Food Logistics serves the entire Printing Industry with targeted content for the large commercial print segment.
Issue link: https://foodlogistics.epubxp.com/i/295107
W W W . F O O D L O G I S T I C S . C O M FO O D LO G I S T I C S ❮❮ A P R I L 2014 35 T he Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma distributes food and product to hungry Oklahomans in 53 central and western counties in Oklahoma. Their warehouse moves food, both per- ishable and non-perishable, to an area that's 48,000 square miles in size. The non-profit does very little direct service and conducts most of its distribution through more than 1,200 partner agencies, which consists of food pantries, shelters, soup kitchens, and schools. Partner organizations place orders with the Regional Food Bank based on client demand, and the non-profit processes that order through their Microsoft ERP. One of the Regional Food Bank's biggest challenges is managing a massive supply chain. Accuracy and efficiency are of paramount importance for the Regional Food Bank's warehouse, which stocks anything you would see on a grocery store shelf, in a refrigerator, or in a freezer. The non-profit's budget is tight, so there's no room for spoiled or wasted food as a result of logistical errors in the ware- house. Voice vs. the Rest For decades, the Regional Food Bank relied on a paper label pick- ing system that slowed down operations and limited the number of partners they were able to serve. The label system placed restrictions on how quickly pickers could process orders, which made the opera- tion less scalable. "We knew modernizing our warehouse would help make our opera- tions more efficient, which would help us deliver more food to more partners in less time," says Steve Moran, Vice President of Operations for the Regional Food Bank. "But we're a non-profit on a strict budget, and we needed a proven ROI before we could make the investment." Before implementing voice, the Regional Food Bank brought in a team of industrial engineering students to evaluate the technology's efficiency against existing paper label systems and RF-scanner based systems. The students tracked cases picked per hour and error rates for all three systems—voice picking emerged as the clear winner. Rapid ROI Efficiency alone wasn't enough to make the switch to voice. "We purchase 20 percent of our food supply. If we're going to invest a large portion of our budget in new technology, we had to be sure that it wouldn't result in a reduction in the number of families we're able to serve," says Moran. The student team performed a cost analysis of three different voice vendors. They evaluated functionality and ease of use to help determine which vendor would be the best fit. "After the students determined that we would see ROI within 18 months, we were all convinced that voice was the best technology for us and Voxware would give us the most bang for our buck," says Moran. The Regional Food Bank Doubles Pick Rate Six years out, they've seen dramatic improvements in warehouse operations. Most striking is their increase in speed and efficiency: with the old paper label system, the non-profit was picking and pro- cessing approximately 50 cases of food per hour. After implementing voice, they were able to more than double their hourly pick rate to 100-120 cases per hour. "It was astonishing to see our pick rates increase well over 100 percent, and even more exciting to see our warehouse reach a record pick rate of 193 cases in an hour," says Moran. Voice enabled them to increase distribution from 24 million pounds of food annually to 48 million pounds—without hiring any additional staff. Enabling a Non-Profit to Embody its Values Accuracy and efficiency are important to any facility, but the Regional Food Bank isn't just a regular warehouse. "We pride ourselves on our stewardship and reducing food waste, but we were still generating lots of paper waste in our warehouse," says Moran. Voice helped the non-profit make its picking process paperless, and they've since diverted even more waste from landfills. A Food Bank with a Full Plate By Gareth Giles Knopp, VP Global Sales and Marketing Operations, Voxware, Inc. Spoiled? Who's to Blame? If you're looking to blame someone for spoiled food, it's usually the brand or the manufacturer who takes it on the chin. And, sometimes they are responsible. But what if playing it safe could be a shared responsibility? Like a nearby lake or a favorite public park, a resource rather than a burden. Suppose measuring freshness could be something you want to use often because its benefits are so great? Imagine knowing just who and how and when spoilage happens, and not just an approximate, somewhat arbitrary "sell by" or "use by" date, but a real indication of what and when and for how long? That describes what Freshtime labels provide. They can tell you how fresh your fish is and where and when it was caught–or how fresh your flowers are and when they were picked–or even how fresh your medicine is, and the particulars of its journey as it's traveled to you. Our cloud services and our proprietary data compression let just a few digits tell you a lot, and our proprietary RFID data exchange minimizes paper and its burdens in tracking and tracing. With our methods and systems for mobile transfer and our ongoing stewardship from wherever the brand decides to start it, you have a record of a perishable's condition as it passes from handler to handler–from distributor, to retail clerk, to the store shelf, and on to the consumer– inventory control at every step. The answer to "How fresh?" "How flavorful?" "How nutritious?" That's Infratab Freshtime. So we like to say at Infratab, "Freshness, a resource we all share." Infratab Freshtime labels and tools: Sharing the meaning of "Fresh!" Now you can be sure. www.infratab.com FLOG_35_0414 CS Food Bank.indd 35 4/3/14 5:25 PM