The proverb that “a picture is worth a thousand words” refers to the idea that complex stories can be described with just a single still image. This proverb is thought to be attributed to the ancient Chinese thinker and social philosopher Confucius.
It is therefore a mystery that this simple concept has never been applied to industrial applications such as warehousing and distribution operations which have traditionally provided text-based or aural instructions to workers at the floor level.
As the first generation of humanity raised on visual technologies (PCs, tablets and smartphones,...) enters the workforce, the ability to attract, retain and motivate associates will be increasingly contingent upon companies thinking differently about how operators interact with industrial technologies, particularly in distribution environments where operating schedules and work effort requirements already present human resource challenges.
Today, a new era of visual technology is generating excitement in the software market for warehouse management systems (WMS). Tecsys, a market-leading provider of logistics software applications, has spent two years developing a breakthrough technology called Visual Logistics® which provides a completely new approach to how operators perform warehousing work.
For the first time in the history of distribution operations, visual images and instructions are presented to operators via radio frequency handheld units. Visual information can be associated to literally any functional work task or warehouse entity to help operators perform their work as accurately and productively as possible.