Overview of Order Picking in a warehouse
Order picking is usually the most demanding process of a warehouse management system. Of the transactions involved in distribution and fulfillment, outbound transactions are mostly greater and labour intensive than inbound ones. Therefore the outbound transactions require a larger portion of the total labour budget for the warehouse. Also related to order picking process is customer satisfaction which increases the importance of this area. The speed and accuracy of processing order is an extremely important part of business.
The order picking process can be achieved by different methods
To determine the best order picking method for your company should be based on the number of transactions, the number of picks for each order, quantity of items for each pick, number of orders, product being handled, number of SKUs, number of picks for each SKU. And other factors as well, such as, private labeling, and whether you are picking pieces, cases, or pallets. Often, all picking methods may be required to deal with a wide variety of orders and products.
To measure productivity, you must rely on the order pick rate. Piece pick operations usually measure the pick rate in terms of line items picked per hour while case pick operations will probably measure in cases per hour and line items per hour. When concerning pallet pick operations it is actually best to look at the number of total pallets processed per hour. Because the amount of time spent physically removing the actual product from a location is usually fixed without regard to the picking method used, productivity gains can be found by reducing the time spent on travel. Another aspect of time which must be monitored for an efficient operation is cycle time.
Accuracy is the most important objective regardless of your operation. All decisions that you make in setting up your warehouse operation will have an impact on accuracy. The numbering scheme for the products, the label design for the products, the packaging of the products will all have an impact. In addition, the design of the picking documents, the location numbering, storage equipment, warehouse lighting, and the picking method you choose will also have an impact on accuracy. There are several technologies that help improve picking accuracy. Some of them include counting scales, pick-to-light systems, and bar code scanning. Besides designing an efficient order picking operation, other important factors for accuracy include accuracy tracking, employee training and employee accountability.
Tags: order picking, system, warehouse management, wms