A Method to Your Madness: Choosing the Right Picking Style
Order picking should grab the most of your attention when it comes to warehouse processes. To have more outbound transactions then inbound transactions is simply the nature of the distribution beast. Plus one can not forget that the labor attributed to outbound dealings tends to be a large factor in the total warehouse budget for labor. In the food industry, it has become essential for your company to possess the ability to swiftly and precisely process customer orders. Since the very methods for how order picking is carried out differ to a great extent, choosing the best picking method for your business depends on the type of operation you have. The distinctiveness of the products being handled, total figure of transactions, picks per order, total amount of orders, and so on all must be taken into account when analyzing the right method for your warehouse. Many times businesses don't realize that they could be saving money, instead of throwing money away, by switching to a more efficient picking method or combining different picking methods to create a custom order picking process.
Piece picking is a very common picking operation seen in the food industry. Also referred to as broken case picking, it describes a system where individual products are picked. Piece pick operations are inclined to have a large SKU base, smaller amounts of items per pick, and shorter cycle times. The most common forms of order picking seen here are:
� Basic Order Picking - This is when the product is stored in fixed locations and an order picker dutifully picks one order at a time following a route up and down each aisle until the order is filled. Fast moving products should always be stored close to the main cross aisle and larger bulkier products should be stored towards the end of the pick route. If your operation experiences small total numbers of orders and high number of picks per order then this style often works very well. However if you're your operation deals with low picks per order then pickers will find the travel time excessive in this type of picking. And if your operation experiences large quantities of orders you will find that the congestion from many pickers in the same area slows down the order processing.
� Batch picking / Multi-order picking -In batch picking, multiple orders are grouped together into small batches. An order picker will pick all orders within the "batch" in one pass following a consolidated pick list. Batch sizes generally run from 4 to 12 orders per batch depending on the average picks per order in that specific operation. In very busy operations, batch picking is used most often combined with zone picking and automated material handling equipment. Operations that experience low picks per order greatly reduce picker travel time w/ this system by allowing the picker to make multiple picks while in the one area.
� Zone Picking - In zone picking, the picking area is broken up into smaller individual pick zones. In fact an easier way to describe zone picking is the order picking version of the assembly line. Order pickers are each designated a specific zone and pick items only within that specific zone. Also known as "pick-and-pass" orders are then transferred from one zone to another as the picking from the previous zone is finished. Generally, zones are sized to allow enough room for the picks of one or two order pickers. Zone picking extremely effective in warehouse that deal with high total numbers of SKU's, high amounts of orders, and low to medium picks per order.
� Wave Picking - Often described as a variation of zone picking and batch picking, wave picking is when rather than moving orders from one zone to the next for picking, all zones are picked at the same time and the items are sorted out later and then consolidated into specific customer orders/shipments. Wave picking can be the quickest way (aka shortest cycle time) to picking multi product orders however, the sorting process can prove to be a little tricky. Operations with high total number of SKUs and moderate to high picks per order can definitely benefit from implementing wave picking.
Case picking is also a very common picking operation seen in the food industry. Case picking operations tend to have less variety in item characteristics than piece picking operations, and experience fewer SKU's and higher picks per SKU. The most common forms of order picking in a case picking operation can be seen here are:
� Basic Order Picking - This is by far the most widely used style of picking for case-picking operations. Rather than product stored on stagnant shelving, case-pick operations often have the product stored on pallet rack or in bulk in floor locations. The simplest picking method is to use a motorized pallet truck and pick cases out of bulk floor locations. However by going towards a very narrow aisle (VNA) pallet racking and using man-up order selectors or turret trucks often provides high storage density and higher pick rates.
� Batch picking / Multi-order picking - Batch picking is rarely used in case pick operations primarily because of the physical size of the picks. It in unlikely that you would have enough room on a pallet to pick multiple orders at a time.
� Zone Picking - Zone picking could be used in case-picking operations, however much like its cousin (batch picking) the size of the picks and the size of the orders in most case-pick operations do not lend themselves well to a zone picking setup. Zone picking would be applicable only if you have a case pick operation with a large number of SKUs, and orders with small quantities per SKU, or where you have enough cases per order per zone to fill a pallet.
� Wave Picking - If you're looking for ways to reduce cycle time, wave picking can be applied to case picking operations where you have very large orders with many picks per order.
The moral of the story is: never settle for the "average" order picking style just because it's worked for you in the past. Companies involved in the food industry are constantly experiencing changes in growth and even shrinkage and it's these same food distributing companies that can save lots of green simply by making a few changes in how orders are picked each day. However, don't be mislead by fancy new order picking styles you might hear about other food distributors implementing, what works for one distributor doesn't always work for another! The best place to start to evaluate when it comes to cutting warehouse operations costs is order picking. Find the best style that fits your business and watch your productivity rise and your operations costs plummet.
IMPLEMENTING THE RIGHT ORDER PICKING STYLE SAVES YOU $$$
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