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Vision Audit Technology Improves Order Fulfillment Accuracy While Lowering Operational Costs Chicago, IL - July 2, 2008. Numina Group’s Real-time Distribution System, RDS, contains a powerful application control module for picking and shipment validation. The software module supports in-motion barcode scanning, a digital image, and weight capture for both full case and case contents. The technology provides a fast ROI for distribution and manufacturing operations seeking to improve their distribution operation, accuracy, and customer service. The saying, a picture is worth a thousand words is never truer than when it comes to arming your distribution operation and customer service department with the tools needed to resolve shipment disputes in your favor! The High Cost of Shipping Errors This phone conversation occurs daily in your customer service department. CUSTOMER: “My order is wrong and it’s missing the power supply adapter and cable!” CUSTOMER SERVICE: “Well…um…our records seem to show that we shipped you what you ordered.” CUSTOMER: “I don’t care what your records show, I can’t find the power supply and I need you to ship out a power supply right away.” CUSTOMER SERVICE: “Well…um…OK, the customer is always right.” When order shipment data is inconclusive, the claim by a customer of a shipping error from an incorrect component, quantity, accessory, or wrong item/case without conclusive proof places a supplier into the position of losing money, or worse losing a customer. Ask yourself what a clear digital picture of the case contents and the carton weight of the case would do for supporting customer service? How beneficial would being able to view or e-mail the image to a customer be in resolving discrepancies in your favor? In many cases, responsibility for a shipping error is hard to pinpoint: every high volume distribution operation validates orders with bar code scanning. Even with random human order inspection, you still never achieve 100% accuracy. Distribution operations cannot afford to tolerate even a small number of customer complaints caused by shipment errors. Factor in customers’ perceived shortages due to receiving errors (the industry average is .2-.4%), and without the right technology to validate your shipments, you incur unnecessary costs to your bottom line: Internal Costs Industry studies show that the internal labor costs for resolving shipping disputes is $50 to $75 per incident. Potentially many times higher based on the industry. This includes the cost of communicating with the customer, researching the issue internally, formulating a response, and re-shipping the order. The actual freight charges as well as the product cost need to be calculated and added to the cost. Returns Handling The return logistics costs can add $50 or more to the above costs when including receiving, repackaging, re-stocking and inventory adjustments. Even organizations that pride themselves on order accuracy can incur internal costs that add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. Lost Customers/Tarnished Reputation Perhaps the most critical factor—in a customer’s decision to buy, is the vendor’s ability to deliver accurately, quickly, and completely. In the Internet age, customers have less and less tolerance for errors, communication gaps, and inefficiency. Organizations that excel in customer service gain market share at the expense of those that do not. Wasted, non-value labor throughout your supply chain!!!!! How Vision Capture and Analysis Prevents Shipment Errors Numina Group developed and provides two versions of Vision Audit control modules for performing in-line validation. The base product, Vision Pack and Audit, VPAK, supports real-time image capture, along with the case barcode, and weight and dimensioning of cartons as they are transported or conveyed from picking-packing operations. The second product, VCAS, Vision Capture and Analysis provides the same in-line measurement capabilities as VPAK with the additional feature of vision based case recognition technology. A Heuristic “self learning algorithm” learns the case color characteristics, and performs real-time validation on each picked case. Both modules capture high-resolution digital images of the case contents from the top, front, and side of full cases as the carton is conveyed. While conveyed an in-motion scale provides a weight audit of the carton. The image, case weight, and product barcode data are captured, and the data time stamped and stored with the high resolution images in the RDS SQL database. Cases outside of the expected weight limits are automatically diverted to the inspection area. VCAS adds image based validation software to the process. The software compares the real-time case images to pre-learned image sets of learned products. If the case does not match the learned case image, the case is diverted to inspection. This technology, combined with weight, dimensioning (case cube), and case UPC barcode readers provides 100% case shipment validation, and even prevents pick errors from leaving the facility. With VCAS errors are detected prior to pallet build or trailer loading, and are corrected at your facility. Vision Audit, provides outstanding ROI in industries such as Wine and Spirits, Electronics, and B to B and B to C distribution centers, dramatically improving full case shipment accuracy, and customer service. Shown below is a shipment detail screen where an operator can use a simple Browser Interface to quickly access the data in order to validate and resolve shipping/order fulfillment disputes. Why Vision? While weight, case UPC barcode, and dimensional data are excellent measurement technology for use in order validation, there is still the element of proof needed regarding customer disputes. It is impossible to eliminate doubts, and in many instances perform the validation process without vision technology. A real-time digital picture can 100% confirm the correctness of order/case shipments. Vision gives your operation an irrefutable image record of the item(s), the ability to eliminate mistakes before they leave the building, and the capability to e-mail this information to the customer to prove the shipment. Vision improves customer service, aids in training, reduces the labor involved in issue resolution, improves inventory accuracy, and immediately adds profit to the company’s bottom line. Investment in Automation can be Free! For a number of clients, the investment in VCAS can be recouped in a matter of months. Bellow is the example of a current Wine and Spirits Distributor: Because of daily and seasonal fluctuations the facility ships 15,000 to 30,000 cases per day over one or two shifts. Using conservative error rate of .2%, 30 errors were being identified and corrected per day. Prior to VCAS many of these shipments resulted in a customer complaint; however, in situations where higher value items or quantities were shipped, these errors were rarely reported by customers. In addition to the 30 incorrect shipments the clients’ customer service department handles daily, several complaints on orders that were picked and delivered correctly were also incurred. Higher volume installations are realizing savings 200% or greater than the savings shown below on a yearly basis. Annual Savings $368,500
Summary of Benefits With Vision Audit, distribution facilities have on-line automated inspection 24 hour a day, seven days a week. Vision Audit eliminates shipping errors, reduces operating costs, improves profits, and eliminates the mistakes that jeopardize customer relationships. The technology exists to perform real-time imaging and analysis to detect errors before shipment, and provide conclusive evidence of what was picked, packed, and shipped during distribution operations. Shipment errors can be resolved quickly, fairly, and soundly. Vision Audit streamlines operations, reduces internal costs, and provides the tools needed to turn a potentially negative situation with a customer into a positive one.
The Numina Group is one of the USA’s leading independent material handling automation suppliers. The firm has been an industry innovator since 1986. The Numina Group provides a full family of automation solutions for manufacturing and distribution control applications. Numina Group’s family of application control modules are armed with RDS, Real-time Distribution System, a highly scalable, modular and easily customized automation platform. It’s the USA’s #1 Linux based Warehouse Control and Execution platform, proven in hundreds of demanding installations. RDS drastically lowers cost through the use of pre-developed application modules for controlling picking, order validation, packing, labeling, and sorting in distribution operations. The results are a highly reliable operation, and reduction in time and effort for clients to fulfill orders. Our products and services improve distribution and warehouse operations. Numina Group’s application expertise, innovative technology, and software, “automate out” the bottlenecks and excessive labor, resulting in increased efficiency and rapid ROI. We optimize all stages of order fulfillment by implementing Smarter, Faster, and Better Distribution Automation. For more information on our products and services visit our website below, or call us to arrange a visit to see Vision Capture in action at our Chicago Area Technology Center. For more information contact: Dan Hanrahan HOME | ABOUT | PRODUCTS | SERVICES | PRESS RELEASES | DATA SHEETS | REQUEST INFO |
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