Intelligent Pick & Pack for improved Order Fulfillment!!

A lot more goes into successful Order Fulfillment than shelves of neatly stacked products. There is an art and science to pick & pack methods. A good Warehouse Management System which optimizes the Pick path will help you ship orders with maximum speed and accuracy.

The basic pick & pack process consists of 4 major steps :

1. Order Receiving - Your eCommerce sales channels are integrated with your Warehouse Management System (WMS). When one of your customers places an order, the WMS at the fulfillment centre generates the picking list. Please note it is important for all the sales channel to have " a single view of inventory" for lesser unfulfilled orders and a great consumer experience.
2. Order Picking - The WMS generates the pick-list and the picker picks the item for the respective orders from the warehouse shelves. Your inventory storage strategy and the pick & pack process are key to your warehouse operations' efficiency. Tools like "Assure" optimizes the pick path and ensures that the pickers always travel in a straight line and hence improving the overall efficiency of the warehouse operations.
3. Order Packing - The order goes into the packing station, where it is packed securely, sealed, and labelled for shipping.
4. Order Shipping - Orders are sorted by carrier on the loading dock and are picked by the respective carriers either in multiple shifts or during the end of the day.

Shipping your orders may seem simple. However, there is actually a complex science behind efficient pick & pack methods.

Pictorial Representation of various Picking & Packing methods and the benefits of Chaotic Inventory Management

• Benefits of Wave Picking - a) Reduced travel time for Order Picking b) Less Prone to errors c) Less Complex
• Chaotic Inventory Management - In Chaotic Inventory management systems, you place your products randomly on the shelves. A product may or may not be next to a similar product. Some of the benefits are mentioned below : a) Better Space Utilization b) Fewer Picking Errors c) Faster Racking & Slotting d) Warehouse Optimization e) Increased Flexibility.
• Chaotic Inventory Management also requires robust systems like that of "Assure" which has the capabilities to uniquely serialize each item in the warehouse and map each item with multiple identifiable data points like Bin ID, SKU Id, Location Id etc.