Vocollect Helps Stephenson Wholesale Company Meet Growing Demand

Voice-Directed Distribution Reduces Time-to-Delivery, Improves Responsiveness, Boosts Profit Margins

Pittsburgh - Vocollect today announced that Stephenson Wholesale Company, a regional grocery wholesaler serving more than 2,500 convenience retailers across Oklahoma and Texas, has implemented Vocollect's Voice-Directed Distribution in its state-of-the-art 150,000 square foot distribution center. With a shipping volume of 75 trucks per day, and an average inventory turnover rate of 32 times per year - among the highest in the wholesale distribution industry - Stephenson Wholesale, ranked the 13th largest C-store wholesale distributor in the US, made the jump from paper-based order picking to voice-directed work in order to cut rising costs and speed order fulfillment.

"As a rapidly growing business, Vocollect's Voice-Directed Distribution was a perfect match for our needs," said Dick Dunham, vice president of operations for Stephenson Wholesale Company. "Making the switch to voice-directed work allowed our warehouse workers to operate hands-free in real-time, which allows us to meet our skyrocketing customer demand. Right away, we saw a 30 percent increase in the productivity of our workers. We were able to make an immediate difference in our ability to keep up with demand and virtually eliminated costly picking and shipping errors."

For Stephenson, the move to Voice-Directed Distribution was a significant change from their previous, paper-based picking system. "The pick-rate for each employee has increased dramatically, since they no longer use paper picking slips, and both of their hands are ready to pick each item when necessary," said Dawn Laxson, vice president of administration for Stephenson Wholesale. "Our order pickers no longer worry about losing their place on a picking slip, since Vocollect's Voice-Directed Distribution tracks their progress on each order in real-time, while maintaining 100 percent accuracy."

"Vocollect has enabled us to better serve our customers, giving us an edge on some of our competitors," said Dunham. "The competition in our industry is really tough, and making the switch to voice has helped us ensure that we can keep our business growing."

SOURCE: Vocollect