Falling short in streamlining warehouse management

Particularly if manual picking takes place side-by-side with automated processes, the system often competes for ear space with continuous noise from conveyor belts, packaging machinery, forklifts, and other sources. This increases the chances of workers failing to hear commands properly or the system misinterpreting voice inputs. Dealing with this can mean interrupted workflows and delays.

One major risk here is cognitive overload, with employees having to continually focus on blocking background noise to hear instructions and make their responses heard. The frustration of dealing with misrecognition and the need to repeat commands while being expected to struggle through tasks without visual guidance can add to the stress. The worst case is that an unsuitable pick-by-voice system hinders productivity instead of boosting it!

Workflows in distribution, retail, and manufacturing often require more employees than a simple pick. For instance, there may be an element of quality control (appraising the condition of perishables, for example). Some tasks may involve special handling or pre-assembly instructions. And if there’s a large volume of very similar SKUs packed into a small space, a voice prompt doesn’t always offer much help to an employee trying to distinguish between them.

For many employees, voice-activated technology—and in particular, learning the various commands and the procedures for error correction—just becomes one more thing they have to get to grips with. In contrast, vision-picking tools give workers the full picture, proactively guiding them through unfamiliar tasks and helping them reach full productivity faster.