SAE Ensures Picking Errors Down and Productivity Up at Food Distributor Ben E. Keith

Dec. 5, 2012 - PRLog -- In business for over 100 years and responsible for distributing hundreds-of-thousands of perishable and nonperishable food items daily, Ben E. Keith was looking for a better and faster way to service its customers.  The system being used was a paper-based order fulfillment; it lacked the efficiency needed to meet growing demands. In order to stay in the forefront of the food distribution industry, Ben E. Keith needed a solution to increase its overall picking accuracy.
“Servicing the customer is the number one thing we do here, and the picking accuracy is a huge component of that,” noted Michael January, Director of Process Improvement at Ben E. Keith. The paper-based system was vulnerable to human error, allowing mistakes to be made during order fulfillment. Shane Holloway, Night Warehouse Manager at Ben E. Keith, explained the plateau effect, “We always maintained about a 1:1,000 error ratio, which is the industry standard, but we always wanted better for our customers.”
The solution was a hands-free, wearable solution consisting of Motorola WT4090 hardware, RS409 Ring Scanner and SAE Selector Pro software. With this combination, Ben E. Keith added confidence and speed to ensure that all orders are filled correctly before being delivered to customers. Following the evaluation of other options in the market, Michael January shared more about the decision-making process. “We looked at a voice-selection technology and a scanning-based selection technology. After an extensive evaluation, we decided on a scan-based solution using the Motorola 4090 and SAE Selector Pro software to help increase our accuracy.” This combination gave Ben E. Keith’s pickers a wearable, screen-directed, scan-verified solution to tackle all orders at hand.
Greg Braun, Senior Associate of Systems Application Engineering, Inc. (SAE) noted, “The Motorola WT4090 is a perfect fit for the Selector Pro software—it’s non-intrusive, it’s hands-free operation—it’s a perfect device for warehouse picking.” The flexibility of the hands-free system gives pickers the freedom to scan and move packages with ease, simplifying the overall process. Jeremy Doyle, Night Warehouse Selector, detailed, “The Motorola wearable really makes the job idiot-proof. You walk up to the case you need, scan it, pick it up, your label prints, you hit enter and it tells you where to go for your next spot, and you’re done.”
Systems Application Engineering, Inc. (SAE), www.saesystems.com, a Motorola Premier Solutions Partner and a Zebra Premier Partner, headquartered in Houston, TX for more than forty years, has been a leader in Order Selection and Loading, Voice-Guided Picking, GS-1 Product Traceability, Proof-of-Delivery (POD), Direct Store Delivery (DSD), Operator Driven Reliability, Condition-Based Monitoring and Mobile Computer equipment sales.  
SAE specializes in solutions that have improved operational performance for customers in the world’s most demanding and dynamic environments. SAE technology has unlocked millions of dollars of bottom line benefits in distribution facilities (grocery, food service, and electronics), Artic pipelines, process plants and refineries.

SAE Systems
www.saesystems.com
Greg Braun
voice@saesystems.com
713-783-6020