Like many businesses competing in a global market, Sony Corporation is challenged to do more with less.

 The electronics company provides leading-edge products like Blu-ray Disc players, Bravia televisions, Cyber-shot digital cameras and Handycam Camcorders to consumers across the globe. In recent years, its wholly-owned Canadian subsidiary, Sony of Canada Ltd., experienced a rapidly changing business model of increasing online orders — particularly an increase in smaller orders — coupled with growth.

Every day, Sony factories around the world ship approximately 1,500 products to Sony of Canada’s distribution centres in Coquitlam, B.C., and Whitby, Ont., which in turn collectively process 18,000 orders per month. Sony of Canada sometimes had trouble keeping up.

The company’s growth quickly exposed the weaknesses in the paper-based and RF systems it used for distribution. Paper was cumbersome and it provided no locator system to help employees find products quickly and easily. While RF scanning was quicker and faster than paper, picking with RF consisted of too many steps, which increased the opportunity for errors. Workers had to input into the handheld unit, view the screen, put down and pick up the device, and the system was often slow to respond.

Sony of Canada was looking for a way to improve its efficiency and effectiveness, service levels and costs, so that it could remain competitive in a challenging global market.

The solution
At the recommendation of RedPrairie, Sony of Canada’s WMS provider and technology partner, the company decided to investigate the potential of Vocollect Voice, voice-enabling technology used in manufacturing plants and distribution centres.

“I was introduced to the voice technology at RedPrairie’s user conference and, of course, immediately I’m thinking, ‘Wow, this is amazing stuff. We could certainly use it,’” recalls Rick Courtin, business process manager, Supply Chain Group, Sony of Canada.

Based on observing voice in action at another Vocollect customer site and consultation from RedPrairie, the company could see that the integration of Vocollect Voice into an upcoming WMS upgrade would be an excellent way to achieve maximum payback in process improvements across its distribution operations.

Handling bulky RF units, looking at a screen for instructions and inputting data would no longer slow down their distribution process. With voice, they could move to a hands-free/eyes-free environment.

“With voice, the beauty of it is that it’s a very fluid capability. You don’t have to put things down and then go back to them. So you’re just basically talking and you’re walking and you’re doing the job as you go,” explains Courtin.  

How it works
“Vocollect and RedPrairie have been long-time partners, and we work very closely together so that we can build a real-time direct interface between the RedPrairie WMS business logic and the process logic that exists inside the Vocollect system,” explains Gary Glessner, vice-president, Sales-Americas, Vocollect. “We do this because we want to make it easy for folks like Rick, Sony and our other customers to seamlessly be able to deploy voice with minimal extra effort of any kind.”

When an order is sent to the WMS, Vocollect Voice translates it into voice commands, and the system talks to the worker through a headset with a microphone.

“So instead of an operator having to, with an RF device, scan or look at the screen and enter key pushes to tell the computer to advance to the next step, all of that is just being done by speech commands,” explains Glessner.

The system includes a text-to-speech engine, available in many different languages, which takes the data that the WMS system is sending out and automatically converts it to speech commands. The worker then responds into the microphone. Voice recognition algorithm software resides inside the voice client that runs on the mobile computing device, and it does the interpretation of what the worker is saying and turns that into data that goes back to the WMS system.

The recognition algorithm that Vocollect uses is speaker dependent. Each worker will spend 20 minutes or so when they first start using the voice system to train their individual voice template, which is stored on a small computer or server. Every time the worker logs in and starts a shift, their specific voice template is downloaded to their specific mobile computer.

“When that worker trains the template, they can speak in whatever accent, dialect [or] language,” says Glessner. “As long as they’re consistent, the system will consistently recognize them.”

Workers using the system can also choose their own settings. They can select whether the voice is male or female, and adjust the pitch, volume and speed of the voice.

Vocollect at Sony of Canada
Sony of Canada uses a consolidated picking methodology — cluster picking — for processing less than master carton quantities. Initially Vocollect Voice was piloted for cluster picking for parcel shipments because of its process fit and the high number of picks — about 65 percent of their transactions go through the parcel mode. After a short training process (as little as one hour), workers were up and running.

Today, orders are batched, and a bulk pick of product is then brought forward to a staging area where the individual orders are picked, packed and shipped through the use of Vocollect.

Since that time, the company has expanded voice to the cycle counting workflow, which is the process of counting inventory. Sony of Canada performs cycle counting with voice every day. Cycle counts are generated and operations staff are sent instructions via the WMS to the voice system to perform the counts. Location and SKUs are scanned and counted as blind counts. If the count does not agree with the system, the operator is asked to verify. If the second verification doesn’t agree with the system count, an audit count — performed by supervisory or management staff — is automatically generated. Using Vocollect for cycle counting has resulted in increases in accuracy through hands-free counts, and it has eliminated costly and time-consuming periodic audits for Sony of Canada.

The results
Voice picking not only requires fewer steps than using an RF device, but workers are able to perform each of those steps more rapidly and productively than if they had to hold and put down an RF device to perform their work, look at a screen for instructions and use the device to scan or key input information.

“So that’s where you pick up all the productivity gains with voice,” says Glessner. “[It] is not only reducing the number of steps, but being able to do those steps much more productively and efficiently.”

The ability to accurately and quickly fulfill orders, to manage seasonal volume hikes, to help the company sustain a thriving Internet business with large numbers of smaller orders, and to do more with less are all benefits the voice solution has brought.

“With our old paper-based system and its inherent inefficiencies, physical inventory took us four business days. Moving to RF reduced the inventory process to just a day and a half. But with Vocollect Voice, now we spend only half a day completing physical inventories,” says Courtin.

Since implementing Vocollect Voice, Sony of Canada has realized improvements of 30 percent in throughput and 15 percent in accuracy, as well as improvements in safety, with the hands-free/eyes-free feature of the voice system.

Reduced training time is also a big benefit, Courtin says. It only takes an hour or so for technical training on the voice system, and about a week for the full operational training. In the past, it would take employees two to three months to complete RF scanning and operational training.

These improved efficiencies have allowed the company to reduce its temporary headcount by five workers.

“We’ve often had to bring in temporary help to augment the full-time staff, and we’ve basically cut right back,” says Courtin. “The efficiency gain has been such that we didn’t have to hire nearly as many temps as in the past.”

Voice technology has also allowed Sony of Canada to better manage the seasonality of the business, with the peak order time being September through December. The voice system provides workers with the ability to nimbly move from one assignment to the next with no downtime, even during peak periods.

Voices in the plant
Sony of Canada has seen such huge benefits from using voice for cluster picking and cycle counting, that it plans to expand Vocollect Voice to full pallet picks, put-away, and Less than Trailer Load (LTL) picking. (They are currently in the middle of piloting it in LTL picking.) However, applications span beyond distribution.

“What we see is that companies are clearly seeing, especially in manufacturing applications, that the hands-free/eyes-free accuracy and productivity — that optimal combination of accuracy and productivity — is allowing companies to deploy voice in applications such as the feeding of assembly lines, the feeding of manufacturing cells [and] kitting applications,” says Glessner, adding that even inspection was an early application for Vocollect Voice. “It’s predominantly in use today in distribution centre operations, but…many manufacturers are discovering that in just-in-time assembly cells and manufacturing lines, voice has a significant value-add.”

“There are customers that have a belief that voice adds complexity to an implementation,” says Scott Dunnington, service director with RedPrairie Corporation. “What we really find is that voice reduces the complexity. It makes for more successful projects. It makes for happier customers, happier users and better all around project results.”

And Sony of Canada is proof. After using Vocollect Voice for four years, and seeing the huge benefits — including an ROI of less than one year —  Courtin agrees.

“I can tell you from the staff that use it that it’s very much a pleasure for them to work with that technology.”
It makes their jobs easier, and they are more productive, efficient and effective — the exact combination that Sony of Canada needs to remain competitive and ensure that its products arrive to customers on time, every time.

This article originally appeared in the May 2012 issue of Manufacturing AUTOMATION.

In the 25 years that Jeff Perry has been responsible for electrical test safety at Hammond Power Solutions (HPS), the company has never had an accident related to electrical testing, and Perry wants to keep it that way.

 The manufacturing engineer is responsible for the safety of the processes and equipment at Guelph, Ont.-based HPS — the transformer division of Hammond Manufacturing, which it split from in 2001 to become its own company. HPS designs and manufactures high-quality custom electrical dry-type transformers, as well as related engineered magnetic devices at the facility.

The transformers must be tested before they are shipped to the customer, which is why Hammond has test stations throughout its 110,000-sq.-ft. Guelph facility. Test voltages of up to 250,000 volts are used to ensure the integrity of HPS transformers.
During the testing of transformers, the company is required to ensure the safety of the operators in and around the test cells. Safety, in fact, has always been a priority at Hammond. That’s why when Steve Bellamy of Bellamy Electric approached Perry about upgrading the safety system in the testing of transformers to Omron’s G9SP software-based safety controller, Perry didn’t take the decision lightly.

“We looked at a number of devices, [looking at] the breadth of products that was offered, the ability for them to be easily configured and fit into our application, and the reputation of the product itself,” explains Perry.

After careful consideration, he decided that Omron’s G9SP was the best way for HPS to “achieve the highest level of safety” for its employees.

“High voltage is a dangerous product to work with, and we wanted to make sure that we provided safety at a level that was acceptable for our company,” says Perry. “We place high values on employees and their health and safety, and we wanted to make sure that was achieved, and [this] product did that.”

About the G9SP
Omron Industrial Automation’s G9SP Programmable Safety Controller is a software-based, standalone controller that can be quickly programmed to satisfy the complex safety control needs of small and mid-sized machines. And because it isn’t a hardwired system, user’s benefit from flexibility — the ability to reconfigure the unit when new safety features are added to their setup.

With the Omron Configuration Tool — part of the G9SP package — all aspects of input and output to the unit can be defined, simulated, tested and validated with a graphical user interface. The simulation tool allows users to test and correct settings before the system goes live. On-screen text and icon-driven menus guide the user through all aspects of setup. Clear alerts and system status give the operator an instant overview at every stage of operation. Unlike hardwired safety relays, the Omron G9SP can be reconfigured for multiple purposes, with direct connection to non-contact switches or safety mats. For example, when connected to an Omron pressure safety mat, the G9SP can sense that the mat has been activated, and can be programmed to sound an alert or shut down any dangerous part of a machine, keeping personnel safe. Meanwhile, the G9SP delivers clear diagnostics and monitoring via Ethernet or Serial connection.

The G9SP also includes a memory cassette, which means that systems designers only need to program the unit once, and use the memory cassette to install settings into each identical system. This is also useful if there is a power surge that disables the unit. The operator just puts the existing memory cassette into the new unit, and can upload the program without the need for a computer or programming software.

“The software itself is very intuitive,” says Chris Parks, an account manager with Omron Industrial Automation. “It’s a software program that you can learn inside a half an hour and be very confident in programming.”

The system is more than just a safety controller. It has diagnostic abilities, too. Online diagnosis is meant to reduce debug time to a minimum during implementation in the machine control system. And when the G9SP is up and running, it can tell the operator the state of an interlock switch — if it is damaged or if a panel door is open. All the operator needs to do is look at the screen to see where the problem is.

G9SP at HPS
Previously, the company used a simple monitored relay and switch safety interlock system. When operators tested the transformers, it was a manual procedure. As Perry explains it, the operator recorded the data onto a sheet of paper. They then took that data after the test was done to a computer and entered that information into a test database.

This approach was time consuming and increased the potential for errors, explains Perry.

“We were generally running up to four decimal points of accuracy, so sometimes there were keystroke errors and recording errors.”

With the installation of two new R&D and large power transformer test stations, a new design for a safety interlock system using Omron’s G9SP was implemented. The safety interlock system is interfaced with National Instruments’ LabVIEW software — a development environment for engineers and scientists creating test, measurement and control applications. The test is selected on a computer, applied in a controlled, consistent manner, and the data is downloaded automatically at the completion of the test into the test database. The operator has monitoring capabilities so that they can control or be aware of what’s going on. It’s all done on a computer screen, rather than with analog meters and dials.

“Certainly there are some productivity advantages to having this,” Perry says, referring to the new system. “Presently [on the test stations where the G9SP isn’t installed], it takes as long to record and enter the test data as it does to do the actual test.”

One of the G9SP’s main benefits, aside from safety, of course, is its diagnostic ability, says Bellamy, who implemented the new safety interlock system at HPS.

“One of the features it does have is a test output, which it self monitors for short circuits. So it will catch problems as they happen, where as just the regular safety relay would only get it upon the next initiation of the…circuit.”

And when the G9SP detects a problem, it shuts down the circuit and kills the power so the operator can fix the issue. The operator can see on LabVIEW that the G9SP has detected an issue with the interlock and where that issue is.
Another huge benefit, he says, is its ease of use, which translates into savings.

“It’s easy to program. I would say this is a complicated interlock system here, and it took me less than an hour to program that, and it probably saved two days worth of wiring,” he explains.
In fact, the new system has reduced installation time at HPS’ Guelph facility by 20 percent, and trouble-shooting issues by 30 percent.

The future
While the system is currently installed in four electrical test stations at the plant, Perry plans to have them installed in the remaining test stations in the near future.

And, following the G9SP’s success at HPS in Guelph, the company plans to install the controller at 10 more of its facilities — three in Canada, two in the U.S., three in Mexico, one in India and one in Italy.

“All of our test facilities will be standardized on this exact platform right here, with the G9 being the safety component and the National Instruments being the controlling and recording and measuring platform,” says Perry. “The installation is much quicker; the configuration is much quicker. Those are advantages, especially going forward, when we plan to use these in all of our other facilities.”

And the company plans to use it in additional applications; not just for the safety of personnel testing transformers. The G9SP will be used in their transformer resin bake ovens to monitor damper position and flow switches to make sure that fumes are exhausting. The team also plans to install it on a new high-speed lamination cutting machine, as well as a Core Build lift/tilt table.

“We currently have a large transformer resin impregnation system under construction with a G9SP safety interlock system. We are also working on a safety system strategy utilizing the G9SP platform for operations such as material slitting, cutting and punching,” says Perry.

“I think the Hammonds have always had the best available safety system, and as we’ve upgraded [it],” explains Bellamy, “we went from just basic relays and contactors to safety relays, and now there’s a better product — the G9SP.

“They’ve taken it to the next level,” he continues. “Hammond has taken the initiative, spent the money, and made sure that the operators are safe.”

And thanks to this technology, Perry and the HPS team are able to continue to achieve their goal — to make sure that there are no accidents related to electrical testing at HPS, and that the employees remain safe.

This article originally appeared in the May 2012 issue of Manufacturing AUTOMATION.

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Dr. Eberhard Veit, chairman of the Festo AG management board, spoke with Manufacturing AUTOMATION's sister publication, Design Product News, at Hannover Messe 2012. Dr. Veit commented on a range of issues, from how engineers in Europe and Canada tackle design issues to how his company is addressing the problem of energy savings for its customers.

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A new business book, How can we make manufacturing sexy?, addresses the industry's and the public's roles in bringing manufacturing back to Canada. The book takes a look at how to create a "mindset of passion and purpose, from the production floor to the executive suite."