Fashion label Petit Bateau switches to voice picking

Since opening its first factory in Troyes in 1893, French fashion label Petit Bateau has made a name for itself in the field of underwear and outerwear for children. In May 2016, the company moved its logistics processes to a new location. The warehouse receives the products directly from the factory, from where they are shipped to more than 3,500 retailers and 400 own stores. Orders placed by end customers directly via the Petit Bateau online store are also processed here. 60 employees transport more than 23 million items annually.

However, the equipment for the order pickers presented Petit Bateau with challenges: On the one hand, they were looking for more ergonomic equipment compared to the guns and scanners they had been using to date. On the other hand, the new solution needed to increase productivity. It also needed to be flexible enough.

The "Screen-to-Voice" voice solution implemented by Voiteq was chosen in 2011. The pickers' initial reservations about the new technology were dispelled thanks to an introduction to the system and a wide range of headset models. In the end, Petit Bateau opted for a Vocollect SL-14 headset from Honeywell. By switching to the screen-to-voice system, the fashion company was able to convert its order picking from picking stations to flexible picking trolleys.

Petit Bateau relied on its long-standing business partner Voiteq to set up the new warehouse. Dimitri Boyaval, responsible for Petit Bateau's logistics site, particularly emphasized the flexibility of the system integrator and "the advantage of the application levels, which can be changed in a much more natural way than with solutions from other providers". Voiteq also assisted Petit Bateau with the implementation of new voice dialogs compatible with the latest WMS version of the provider A-SIS. This included the overwriting of all existing voice orders. As part of this global project and beyond the voice solution and the 30 Honeywell Vocollect Voice A500 voice terminals installed, Voiteq was tasked with providing all the logistics equipment.

Reduced training time
The team leaders were able to train the employees themselves within a short space of time. "The order pickers can work independently after just two hours and are fully operational after less than a week," explains Boyaval.

"The low training costs give Petit Bateau an advantage when it comes to training temporary staff," explains Rémy Meulins, Head of Operations at Voiteq France. The voice solution has been well received by both employees and their managers, as the site manager confirms: "The decision to use this voice solution has never been questioned." Thanks to the lightweight headsets, which do not hinder the order pickers in their work, the ergonomic benefits have been fully achieved. In the near future, Petit Bateau plans to define new voice dialogs that can be used to reduce the waiting time before the goods are deposited in the parcels.