Voice activation, the topmost addition to the customer preferences, makes food and beverages industry more innovative, efficient, and futuristic. 

FREMONT, CA: Technology has become the new pet word in the context of food. Over the years, technological advancements have changed how food is produced through applications, robotics, data, nanotechnology and other processing techniques. Reports show that technology helps food manufacturers produce more efficiently for the growing population. Apart from the demand for food, the food and beverage sector has razor-thin margins and complexities involved in it, and there is no room for errors, delays, and shorts when consumers are most concerned. For customers, production and distribution operation must deliver outstanding service levels, despite any conditions.

The industry is continually evolving, especially from the standpoint of customer demand, warehousing, and technology. As evolution is so frequent, it is becoming more difficult to manage operations and keep track of the changes. To tackle this challenge, forward-thinking food and beverages firms are leveraging voice intelligence in their supply chain operations to make it more agile. The use of voice technology in the industry is on the rising. Purchases made through voice activation devices are projected to increase, with groceries accounting for the most significant portion. It can never be a surprise that voice activation is impacting food supply chain logistics and the way warehouses are operating. Using voice technology can reduce costs and increase productivity for the companies.

For supply chain operations, voice technology is used extensively for voice picking. By using it, warehouse operators can work hands-free and eyes-free because the operator is receiving voice commands from the warehouse management system. It can increase productivity, accuracy while decreasing training time and employee turnover. In voice picking warehouse operator is directed to a particular location and after picking the food item by reading the code on them, and then the warehouse management system confirms if the selected item is correct. This process is more efficient when compared to traditional paper picking system where operations are done manually to keep track of food orders and inventory. The hand's free nature of voice activation is increasing throughput. Implementing voice picking can tremendously benefit to the operational efficiency of food and beverages companies.

Voice technology has evolved to transform warehouse operating efficiencies in areas other than product picking. Voice recognition software is managing functions including selection, put-to-store, transfers, line loading, back stocking, and inventory control too. This is eliminating the need for a stand along with inventory audit function. The combination of barcode and voice is one of the recent technology advancement used in food and beverages industry. With this, customers can scan their food items using voice applications. Developments are taking place in the speaker-independent speech recognition engine that allows recognizing people's voices without the need for voice training. This can significantly reduce training time and ensures that voice users are satisfied with the service provided. The combination of voice and scanning also is playing an essential role in improving product traceability. Food manufacturers can improve supply chain efficiency with voice and scan verification. This is becoming vital as food and modernization act is demanding new urgency to scanning and picking technologies. Fulfilling this need voice technology is providing food manufacturers with a record to track and trace order.

Voice technology, paired with augmented reality is one recent advancement that is greatly benefitting food and beverages companies, especially for the supply chain management. In this, users are wearing smart glasses that provide information to their field of vision, and the users can simply give voice commands to scan the food product's bar code or capture an image they want. This process increases productivity and accuracy. Augmented reality offers real-time object recognition, indoor navigation, and information with warehouse management service.

As with any emerging technologies, they are making voice ordering available is of primary importance for food manufacturers. While developing such a system online and mobile orders are an option for firms. Allowing customers to place orders and pay without the need to touch the screen are providing exceptional customer experience, which is easy and convenient for them. This voice ordering is creating an additional revenue stream and aligning with the change towards food demand model. Major players in the industry are already offering voice ordering, and the technology is yet to see widespread implementation. It has become a competitive weapon to surpass customer expectations with an ability to provide customer loyalty and profitability. It is a vital opportunity for food and beverages firms who are looking to stay at the forefront of adopting technological innovations.

As demand and pressure continue to rise in the food and beverages industry, innovations in technology offer opportunities to reduce the burdensome cost and inefficiencies. The sector is harnessing voice technology in such an effort to focus internally to improve supply chain operations, costs, and efficiencies. As discussed in detail above, there are so many benefits to using voice technology in the food and beverages industry. With all these, it can be said undoubtedly, that voice technology is the future of the food manufacturing industry and those who jump on the bus soon can reap maximum benefits.