Modern Materials Handling Profiles How Bakery is Help by Jennifer Voice Picking Solution

Aug. 13, 2011 - PRLog -- Lucas Systems, Inc., (www.lucasware.com) the leading provider of voice-directed warehouse applications for open, mobile computers.  In a recent issue of Modern Materials Handling, Bob Trebilcock, Executive Editor discussed how Tastykake bakes up materials handling success with Jennifer, the leading voice recognition technology. For more than 80 years, the bulk of the apple pies, Butterscotch Krimpets and Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes that made Tastykake a household name in Philadelphia, were baked in a flagship bakery built in the 1920s by the Tasty Baking Company.

Tastykake has a new state-of-the-art bakery because the original structure had outlived its usefulness. “It was a multistory building that was hard to maneuver around and hard to maintain,” noted Autumn Bayles, senior vice president of strategic operations. “We had also outgrown the warehousing and shipping area and had to use another building around the corner. That led to a lot of double handling of product.”

The solution was a state-of-the-art, 345,000-square-foot bakery, including 100,000 square feet of warehouse space, which opened for business in the summer of 2010. The overall facility was designed with sustainability in mind, including several features targeting LEED-Silver certification from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design initiative.

After just six months of running a voice-enabled facility, Terry Sabler, director of distribution said they are running a much faster warehouse. “We had a lot of overtime in the old facility, in part because we had to bring product over from around the corner,” she says. “We also have more accurate inventory with voice than in the past because our putaway and picking processes are more precise.”

In addition, the voice system includes metrics to measure how efficiently operations are working; previously that was handled with spreadsheets.  The next step, will be to pick two orders at a time, since the facility is using double pallet handling jacks. Instead of staging pallets for delivery, the next step is to load a completed pallet into a truck immediately.

About Lucas Systems, Inc.
Since 1998, Lucas Systems has delivered more voice-directed warehouse applications on a wider variety of mobile computers than any other company. Customers like Cardinal Health, C&S Wholesale Grocers, CVS/pharmacy, Do it Best Corp., Kraft Nabisco, and OfficeMax trust Lucas to deliver solutions that greatly improve worker productivity and accuracy because Lucas truly understands warehouse operations.  JenniferVoicePlus, the Lucas voice solution, creates a conversation with warehouse workers that frees their hands and eyes to focus on the job at hand. Jennifer also provides managers and supervisors with real-time reporting and management tools that help them better manage their operations. Tens of thousands of associates at hundreds of distribution centers work with Jennifer every day.


Lucas Systems, Inc.
www.lucasware.com
John H. Schriefer
PR@lucasware.com
724-940-7000