Picking without Lights to Support Single Order Case Picking

A FastFetch Configuration that Makes Voice Applications Better

The extreme flexibility of FastFetch enables the system to be used to pick single orders without light modules on bays and without a cart.  For example, a picker can carry the FastFetch PDA in a holster attached to a belt or Tablet PC and receive voice commands concerning where to go for each item to be picked.  Unlike voice picking systems that require the picker to speak several check digits to confirm that the correct has been reached, the picker will use a portable Bluetooth or integrated scanner to scan the location or product bar code.  Anyone who has used a voice system for speech recognition can attest to the difficulties associated with nonrecognitions or misrecognitions due to noise in the warehouse or changes in the pickers voice due to colds, etc.  Even without these recognition problems, scanning a bar code takes less than a second whereas clearly speaking several "check digits" read from a location label takes about 2 seconds.  When considering the infrastructure required, the FastFetch cost is typically less than 1/2 the cost of voice picking systems. 

 Another example of the use of FastFetch without light modules on either a cart or bays is full case or split case (piece) picking onto a pallet carried by a forklift.  In this example, the "cart" is the pallet, with a single location, and the bays contain products without lights.  Using a FastFetch PDA mounted on the forklift, the picker is again directed to product locations with voice commands and product bar codes are scanned for confirmation before  placement onto the pallet.

One advantage of FastFetch usage in this picking mode is that no real-time, Wi-Fi (RF) communication is required since the FastFetch PDA or Tablet PC contains all the data required for picking all items in the order.   If Wi-Fi communication is available, FastFetch will communicate the results of picking to the WMS or ERP in real-time but when communications are interrupted (e.g. due to dead spots in the warehouse) FastFetch continues to pick using the picking information stored locally in the PDA or Tablet PC.   Once communication connectivity is restored, FastFetch automatically synchronizes updates between the PDA or Tablet PC database and the centralized database.  This is only one of many FastFetch features that make the system extremely fault tolerant.

Regardless of the configuration used with FastFetch, the same PDA or Tablet PC hardware and FastFetch software are used.  The selection of configuration is sent in the downloaded data from the WMS or ERP and FastFetch adapts its usage automatically to the correct configuration.

Click here to see how FastFetch can be used in other cart and bay configurations.