Nature's Best Improves Its Supply Chain with Dual Installation of Vocollect's Voice Solution

Natures Best, the largest privately owned wholesaler/retailer in the natural products industry, is on its way to creating a tremendously healthy and efficient product management operation in its warehouse, thanks to the installation of Vocollects voice-directed distribution system at its 343,000 square-foot facility in Brea, Calif. The company is successfully using Vocollects Talkman® system for its piece and case picking operations, is currently extending voice to its line loading (building pallets for shipment) activities, and will be using voice to manage put-away.

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NATURES BEST IMPROVES ITS SUPPLY CHAIN WITH A DUAL IMPLEMENTATION OF VOCOLLECTS VOICE SOLUTION
Company Improves Customer Service, Achieves Real-Time Visibility by Using Combination of Voice Applications to Create A Total Warehouse Solution

PITTSBURGH PA (PRWEB)-- October 23, 2003 -- Natures Best, the largest privately owned wholesaler/ retailer in the natural products industry, is on its way to creating a tremendously healthy and efficient product management operation in its warehouse, thanks to the installation of Vocollects voice-directed distribution system at its 343,000 square-foot facility in Brea, Calif. The company is successfully using Vocollects Talkman® system for its piece and case picking operations, is currently extending voice to its line loading (building pallets for shipment) activities, and will be using voice to manage
put-away in the warehouse within the next three months, according to Jerry Johnston, vice president of operations for Natures Best.

Our company is totally focused on customer service," said Johnston. We saw the potential for voice in our warehouse to significantly improve customer service by improving accuracy throughout the entire order filling and inventory process. Our goal is to get the right order to the right customer every single day without error. As we expand voice to other applications, closing the loop and further integrating it within our mechanized warehouse, I believe that level of achievement is realistic. Voice has really elevated our own expectations of what is possible."

Vocollects voice-directed distribution system is built on its leading high-performance industrial speech recognition technology and the built-for-purpose Talkman wearable voice terminal running industry standard Microsoft® Windows® CE and 802.11b WLAN technologies. It provides Natures Best with real-time visibility into the entire warehouse, as products are picked from slots to totes, pallets or belts. The selected case or tote is labeled with a barcode, and sent along a mechanized sortation system, which scans the barcode, sending the tote or case to the appropriate spur lane. There, Vocollects line-loading system directs warehouse workers to place items on the appropriate shipping pallet, and validates that the correct items have been selected for each pallet.

The companys California campus, which includes dry goods, frozen and perishable items, runs three shifts, six days a week and will soon have nearly 100 Talkman mobile terminals in use. The warehouse carries 19,000 SKUs and ships some 35,000 to 40,000 cases each night to 1,200 customers in 11 western states plus Hawaii, Alaska and the Philippines.

In addition to the ease of use, Johnston noted that the integration of the Talkman product into its existing warehouse management system (WMS) was seamless. Talkman is so elegantly programmed and installed so easily with our own system, our IT people love it. Vocollect removed all the usual hurdles that new technology often brings, because their products interfaced so well with the system we already had in place." Johnston added that installation was easy and worker training was even easier, noting that his workers took to the technology very quickly.

The collaboration with Natures Best has been especially productive because of the comprehensive approach theyve taken to applying our system across their entire warehouse," said Jack LeVan, president and CEO of Vocollect. By applying voice to several core applications, they are multiplying their benefits across their entire distribution center -- ultimately streamlining operations, reducing costs and facilitating better real-time tracking of inventory. Its been great to support their highly aggressive approach to improving every part of their operation. No wonder theyre a leader in their industry."

About Natures Best
Founded in 1969, Nature's Best is the Natural Product Industrys largest privately owned wholesaler/ distributor, distributing over 19,000 products to more than 1,200 customers in 11 western states plus Hawaii, Alaska and the Philippines. Product categories include refrigerated, frozen, grocery, private label, nutritional supplements, personal care, bulk/ institutional and non-food products. The company serves a wide variety of retail formats including independent natural/ health food stores, natural product superstores, conventional supermarkets and drug stores.

About Vocollect
With more than 50,000 users at hundreds of companies and locations throughout North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, Vocollect has pioneered and deployed more integrated voice-distribution warehouse systems than any other company. Together, its market-leading Talkman wearable computing terminal and integrated software suite, cut operating costs through eliminating errors and improving worker productivity shift after shift. The company collaborates with the premier global network of systems integrators and leading WMS providers to serve warehousing customers in the grocery wholesale and retail, general and mass merchandise, foodservice, convenience store, beverage, health and beauty, third-party logistics and medical/pharmaceutical industries. A fast-growing, privately held company of about 150 employees, Vocollect is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pa., with support staff throughout North America, and European operations based in its offices in the U.K. For additional information, call Vocollect at 412-829-8145 or visit www.vocollect.com

Vocollect and Talkman are registered trademarks of Vocollect, Inc.

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CONTACT: Mary Ann Miller, APR
                   Desbrow & Associates
          412/471-5700, Ext. 109
          mamiller@desbrow.com