This case history about Alaska Distributors, comes courtesy of SeayCo Integrators Inc. It has been selected and edited by the MHM editorial staff for clarity, content and style.



Alaska Distributors, a wholesale distributor and broker of wine, beer, spirits and non-alcoholic beverages across Alaska and the Northwest, recently had pick-to-voice technology installed at its new warehouse in Kent, Wash.

The new Alaska facility is a 434,000-sq.-ft. building at Pacific

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Gateway Business Park in Kent. The building includes more than 50,000 sq. ft. of office space, parking for more than 400 vehicles and 150 trucks, and has nearly double the warehouse space of the original south Seattle Alaska Distributors’ location.

The pick-to-voice technology implementation team was managed by facility planner, Pinnacle Consulting Group (Snohomish, Wash.) and included system integrators SeayCo Integrators Inc. (Atlanta), and Conveyco Technologies (Bristol, Conn.).

Frank Coleman Jr., president of Pinnacle, says the new warehouse and material handling system at Alaska Distributors is “the best order selection system Pinnacle has managed.”

The system uses Load-IT, SeayCo’s warehouse control system that interfaces with Alaska’s Priya host warehouse management system. SeayCo also integrated pick engine hardware with its own pick-to-voice software system, Say-IT, using Vocollect hardware.

Voice-recognition technology is coupled with hands-free ring scanners to increase the picking rate. Following extensive testing, the system went live and by the second day, Alaska was seeing an increase in its pick rate time. According to the company, "The voice pick is awesome."

MHMonline.com welcomes relevant, exclusive case histories that explain in specific detail the business benefits that new software and material-handling equipment has provided to specific users. Send submissions to Lisa Kempfer (lkempfer@mhmonline.com), MHM managing editor. All submissions will be edited for clarity, content and style.