Manhattan Associates and Vocollect Help Nature’s Best Streamline Distribution Operations and Manage Rapid Growth

Vocollect Voice solution helps company boost distribution accuracy by 60 percent and productivity by 30 percent

Pittsburgh—June 20, 2012—Global supply chain optimization provider Manhattan Associates Inc. and partner Vocollect (of Intermec Inc.), a voice-enabled solutions provider, announced that Nature’s Best gained significant payback including a 60 percent accuracy boost from its deployment of Manhattan Associates’ directly-integrated Vocollect Voice.

Brea, Calif.-based Nature’s Best’s two distribution centers based in Chino, Calif. and Flower Mound, Texas, use Vocollect Voice and Manhattan Associates’ 2007 R2 WMS for picking cases in three temperature zones. As a result, Nature’s Best experienced dramatic growth and geographic expansion over the past several years, driving the need to optimally integrate its people, systems and processes. Its label-driven selection processes made achieving perfect orders an expensive endeavor.

“While Nature’s Best has almost doubled in size over the past several years, Vocollect Voice helped us to design and execute a safe, accurate and productive supply chain—the original driver of our deployment decision,” said Brian McCarthy, Senior Vice President of Operations, Nature’s Best. “And this investment

continues to produce a payback for us.”

Deployment results include:

  • 30 percent productivity improvement in each pick
  • 60 percent perfect order improvement within 12 months, achieving planned results
  • Significant annual cost savings in credits, labor and rework from accuracy improvements
  • Savings of over 1,400 annual man-hours; thousands of dollars saved annually from asset reductions and maintenance (through use of the Vocollect Vehicle Mount Talkman application for order fulfillment)
  • Reduced and easier training time for both native and non-native English speakers
  • Improved worker safety through hands-free/eyes-free feature of voice

 

“We rely on Vocollect Voice to help us maintain a high customer service standard while keeping our business nimble and competitive,” McCarthy added. “This is key in a rapid-growth environment such as ours. Our partnerships with Manhattan Associates and Vocollect have helped us succeed in a highly competitive arena.”

The success of the Nature’s Best deployment is an outgrowth of the long-term product development and value-add reseller relationship Vocollect has had with Manhattan Associates since 2003. Last year Manhattan Associates, a Vocollect total solution provider partner, saw its Vocollect Voice sales grow to an all-time high. 

Vocollect and Manhattan have a long history of successful implementations with industry leaders like Nature’s Best,” confirmed Jeff Mitchell, Executive Vice President, Americas, Manhattan Associates. “Voice technology is a key component for increasing efficiency and productivity in the warehouse, particularly in today’s wholesale distribution market where success depends on delivering different types of products with varying shelf lives to the right stores at the right time.”

Latest