IKEA Expands Use of Wearables in Its DCs

Following a successful pilot project, IKEA Germany has expanded its use of ProGlove wearables. 

An extremely high employee satisfaction was the decisive factor for IKEA. All test employees opted in favor of ProGlove, which facilitates their workflows ergonomically. In addition, the average total scan time was reduced cut in half. IKEA mainly uses ProGlove at its central warehouse, where the overall scanning time is often considerable. All picking applications —whether in the growing e-commerce and retail sales space or in the supply of the furniture stores — are improved with the help of solution in terms of efficiency and ergonomics.

"With ProGlove we were able to reduce the average scan time in the central warehouse from 7.0 seconds to 3.5 seconds," said Hakan Solmaz, distribution center manager, IKEA. "That alone was a good argument, of course. Yet it was more important to us that the feedback from our employees was positive with no exception. Ultimately, every employee has acknowledged the relief that ProGlove represents. In addition, ProGlove is a plug-and-play product, so that the deployment comes with no hassle."

The most obvious benefit of ProGlove's industrial wearables is that users have their hands free. The detachable barcode scanners are connected to a special glove or cuff and then worn on the back of the hand of the user. Unlike conventional pistol scanners, users do not have to search for or awkwardly connect to a ceiling mount.

At 40 grams, the devices are light weight and small. They also make a significant contribution to increasing the overall picking quality. Because employees receive a direct visual, acoustic and haptic feedback and notice errors such as an incorrectly scanned article immediately.