topVOX is a world leading specialist in speech-based ‘Pick by Voice’ logistics applications, with its Lydia voice suite, and is also the manufacturer of the VOXter® hardware system for speech recognition.
With its recently introduced Lydia® 7.0, supporting operating systems like Windows 7 and higher, topVox offers a sophisticated speech-controlled picking system which outperforms any common MDE or paper-based system by significantly increasing both efficiency and quality. Completing their offering topVOX have recently brought out a new hardware duo, the new mobile voice computer Voxter® Elite Edition and the backhand scanner Voxter-Scan Elite Edition, enhancing their systems’ practicality for today’s warehouse environment.
topVOX’s complete scope of services goes from concept design, realisation, provision of hardware and software through to installation, training and maintenance. Its longstanding experience and knowhow makes topVOX the ideal and reliable partner for warehouse and logistics companies looking to introduce Pick by Voice technology in their operations..
Andreas Finken, President of topVOX US, spoke to Warehouse & Logistics News.
Warehouse & Logistics News – First of all, Andreas, can you run through the different voice technology products and services that topVOX provides in the UK? What characterises the UK as a market for ‘Voice’ products and solutions?
There are several things that show that the UK market is absolutely right for voice. More and more companies in the UK are looking to be able to do more with what they have already got. They want to increase accuracy of service to clients, they want to reduce errors on billing, they want real-time data and they want to increase efficiency. Voice delivers on all these points in a very short space of time, and often with the returns on accuracy alone they can recover their investment in under a year.
WLN – You’ve recently introduced the Lydia 7.0 voice suite. Can you tell us about it?
Lydia 7.0 is a new generation voice solution that supports operating systems like Windows 7 and higher. Lydia 7.0 allows customers to use our voice solutions on the new generation of devices like vehicle mount computers.
WLN – As President of topVOX US, what is your role in the company day to day? How much time do you spend in the UK? Are you directly involved in developing solutions for customers?
My job at topVOX entails offering our customers the best possible solution for effective deployment of personnel in intralogistics. For that reason I am always in direct contact with our customers and prospective customers. I join the UK team regularly to support the colleagues in sales and marketing. As I am in close contact with our customers I am responsible for the strategic product development.
WLN – Where is your UK office? How are you set up to service the UK? Who leads the business here?
To be locally accessible for our customers in the UK we set up our office in Godalming. A team of experts is available for our clients, which only attend to the special requirements of the British market. Many colleagues worldwide are working on the further development of our voice suite. And it is me who leads the business in the UK too.
WLN – When was topVOX founded? Who owns it now?
topVox was founded in 2006 and is 100% privately owned.
WLN – How do you sum up the topVOX proposition?
Leading edge, unique, flexible, and affordable and the most cost efficient solution on the market. What others just talk about – we deliver. We always pride ourselves on designing our solution around the client needs. This increases acceptance from the workforce and also allows very rapid return for the client.
WLN – What sets topVOX apart as a supplier of ‘Voice’ solutions? Why buy a Voice solution from you?
Because we don’t use unnecessary middleware, which forces the client into a series of pre-required process changes, we can deploy anywhere that has a definable process.
As such we are not limited to just warehouse and logistics operations. If you have a process, we can design a solution around it. In short, we can and do operate in warehouse and logistics but also in maintenance, manufacturing quality checking, healthcare and security and can operate anywhere a process can be defined.
WLN – Do you need special middleware to integrate your systems with end users’ SAP applications and other management information systems?
The good news is, you don’t. SAP has certified our Lydia voice solutions to integrate with SAP’s NetWeaver and dynpro-based applications without the need for middleware and topVOX is the only supplier who uses the ABAP stack. Beside that our solution seamlessly integrates to all common management information systems.
WLN – What different kinds of devices can your voice applications be used on?
Beside our own hardware series Voxter and Voxter-Scan, our voice application can be used on common voice-capable devices of all common hardware manufacturers like Motorola, Honeywell/LXE/Intermec and Datalogic. As the latest Lydia release supports systems like Windows 7 and younger, the voice solution is now available on forklift terminals too.
WLN – You’ve also brought out some new proprietary hardware for use with your systems, the new mobile voice computer Voxter Elite Edition and the backhand scanner Voxter-Scan Elite Edition. Can you tell us about those?
With the Voxter Elite Edition we have expanded our hardware range to include a high performance mobile voice computer. The design takes in the latest in ergonomic standards. The Voxter Elite Edition is small, robust and easy to handle as you only need to press one button to switch on the device. All other functions are controlled by voice.
The Voxter Scan Elite Edition makes mobile data capture by barcode scan easier and more comfortable. The device only weights 3.5oz (100g) and is comfortable to wear. And the Voxter Scan Elite Edition comes along with a unique auto-trigger scan function.
WLN – How much training do operators need to work with your systems? How long does it take to learn how to use them?
Our voice solution Lydia is so easy to understand in its handling that new employees can work with the system in just a few minutes. Thanks to our speaker independent recognition there is no need for speech training. If new colleagues have absolutely no experience with voice systems a key user supervises the new colleague until he is sure he has mastered the voice dialog.
WLN – What size operations are your voice solutions aimed at? What is the maximum number of warehouse operatives that your systems can support at one time?
Our voice solution Lydia is freely scalable, so small, medium and large companies can take advantage of the use of voice. We have implemented projects at companies where only five employees work with voice, as well as businesses where well over a thousand employees work with Lydia.
WLN – Voice technology isn’t just being adopted by large operations, smaller businesses are also taking advantage of its benefits. Do you offer Voice solutions specifically for small and medium-sized companies?
About two and a half years ago we introduced ‘Lydia Plug and Play’. This is a solution that was specifically designed for Picking in small to medium sized operations and worked on a pre-defined file transfer interface. This keeps cost for the host system developers to a minimum. We then define processes around this for the client.
We looked to develop this further and last year launched ‘Plug and Play 2,’ which is a development beyond the original solution. It also includes processes for everything within a warehouse operation from goods in to despatch and everything in between.
WLN – What kind of business efficiency improvements can people expect to see with one of your systems?
It is always difficult to give precise efficiency improvements, as all operations are different. However, what we typically find within warehouse environments is that we often achieve improvements of between 12% and 25% improvement over traditional RF and between 20% and 40% over paper. We do also provide multimodal solutions, which combine a range of technologies such as voice, scanning and RFID.
WLN – What different languages can your system support? How can you add new languages as workforces change?
Our voice solution supports all relevant languages. New languages are added by changing one entry in the user profile of the new team member.
WLN – We’ve had voice technology in the UK now for some time. What’s different about your solutions? Why buy a voice solution from topVOX?
This is simple really – we provide the world’s most advanced solution at truly sensible prices.
We don’t rely on third party vendors. When you work with topVOX, you work with the designer, developer and supplier of the solution that you later rely on. We are 100% self-owned and very financially stable.
WLN – What’s involved in the process of getting a quotation for one of your systems and then commissioning it? How long does it take from go ahead to go live?
This is very easy, just contact us and we will come and see you. Our consultants often come from an operational background and are very familiar with operational processes and requirements. For instance, our head of UK spent over 20years in manufacturing and distribution before joining us.
Typically after initial consultation and review of processes you can have a fully costed solution within a couple of days with a really simple to read and detailed Financial Business Case ready prepared for review.
Once you give us the go ahead we can deploy very quickly.
WLN – How flexible are your systems as customers’ operations grow, or diversify?
Our systems are fully scalable. For example, we have many multinational solutions where everything is controlled from central Datacenters. To grow these is quite simple, buy more user licences and you are away.
WLN – Can you tell us about some of the companies and the different industry sectors that are using your solutions? Do you publish customer case studies?
Our customers come from the classic sectors that particularly benefit from the use of voice picking, i.e. commerce, industry and production. Moreover, our voice solution is favoured by customers in areas like maintenance and check by voice. And yes, we publish case studies.
WLN – About IMHX: What are you looking forward to most of all about the show?
This is going to be a major event for everybody. We are very keen on learning about new things ourselves and catching up with people, as it is a great networking event as well as a trade show. However, we are there primarily to grow our business and increase awareness of topVOX and our solutions. We have been quite active over the last year in brand awareness as you know, and this will only accelerate this year.
WLN – What new products and developments will you be showing at IMHX? Will you be exhibiting Lydia® 7.0, Voxter Elite Edition and Voxter-Scan Elite Edition at the show?
Yes we will be showing all of these as well as ‘Plug and Play 2’.
But the main thing we will be showing is our flexibility.
Voice is a well-established technology and topVOX is absolutely at the leading edge of its development.
WLN – What else will be new from topVOX at IMHX?
Just come along and have a look.
WLN – How important are shows like IMHX to your company and its strategy?
IMHX is a major event that only comes round every 3 to 5 years and is a huge draw for many prospective customers of ours. As such it is very important to us for 2 reasons: 1, it helps us build brand awareness and 2, it helps generate leads and contacts.
WLN – The big question: why should a busy professional from the logistics industry take a day out of the office to visit your stand?
Quite simple really, if you are interested in learning about voice technologies and their applications in your operation then we can show you. If you are just looking to keep your knowledge base up to date, we can help you there too.
If you are considering deploying either RF or Voice in your operation at any time in the future we can help.
WLN – With the greater emphasis on increased output and reduced operating costs, what special features do your systems have to address this? Will they be on show at IMHX?
Yes, there are a number of things here. In terms of reducing operating costs, our solution normally delivers a return within a year so pays for itself very quickly. Because we do not require middleware, there is no limit as to how many users make a solution financially viable so we can help you deliver savings that can be reinvested to grow into other areas which voice may be suitable. We are truly multi modal so can operate with Barcode Scanning, RFID, and even with AGVs. Our solution is also the most flexible on the market so we can design a process around your operation to meet your needs rather than ‘wedge’ you into a series of processes constrained by middleware.
WLN – Looking at the wider picture, what do you see as the biggest pressures on users of voice picking technology? How are you addressing them?
A couple of the biggest pressures are Acceptance and Training
We address these quite simply; we streamline existing processes and keep them very similar to the original. As such, users do not see this as a major change as they are still doing the same things. They are just more productive and accurate.
Training on our system is very quick and easy. We generally do not use Voice Templates. We can, but when customers realise the power of our recognition engine, they also realise how outdated this is, and never really use it.
However, the biggest pressure is the cost of adopting the technology. Well here again we have the answer, we can design a solution around your needs and keep the costs to an absolute minimum.
WLN – Finally, where do you see the UK and European voice picking market and topVOX going from here?
In the UK specifically, I can see top-VOX going from strength to strength. We have only really grown in the UK with our multinational clients who have operations in the UK. However, we are now very focused on developing the business here and have a growing and very prestigious partner base who we are working very closely with to develop mutually beneficial business.
Tel: 01327 261 050
email: info-uk@top-vox.com
Comments are closed.