Couche-Tard operates more than 2,000 convenience stores in Canada, primarily under the Couche-Tard® and Mac’s® brands. The company also operates thousands of stores under the Circle K brand in the US, Europe, and other parts of the world. Couche-Tard’s 650 stores in Quebec are served by a single distribution centre located in Laval. It houses more than 3,000 SKUs of perishable and non-perishable products and provides three scheduled deliveries to each store every two weeks.
Products
Speakeasy
Traditional voice applications found a home in warehouse picking, but cost and implementation efforts hobbled the productivity benefits. With Speakeasy, companies can add voice to the applications they already have—such as terminal emulation or web apps.
Terminal Emulation
Mobile enablement of host applications helps move a business forward. More businesses run Ivanti Terminal Emulation™ on mobile devices than any other telnet client. It’s a proven platform to connect mobile workers with host systems and leverages mobile device technology.
Seizing the opportunity with both hands
The distribution centre in Laval always looks for innovative ways to shave even a few seconds off each pick. Introducing wearable technology was a significant step forward. It not only introduced efficiencies that allowed the company to reduce costs, it also freed pickers from carrying clipboards and label-guns around the warehouse as they worked.
Benefits to Couche-Tard
22% uplift in picking speed
Couche-Tard replaced its clipboard-and-label-gun-based warehouse processes with a solution based on wearable mobile computers from Zebra.
Annual savings of $36,000 on paper alone
Eliminating the use of labels saved $36,000 per year, and the company has reduced its impact on the environment as well.
Voice picking that works
Ivanti Speakeasy (powered by Wavelink) simply sits on top of Couche-Tard’s existing platform and runs entirely on wearable devices.
Look, Ma. Hands free!
Speakeasy converts the text from the existing interface into speech, so pickers don’t need to look at their screen for the next instruction.
Enthusiastic user adoption
One of the company’s best pickers (135 picks per hour), improved to 160 picks per hour with Ivanti Speakeasy (by Wavelink).
Flexibility of Use
The solution doesn’t force pickers to use it. For example, the team’s hearing-impaired workers can still use the text interface on their wearable devices.
Seemingly endless possibilities
Couche-Tard is considering expanding the use of Speakeasy so other distribution teams, such as receiving and put-away processes, could be benefit from it.
Achieving a 99.82% pick accuracy rate
The significant boost in picking speed has not had any negative impact on service quality. Couche-Tard has witnessed an accuracy rate of 99.82% in its picking processes, which translates into accurate deliveries to each store.
Efficient distribution centre operations
Logistics speed and accuracy