Vocollect, a provider of voice-directed work, announced that The Pep Boys, "Manny, Moe & Jack," one of the nation's leading automotive aftermarket retail and service chain, has implemented the Vocollect Voice-Directed Distribution offering in two of the company's five national distribution centers, and plans to roll it out shortly to the remaining three. According to a statement, Pep Boys is applying Voice-Directed Distribution to increase productivity, accuracy and team safety in their distribution centers.

Vocollect's system takes the warehouse management system assignment output, such as a pick list or replenishment request, and applies text-to-speech and speech synthesis technology to use speech in guiding workers step-by-step through their daily tasks. As a task is completed, the worker communicates with the WMS through a belt-worn computer and a speech recognition headset. The system, designed specifically for demanding industrial environments, translates what the worker says into text and sends the information via a wireless network back to the WMS, creating a real-time and dynamic working dialog.

"We expected productivity improvements, and we achieved them," says Stuart Rosenfeld, vice president—distribution at Pep Boys. "We expected an average 12 percent increase, but when we saw our accuracy rates increase over those we were attaining with RF scanning, we were very surprised. Our accuracy fill rate is averaging 99.63 percent, [and] considering we move more than 75 million items a year, a .5+ percent increase in accuracy is significantly better."