding, what product the worker is near, what physical obstacles surround the worker, and what other workers are in the vicinity.
Leveraging AR, VIEW technology directs workers via voice instructions and visual cues by overlaying information into the worker’s field of vision. The system knows where a worker needs to go and directs the worker via overlaid arrows and highlighting.
Once at the destination, workers execute workflows in the WMS by simply looking at the product as directed by the VIEW device or scanning the barcodes with a wearable Bluetooth scanner.
Inexperienced warehouse workers hired for the 2019 holiday season are able to pick a high-value serialized item by simply looking at the storage location barcode and scanning the product to be picked.
The system isolates all the scanned barcodes, catalogs meaning via AI filtering, and processes a pick transaction with the correct part number, serial number, and storage location without the user taking hands or eyes off the product.
Hands-free workflow improves efficiency while eyes-focused workflow and AI-validated data capture, reduce the likelihood of critical errors.
Optimizing workflows and providing superior track and trace capabilities supports Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma initiatives, and industry best-practices.
VIEW devices bring a new level of workforce accountability, which is of paramount importance for 2019 holiday picking, packing, and shipping. Operations management has an unprecedented level of information about workers’ activities.
Warehouse shift managers assist new, low-skilled labor by shadowing a worker remotely in real-time and reviewing the workers’ movements through the facility during the work shift.
Efficiency gains are quantifiable
When a worker is confused about inventory at a location, rather than a supervisor walking across the entire warehouse, the supervisor simply shadows the user and talks to them through the questions using VIEW devices.
Warehouse managers can walk the floor and simply look at a QR code on the side of a row of pick bins to get a real-time report of productivity in that pick face for the shift.
Workforce management solutions are supercharged by the information obtained with VIEW devices driving quantifiable efficiency gains.
Just in time for the 2019 holiday season
Rapidly implemented in as little as 60 days, these technologies can still generate optimal holiday profitability this year.
From 3PLs to warehouses and distribution centers, the urgent need for this workforce technology is undeniable.
The ability to simplify complex processes in a way that improves both productivity and job satisfaction means low-skilled warehouse labor can be faster, safer, and more accurate in fulfilling orders this holiday season.
About the author: Seth Patin is the Founder and CEO of LogistiVIEW, a software company that uses artificial intelligence and augmented reality on industrial smart glasses to improve the productivity and job satisfaction of task-oriented workers.
Since starting his career at supply chain software vendor, RedPrairie (now JDA), over 15 years ago, Seth has worked in several roles as a technology vendor, customer, and consultant, eventually founding Accelogix, a consulting firm that delivers logistics technology solutions for mid-sized and large enterprise, in 2012.
Seth’s experience in logistics and his vision for a better approach to human/computer interaction led him to found LogistiVIEW in 2014 and lead the company to become a pioneer and leader in the development of connected workforce technology.
