Introduction
Italmark has enhanced its storage and replenishment processes by expanding its voice system and replacing Windows CE vehicle-mounted devices with Android mobile computers. This upgrade has improved data quality, ergonomics, and productivity.
Italmark S.r.l.
Italmark, a key player in Lombardy’s organized retail sector, was founded in Brescia and has since expanded into the provinces of Cremona, Mantua, Bergamo, Milan, Como, Monza Brianza, Pavia, and Varese. Today, it directly manages around one hundred supermarkets under the Italmark and Family Market brands.
Italmark stands out for its deep connection to local communities and traditions, promoting the agri-food sector to preserve cultural heritage while adapting to evolving consumer needs—seamlessly blending tradition and innovation.
Customer
Objectives
Migration of the operating system (from Windows to Android)
Improvement in quality
Correct sequence of operations
Achieved Results
Considerable error reduction
Increased flexibility
System open to further developments
The challenge
Redefining processes to achieve maximum quality
As part of the renewal of its fleet of vehicle-mounted terminals for storage and replenishment operations, Italmark recognized the need to move away from the outdated Windows CE operating system and implement the same processes using voice technology.
This initiative comes in response to increasing logistical pressures in the retail sector, where goods must flow quickly and without errors.
To ensure the highest quality, Italmark sought to secure its processes from the very first stages, aligning operational execution with IT systems. With voice technology, operators are guided step by step through their tasks, receive constant feedback from the system, and cannot digitally record operations until they have been physically completed.
Given the need to revise storage and replenishment processes to adapt to new technology—along with the rapid market shift from Windows to Android—Italmark took the opportunity to introduce a next-generation voice solution in its warehouses: VOCALIZE.
The solution
VOCALIZE, a native Android solution
KFI and Italmark have interpreted their mission in the name of flexibility. Besides the already-known benefits which occur when introducing voice to processes, alongside a greater focus on safety and objectives and improved ergonomics thanks to working eyes-and-hands free, forklift drivers were also released from their machines by replacing the devices fixed to the forklifts with Zebra TC52 mobile devices.
The possibility of exploiting voice, the most natural form of communication, combined with the flexibility introduced by the new Android palmtops, now allows for an additional 40 resources to interact with the information system in a perfectly integrated manner whilst performing their tasks.
Furthermore, the new Zebra laptops, on the one hand, allow you to record the movements of the goods comfortably from the forklift using the latest long-range optics; on the other, by hosting the native Android Vocalize client, they increase the mobility of warehouse workers, enabling them to carry out – in real-time and without any productivity losses – all activities that require moving away from the vehicle.
“The project had a great impact on the process, but the effort made was amply rewarded. In fact, the ease of use and usability of the system by new operators are disarming. Once the first forklift driver started up, we had another 12 ready to take advantage of the new voice solution as early as the next day. Vocalize indeed has the great advantage of being able to be used immediately, without long periods of training or cumbersome vocal training”, declares Giorgio Roncati, the IS Manager of Italmark and responsible for the project.
VOCALIZE:
KFI’s Voice Technology
VOCALIZE enables workers to become fully operational with just a few instructions.
By supporting the simultaneous management of multiple tasks, it eliminates downtime and manual interactions, positively impacting operational costs.
The results
Higher quality and openness to new processes
According to Roncati, “The new process has made it possible to see major benefits in terms of data quality. Previously, operators could simulate operations by decoupling the IT component from the operational one to speed up activities. For example, through vehicular devices and barcode readers, they digitized in advance operations that would only be carried out concretely later. The speech process, on the other hand, forces them to report feedback in real-time and includes a series of controls that prevent errors. All this makes activities easier and increases ergonomics”.
Affrontare il cambiamento nelle aree manifatturiera e logistica è stata una sfida ma, riconoscendo che la gestione delle opportunità offerte dalla trasformazione digitale richieda abilità e governance, gli utenti hanno abbracciato la nuova filosofia tecnologica con entusiasmo. Questi progressi hanno permesso a La Doria di avanzare verso l’Industria 5.0, unendo in modo armonioso soluzioni tecniche avanzate e competenze umane.
Il successo di questo progetto è stato determinato dunque non solo dalla corretta selezione delle soluzioni software e hardware di supporto ai processi, ma soprattutto dalla loro integrazione sinergica. KFI ha svolto un ruolo chiave come fornitore di tecnologie, ma soprattutto come guida nell’introduzione di tali soluzioni nei processi aziendali.
As such, Italmark has noted a significant decrease in errors without affecting the process’s productivity, all whilst drastically reducing equipment-related drawbacks.
“Replacing a vehicle involves a very long technical intervention, often not executable immediately. In fact, it is unthinkable to set aside 4 or 5 devices as a reserve. Having a client app on a certified mobile device like the TC52 instead opens up completely different scenarios. In this case, preparing a back-up is much more convenient because the same device is used in other processes, and this optimizes the cost/benefit of the back-up”,
concludes Roncati.
