Manhattan Associates and Vocollect Help Nature's Best Streamline Distribution Operations, Manage Rapid Growth
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Vocollect Voice solution helps company boost distribution accuracy by 60 percent and productivity by 30 percent; achieve significant cost savings annually
PITTSBURGH - Global supply chain optimization provider Manhattan Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ: MANH), together with partner Vocollect, a business unit of Intermec, Inc. (NYSE:IN) and the world leader in voice-enabled solutions for mobile workers, today announced that Nature's Best, the nation's largest privately-owned wholesaler-distributor of natural and organic products, has gained significant payback including a 60 percent accuracy boost from its deployment of Manhattan Associates' Warehouse Management solution (WMS) integrated with Vocollect Voice, helping the company to maintain a strong competitive edge amid rapid growth.
Founded in 1969, Brea, Calif.-headquartered Nature's Best is an award-winning natural and organic grocery distributor of refrigerated, bulk, supplements, personal care, herbs, medicinal, pet, and many other products. Its two distribution centers (DCs) based in Chino, Calif. and Flower Mound, Texas, use Vocollect Voice and Manhattan Associates' WMS for picking cases and eaches in three temperature zones.
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. Says Brian McCarthy, senior vice president of operations at Nature's Best, "While Nature's Best has almost doubled in size over the past several years, Vocollect Voice has helped us to design and execute a safe, accurate and productive supply chain - the original driver of our deployment decision. 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. 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," McCarthy says.
The success of the Nature's Best deployment is an outgrowth of the strong and long-term product development and value-add reseller relationship Vocollect has had with Manhattan Associates, a Vocollect Total Solution Provider partner, since 2003.
Says Manhattan Associates Executive Vice President - Americas Jeff Mitchell, "Vocollect and Manhattan have a long history of successful implementations with industry leaders like Nature's Best. 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."
"Manhattan Associates and Vocollect enjoy a strong relationship and together have transformed the business performance of more than 60 companies around the world. We are very pleased with the significant business results their customers have attained through their direct integration implementation of Vocollect Voice," says Gary Glessner, vice president - sales, Americas, Vocollect.
About Nature's Best
Nature's Best is the largest privately-owned wholesaler-distributor of natural and organic products in the United States. Founded in 1969, the family-owned company is the only dedicated distributor to the natural products industry today. Headquartered in Brea, CA with distribution centers in Chino, CA and Flower Mound, TX, Nature's Best delivers to retailers throughout the Western, Central and Southern regions of the United States, Hawaii, Alaska and Asia. Nature's Best was the winner of the Supermarket News 2010 Technology Excellence Award and 2011 Sustainability Excellence Award for its LEED Gold Certified distribution centers. Read more at www.naturesbest.net.
About Vocollect
Vocollect, a business unit of Intermec, Inc. (NYSE:IN), is the leading provider of innovative, high-quality voice solutions for mobile workers around the world. Vocollect's market-leading technology, products and services help customers achieve a higher level of business performance through voice. Together with a global team of over 1,700 certified voice professionals, we enable more than 400,000 workers at almost 2,000 companies around the world to distribute US$4 billion in goods every day. Vocollect Voice integrates with all major WMS and ERP systems and supports the industry's leading mobile computing devices. For more information, visit www.vocollect.com. Vocollect® and Vocollect Voice® are registered trademarks of Intermec IP Corp. All rights reserved.
About Intermec
Intermec Inc. (NYSE:IN) develops and integrates products, services and technologies that identify, track and manage supply chain assets and information. Core technologies include rugged mobile computing and data collection systems, voice solutions that improve business performance, bar code printers, label media, and RFID. The company's products and services are used by customers in many industries worldwide to improve the productivity, quality and responsiveness of business operations. For more information about Intermec, visit www.intermec.com or call 800-347-2636.
