Efficiency and productivity are two keys to successful operations in warehouses and distribution centers. And today’s picking and packing technologies—such as voice-directed and automated storage-and-retrieval systems—are playing a growing role in helping shippers improve productivity by more efficiently filling cases or split cases, sorting by stock-keeping units (SKUs), or having items sorted or picked in a particular order.

“The drivers behind picking and packing innovations are customer demands for perfect orders and corporate directives to improve inventory-control processes and drive down costs,” says Donald Derewecki, executive vice president of Gross and Associates, a materials handling consultancy in Woodbridge, N.J. While demanding customer requests are hardly anything new, Derewecki points out, those requests have become more specific based on customers’ needs. This, in turn, is putting more pressure on warehouse management staff to choose and install more efficient systems that are highly flexible and scalable.

“You need to be careful with the system you use, and you need to be confident it will serve you well in the future,” says Derewecki. “As requirements in warehouses change, you don’t want to be stuck with a system that is inflexible to changing requirements.” Two key technologies in particular—fully automated equipment and voice-directed picking—are proving to help warehouse managers become more efficient and keep an eye on future innovation.

The more manual steps technology can remove from a process the better—at least that’s the theory. And for picking and packing items in the warehouse, few other technologies do it as well as automation. Automated warehouse systems are designed to increase productivity and warehouse throughput, eliminate manual processes, and bring flexibility to an ever-changing environment.

They can fall into several different classifications, such as robotics, loading, and wrapping, among others. Regardless of the classification, however, the goal of all of these systems is to ensure smooth picking and packing operations that are flexible and configurable.

If you want an example of what picking operations will look like in the future, consider Woburn, Mass.-based Kiva Systems’ latest offering, the Mobile Fulfillment System. According to CEO and founder Mick Mountz, Kiva’s automated storage-and-retrieval system employs a distinctive approach to split-case picking and order fulfillment. What makes Kiva’s approach unique is that it deploys miniature robotic units that bring selected warehouse items to pick station operators, rather than have pickers go to the items.

These platforms, which Kiva calls “inventory-pod shelving units,” vaguely resemble R2D2 of Star Wars fame. However, the major difference between these units and the droid superstar is that they are programmed to travel to specific areas of a warehouse or distribution center to pick up specified items—up to 1,000 pounds of goods each. “We create a scenario where warehouse pick-station operators become the pickers and the packers in one smooth motion,” explains Mountz. “And we eliminate the two-step process where one person gathers stuff and another person packs it. This is now being done by the same person, all in one motion.”

This system provides pick-station operators with the ability to pick all warehouse inventory items without leaving their stations. The result is that the system can deliver a continuous stream of products to the operator while working on multiple open orders or a rolling batch of orders. For example, if a company has 10,000 SKUs, each pick-station operator has access to all of these products and can fill any order that comes in at any time. Operators can also work on filling multiple open orders throughout a shift, which Mountz says allows for a high level of productivity because orders are being continuously filled.

Office supplies giant Staples says it’s realizing the benefits of Kiva’s technology at its fulfillment center in Chambersburg, Pa. The shipper reports that the center has doubled its average picking speed and tripled its average replenishment speed since going live with the system last year.

Another innovative picking and packing product is Jervis B. Webb Company’s SmartLoader, a battery-operated trailer-loading and warehousing vehicle. SmartLoader utilizes Webb’s proprietary automatic guided vehicle (AGV) technology, which allows it to move loads around a warehouse via an inertial guidance system. This technology enables SmartLoader to deliver palletized loads and automatically load trailers without human intervention.

SmartLoader acts as a robotic forklift truck that automatically loads pallets onto a standard trailer without any type of modifications needed inside the trailer. When a loaded pallet comes off of a conveyor system or a palletizer, SmartLoader picks it up and loads it right onto a trailer.

The forklift can also take pallets off of a rack system. For products that are sitting on racks, the AGV is able to pick up either single pallets or two pallets at the same time, side by side. SmartLoader can be programmed to work almost anywhere in the warehouse, says the manufacturer.

Voice-enabled technology has started to gain more ground by enabling a productive, hands-free environment for picking items and keeping an accurate eye on inventory. Voice technology’s initial uses were for order selection and picking, but it is now being used for putaways and replenishments, transfers, and cycle counting as well.

Voice-directed technology systems interact with a warehouse management system (WMS) or enterprise resource planning (ERP) system through radio frequency transmissions and a middleware server, capturing data and using software to relay that information in a form that can be understood by the main operating system.

A voice-recognition system’s equipment includes a headset with a microphone and a small, battery-powered computer with audio functionality that is attached to a waist belt. “What voice technology does is enable the direction of workers to perform specific functions by just talking, rather than writing stuff down or using something like a bar-code scanner,” explains Larry Sweeney, vice president of product management and co-founder of Vocollect, a Pittsburgh-based voice-directed technology provider.

Sweeney says that the biggest advantage of voice technology is that it leads workers through a process by communicating with a WMS that tells them which items to pick, as well as provides information on item verification and status. It also leads workers through an “exception process,” which occurs when the requested items to be picked are unavailable or out of stock—all with a short learning and training curve. Voice-technology systems provide pickers with instructions for handling these situations, which makes them particularly helpful when shippers add temporary personnel during peak shipping season.

In the future, Sweeney says, a combination of voice and radio frequency identification technology (RFID) may be a “go to” technology in the warehouse. Vocollect is currently working with several customers on what he describes as “proof of principle” site tests of integrated voice and RFID applications.

While Sweeney cannot disclose the companies Vocollect is collaborating with for these voice/RFID initiatives, he does say that if done correctly, the combination could be very effective for improving the efficiency of order selection. For example, in the pharmaceutical industry, a warehouse staffer who is picking boxes of pills by the case could have immediate access to information about lot numbers and expiration dates. Having this information, says Sweeney, also provides the shipper with timely and relevant data regarding which store or retail outlet a box is destined for.

Although this same data could be captured without RFID, it would require many more manual processes—such as people reading lot numbers and expiration dates off of individual items—and thus would increase the possibility of errors. Using RFID tags instead would provide an instantaneous read, says Sweeney, because warehouse staffers would not need to do anything unless there is an error and they are told what to do by a voice prompt.

“Voice directs work, and RFID captures data,” says Sweeney. “The possibility of combining these technologies allows you to verify and audit what a worker has done, and that is pretty powerful.”