EXPERT WAREHOUSE ORDER-PICKING STRATEGIES AND BEST PRACTICES:

#.Importance of Improving Order Picking in the Warehouse:

Smart businesses look to improve order picking for a good reason it’s the most labor-intensive and expensive activity in the warehouse, typically accounting for more than half of warehouse operating costs (50%).

Improvements in order picking help businesses get the right products to customers faster, and spend less money on the associated steps. Warehouse order selectors typically take a pick list and travel to different spots in the warehouse to get the items, search for them on the warehouse shelves, extract them and match paperwork to ensure order accuracy before shipping.

#.Warehouse Order Picking Tips & Best Practices to Adopt:

#.Warehouse Design Tips for Order Picking:

Order picking excellence starts by choosing the right warehouse design and flow for your business processes strategy.

Choose a warehouse type and flow. Warehouses are usually designed to move goods in one of the layouts below (or some combination of them).

• U-shaped flow positions the receiving and dispatch docks at the same side of the building, and products move in a U-shaped manner from receiving to dispatch. This design offers shared docking space and is typically best for small buildings.
• I-shaped flow put receiving on one end and dispatch at another end of the building so all goods move in a single direction. An I-shaped flow is good for high-volume businesses, as well as those that need strong security control over goods entering and leaving the warehouse.
• L-shaped warehouse flow has inbound unloading on one end and outbound shipping at a perpendicular angle to that area. This can make cross-docking when items are taken off one truck and immediately loaded onto another easier.

#.Warehouse Order Picking Methods:

• Operations with low order volume or that sell high-end or heavy products should look to discrete, individual order pick, piece picking or picker-to-part. This is the most straightforward order picking method.
• For organizations that need to pick and pack multi-item orders quickly and have a high number of SKUs and picks per order, wave picking is a good choice. Picking is conducted in scheduled waves, and all zones are picked at the same time.
• To increase picking efficiency, the workers can pick in batches where they pick for multiple order such as like items or items located in similar areas — in one trip.
• For large warehouses with many SKUs, zone picking is often advantageous. Batch picking may incorporate the zone picking method, in which a selector is charged with looking after a certain area in the warehouse, getting all the items for their zone and then passing the order on.
• Innovative businesses are trying good-to-person setups and sorting systems to increase the efficiency of the picking process.The warehouse selector stays in one place, and the products are brought to the selector by a conveyer, a robotic device or some other automated technology.
• Another way to reduce travel time is pick-to-box. Pick-to-box integrates more automation into batch picking. Picking areas may be organized into picking stations, each connected by a conveyor belt.

#.Warehouse Order Picking Equipment and Technology:

Another key aspect of warehouse management is technology that supports the optimal strategy for the facility and the nature of the business.

• Align technology with the number of SKUs and volume.Look at the number of lines being processed per day versus the number of products. In general, the higher the number of SKUs and number of lines, the greater the need for automation.
• Start by implementing a warehouse management system (WMS) :Even the simplest warehouse operations need some form of a warehouse management system. Look for basic order picking functionality to store and track SKUs and item location and automate the creation of pick lists from customer orders.
• Integrate some form of mobile picking technology:From the basic mobile RF scanners, to technologies that direct picks by illuminating buttons on the shelves in a pick path (pick-to-light) or guide a headset-clad selector by voice (pick-to-voice), there are many mobile technologies that are essential to accurate order picking.
• Make sure the WMS is integrated with the ERP system :Tracking movement and goods in the warehouse provides a wealth of valuable data for other departments, such as purchasing or customer service.
• Select the right materials handling system and adjust the systems as SKUs and volume increase:An increase in the number of SKUs requires much more logistics in the warehouse. With low SKUs and low volume, a simple materials handling system like forklifts may do, but as volume and complexity increase, the business will need more mechanization.
• Consider advances in equipment to enable narrow aisle configuration:Optimizing the available space in the warehouse provides advantages beyond storage it can also help reduce travel time in the order pick process. Conventional warehouse aisles are 12-14 feet wide.Narrow aisles are typically 8-10 feet, but can be as little as six feet. Combining the right technologies and equipment, warehouses can achieve order picking gains with narrower aisles.
• Maximize warehouse space by using the right equipment:Lift truck technology is constantly improving, and there are trucks capable of getting through narrow aisles and into tight spaces, such as the articulated forklift.
• Implement conveyer technology:There are dozens of types of conveyer technology that can be used for more efficient picking, as well as the ergonomic health of the employees doing the work.
• Look at advancements in sorting technologies:Combined with conveyers, sorting technologies provide an accuracy and efficiency boost producing shorter lead times and more accuracy.
• Find out what storage is right for the business and don’t overlook the benefits of automated technologies:A carousel, for instance, automates picking by means of a shelving unit that rotates along a track to bring the items to the picker. They can be configured to the picking method chosen by the business.
• Understand all the automated picking technology options available:Some companies have a lot of success with pick-to-light or pick-to-voice equipment. With pick-to-light, pickers scan an order barcode and the item’s quantity and location lights up. Pick-to-voice guides the picker and provides confirmation through a headset.
• Explore the potential of picker robots:Picker robots can actually do the picking, with the ability to reach high shelves and fetch items to pack, while also equipped with sensors that keep them from bumping into people or shelves.
• Get to know co-bots:Co-bots can be useful to deploy for tasks that have some repetition, but also require some level of human intervention. The co-bot can put together the box, for example, or retrieve items with predictable shape or weight such as a shoebox.

#.Warehouse Order Picking Best Practices and Strategies:

The warehouse design, order picking methods and technologies will help determine which of the strategies below make the most sense to implement to improve your order picking processes.

• Ask the people who work in the warehouse where the bottlenecks are. Don’t forget the many people who often support your processes, including office administrators, equipment operators and others.
• Don’t base order picking targets on averages. Seasonality and economic trends will greatly affect how inventory moves in and out of the warehouse. Look at the peaks and troughs, apply statistics and use algorithms to determine reasonable goals.
• Track picker productivity. Knowing productivity levels enables the warehouse manager to design shifts according to how the work can best be split up. Look at the average picks per person-hour, as well as the inverse, average person-hours per pick.
• Measure and improve total order cycle time or internal order cycle time. Order picking is a big part of the calculation of the total time it takes to process an order. Tracking this number provides a measure of picking efficiency.
• Look at inventory count accuracy by location and pick location faults (such as stockouts/backorders). This indicates there isn’t a sufficient quantity at the designated location.
• Measure fill rate (by line and orders) to compare items shipped that day to total items ordered that day. Fill rate is a good way to make sure warehouse operations are meeting customer demand and is typically calculated daily.
• Measure order picking accuracy. Order picking accuracy is number three on the most important benchmarks for warehouses in 2020’s DC Measures benchmarking report .A low order picking accuracy points to a need for more efficient processes, better control standards, more in-depth training and more.
• Don’t forget KPIs that measure employee productivity. These include dispatched lines picked per hour, dispatched lines per direct hours, dispatched lines per total distribution center (DC) hours, annual total DC hours/total DC cost and DC cost per total labor used.
• Select no more than six benchmarks, targeting metrics that will help manage the warehouse more efficiently and compare the efficiency of multiple facilities.
• Review your warehouse space every when you conduct your physical count. A fast-moving consumer goods warehouse will need to be updated at least every five years, as product ranges and consumer appetites and larger economic forces all change.
• Practice cycle counting to eliminate SKU complexity and waste.
• Techniques like ABC inventory analysis (of which there are different types) allow businesses to rank and organize SKUs and remove or move products that are clogging up their operations.
• Look beyond ranking SKUs only by dollar volume, but also how each SKU consumes resources like labor and space. Rank SKUs by the number of times they were picked during a certain interval, profitability, or difficulty in manufacturing, for example.
• Implement some lean principles. Conduct regular Gemba walks spending time watching warehouse processes and really understanding how they’re completed to identify inefficiencies in the facility.