'We use voice picking versus looking at a piece of paper, which is not nearly as efficient,' he said.

Another inventory innovation provides four cameras on a main conveyor belt, which scans cases that are loaded onto trucks and stores the video digitally. 'If a case of liquor is missing on a truck, we know it was this item number,' Witty said. 'It helps with order accuracy, and so we ship right and don't have to reship.' That video data is transmitted through cables, not wireless, however.

Symbol 7900 devices are also mounted on forklifts and connected wirelessly to a warehouse management system, which helps to ensure that pallets of cases are stored in the correct location, he said.

In all, there are about 130 wireless endpoints at the facility, including 60 Wi-Fi voice phones, working through 24 access points, Witty said. He estimated the warehouse can process 10,000 cases of liquor per hour.

So far, Southern is not using radio frequency identification technology in its warehouses or elsewhere to track products. 'Southern wine is intrigued by RFID, but suppliers aren't pushing it, nor are our customers,' Witty said. 'People have been talking about RFID for three years, but it's not here yet.'