Press Releases / Sinelco Installs Jennifer

Jun 25, 2012

Sinelco Installs Jennifer

Sinelco Boosts Productivity, Quality and Employee Morale With Jennifer VoicePlus Voice Picking System: Belgian Beauty Products Distributor Avoids Costly Warehouse Expansion By Adding Jennifer To Dramatically Increase Piece Picking Rates and Throughput

Lucas Systems, Inc., the largest independent provider of voice-directed warehouse applications, today reported that Sinelco Group, a leading European distributor of salon and beauty products that is owned by Sally Beauty Holdings, has installed a Jennifer VoicePlus voice picking system at its Ronse, Belgium distribution center. The new Jennifer pick by voice system operates in Dutch and French and was installed by Dastronic, NV. Jennifer voice picking has resulted in a 40 percent improvement in order picking productivity allowing Sinelco to increase volume without expanding its warehouse.

“Our business is changing and we are picking higher volumes of individual items, rather than full cases,” explains Erwin Bauwens, General Manager of Sinelco International. “With our previous barcode scanning process we could only increase our throughput by adding a new picking module and adding staff. When Dastronic first suggested that voice might provide a solution that would allow us to increase throughput without expanding the warehouse, we were skeptical.”
“Dastronic projected we would see a productivity increase of 30 percent with Jennifer pick by voice, but in reality some pickers work twice as fast without even being aware of it. Equally important, our workers prefer having a ‘conversation’ with Jennifer as they work. In addition to helping them to do their jobs better, work is more fun and less monotonous. Thanks to our workers and the team from Lucas and Dastronic, initial training and start up was faster than anything I have ever seen.”

Dastronic integrated Jennifer with their Optima WMS product using the JenLink voice interface, a standard, extensible integration framework that is a core component of the Jennifer VoicePlus system. Sinelco and Dastronic conducted a full-scale pilot of Jennifer in September and October of 2011, followed by a full rollout in November. As part of the voice implementation, Sinelco replaced their five year old mobile computers with Motorola MC3190 rugged mobile computers that support both voice and traditional barcode scanning applications. Jennifer is used today by 20 workers across two shifts.

“This project is a great example of how vendors and customers can work together as trusted partners to achieve superior results,” says Jennifer Lachenman, VP of Product Strategy and Business Alliances at Lucas Systems. “Dastronic’s warehouse logistics and operations expertise were invaluable in ensuring a flawless pilot and roll out, with remarkable operational results from day one. Sinelco’s success is a result of outstanding user acceptance, which is a credit to the workers themselves and to the Sinelco and Dastronic implementation teams.”

About Lucas Systems, Inc.
Since 1998, Lucas Systems has delivered more voice-directed warehouse applications on a wider variety of mobile computers than any other company. Customers like Cardinal Health, the Container Store, HD Supply, OfficeMax, Mondelez (formerly Kraft Nabisco) and Rust-Oleum trust Lucas to deliver solutions that greatly improve worker productivity and accuracy because Lucas truly understands warehouse operations. Jennifer VoicePlus, the Lucas voice solution, creates a conversation with warehouse workers that frees their hands and eyes to focus on the job at hand. Jennifer also provides managers and supervisors with real-time reporting and management tools that help them better manage their operations. Tens of thousands of associates at hundreds of distribution centers work with Jennifer every day.

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