Videogame lets players test their picking chops

Experts around the warehousing industry have spent entire careers in an effort to create the optimal paths for workers to retrieve inventory items from racks. Finding the most efficient route can save time and money for any operation.

Now, two technology companies have created a fun way to test your skills at this eternal challenge. Scottsdale, Ariz.-based JDA Software Group Inc. and Tokyo-based Sato Holdings Corp. have teamed up to develop an online arcade-style videogame that lets players try their hand at creating the most efficient path through a DC. The venture builds on the firms' 2017 partnership to provide support to customers seeking to integrate JDA's warehouse software platforms with Sato's "Visual Warehouse" wearable warehouse navigation system.

Dubbed Pick-Man in homage to the classic arcade game Pac-Man, the game challenges players to beat the automated system. Players impersonate a warehouse picker who's scrambling to pick all the boxes in the building faster than the competition—in this case, other players and a "boss picker" using Sato's technology. JDA's labor management dashboard highlights each player's performance against the best pickers worldwide.

Gamer fans may recall that this is not the first time a logistics technology company has used a videogame to show off its software's capabilities. In 2017, the fleet management solutions company Omnitracs LLC launched an online game that challenged players to race against time and fuel limits to find the most efficient route to deliver packages across a digital city.