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Fox Racing Uses Vocollect Voice to Double Distribution Productivity

Posted on: Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 07:00 CDT

Company reaches 99.99% accuracy, ROI within six months

PITTSBURGH, March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Vocollect, Inc., the world leader in voice solutions for mobile workers, and Fox Racing Inc., a leading apparel manufacturer and distributor for motocross, BMX, wakeboarding, surfing, and mountain biking headquartered in Morgan Hill, Calif., announced today that their recent deployment of HighJump Warehouse Advantage for warehouse management and Vocollect Voice has enabled Fox Racing to double its distribution center productivity, and that it has achieved its projected return on investment in half the expected timeframe.

After selecting HighJump Software and its authorized business partner Vitech Business Group, Inc. to optimize its warehouse management system (WMS), Fox Racing sought out a solution to improve the flexibility, adaptability, speed and accuracy of the order selection process at the company's two distribution centers (DCs). The company found that RF-scanning could not deliver the desired level of productivity gains and pick-to-light couldn't provide the required flexibility.

After settling on voice as the only technology to meet their productivity and accuracy goals, Fox Racing evaluated the various voice provider options available in the marketplace. Fox chose Vocollect because of its proven track record in providing industrial-strength solutions, its financial stability as the global leader in the business of voice, and its certified direct interface with the HighJump WMS solution.

"Vocollect Voice was a natural fit with HighJump's supply chain execution and enterprise methodology," said Keith Batt, president, Vitech Business Group, Inc. "Our combined offering accelerated the payback on voice and achieved dramatic bottom-line results," he said. In just six months:

• Productivity has doubled for Fox's order selectors, with 150 lines selected per hour, up from 70 with its previous paper-based solution. Further, voice has helped the company move from a total of 35 selectors to 18.
• Order accuracy has increased to 99.99%.
• Training time has been reduced from a full day to less than two hours. Order selectors are achieving full productivity by the end of the second day of use.
• Training for Spanish-speaking employees has been simplified through the voice system's multilingual capability.
• Worker satisfaction has significantly increased through shorter work days. Work now finishes by 5:30 p.m., versus the previous 9:00 p.m.
• The hands-free, heads-up aspect of the voice system has resulted in less worker distractions and has reduced the opportunity for work injuries.
• ROI has been achieved in six months - six months earlier than projected.

"We had reached the point where we would be forced to turn business away if something didn't change, and change quickly. We simply didn't have the bandwidth to keep pace with our rapid growth," said Robby Dhesi, director of distribution, Fox Racing Inc. "Vocollect helped us reach a higher level of performance on every goal we set, and now we should be able to achieve our growth objectives across North America and internationally."

"Based on our initial success in using Vocollect Voice in our picking operation, we have now applied it to the tasks of replenishment, put-away and cycle-counting. We're excited about the potential to find even more ways to leverage our Vocollect investment to drive bottom-line results and gain competitive advantage," Dhesi said.

About Fox Racing Inc.

Fox Racing Inc. makes top quality clothing and apparel. Founded in 1974 by Geoff Fox in Campbell, Calif., Fox Racing started as a small business distributing European motocross bikes. After two years, Moto-X Fox, as it was originally known, was making high-performance suspension and engine components for racers. Geoff Fox started a racing team to showcase his products and after fans saw the bright gear his riders wore, they began calling him to get them. By 1980 Fox had reshaped his company to be a part of the United States Motocross apparel industry. In later years Fox started to make BMX gear and sell products in New Zealand. Today, the company is still a family-owned business with all four of Fox's children working full-time for the company. They now offer apparel for BMX, Wakeboarding, Surfing, and Mountain biking. According to the company, the Fox Head logo is one of the most recognized alternative sports brands. The company also offers a line of casual wear that includes t-shirts, shorts, hats, jeans, sweaters, sweatshirts, backpacks and jackets in both men's and women's sizes. www.foxhead.com.

About HighJump Software Inc.

Forward-thinking companies entrust HighJump Software to power their supply chains. HighJump Software simplifies the art and business of creating, selling and moving products across global networks. HighJump Software, a Total Solution Provider for Vocollect, helps more than 1,500 customers worldwide drive growth and manage change. www.highjumpsoftware.com.

About Vitech Business Group, Inc.

At Vitech, our knowledge, experience and passion enable our customers to achieve new levels of supply chain performance. We are focused on providing our customers comprehensive solutions that solve their supply chain challenges and enable their operation to perform to its full potential. Vitech forms strategic partnerships with the industry's leading software, hardware and service providers to deliver complete supply chain solutions. Commitment to our customers' success ensures they achieve the highest investment-to-return ratio in the industry. To learn more about Vitech, a Total Solution Provider for Vocollect, visit www.vitechgroup.com.

About Vocollect

Vocollect, Inc. is the number one provider of voice solutions for mobile workers worldwide, helping customers achieve a higher level of business performance through voice. Every day Vocollect enables over 250,000 workers worldwide to distribute more than $2 billion dollars' worth of goods from distribution centers and warehouses to customer locations. A global team of over 2,000 supply chain reseller and channel partner experts supports Vocollect Voice offerings in 55 countries and in 26 languages. Vocollect Voice integrates with all major WMS and ERP systems, including SAP, and supports a number of third-party mobile computing solutions. For more information, visit www.vocollect.com.

SOURCE Vocollect, Inc.

Source: PR Newswire

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