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A slow or inaccurate picking process can be a serious strain on fulfillment operations. When orders arrive late or the wrong goods are sent out, you’ll have to answer to unhappy customers. Fortunately, there are various ways you can optimize your picking process.
Key takeaways:
We’ll break down each of the key points to help you optimize your warehouse picking.
There are a variety of factors that can cause your picking operations to decline. Fortunately, there are several methods you can utilize to improve this critical function in your warehouse.
One reason your picking operations might be falling behind is because you’re not using the right picking method for your business model. There are numerous options that you can utilize in your warehouse.
This includes:
To find the best picking method, you’ll need to consider the type of products you sell and your order volume. Our article on order picking will provide you with more details on each of the methods we’ve listed.
Organizing your products efficiently inside your warehouse is another great way to optimize your warehouse picking. There are a variety of ways you can organize your facility, including:
If similar items aren’t stored close together, workers might have to walk all over the warehouse to find the items they need to retrieve. By grouping them together, staff can quickly grab one item after the other.
It shouldn’t be a struggle for your workers to reach items on shelves or have to sort them out from other products. Unorganized shelves can slow your staff down when they’re performing their duties.
Utilizing equipment like bins, boxes, and totes will help with shelf organization. After picking, shipping materials should be easy to find. This helps workers get orders out the door more efficiently.
The floor layout of your warehouse will impact the quality of your picking process. That’s why you should use a layout that allows your workers to traverse the facility quickly and safely.
Create a floor layout that does the following:
A layout that reduces travel time lets workers retrieve orders faster, which will improve their overall efficiency. Utilizing vertical space affords you more room to store goods inside your facility. Of course, if there’s vertical picking to be done, make sure that workers have the right equipment, like a pallet forklift, to access such. Fortunately, there are various warehouse storage systems that you can use to leverage vertical space.
Keeping the floor clear of debris will ensure there are no obstacles for your workers to navigate around. It also minimizes trip hazards that could result in staff injuries.
Keeping accurate inventory data helps your workers to easily locate products they need to retrieve. Barcodes are now the standard, so you just have to focus on a software system that can scan and track them.
Ensure that barcodes are compatible with your inventory tracking technology and that pickers have a way of accessing it. Inventory technology can tell you where your products are located at any given time in your facility.
Workers inside your warehouse only need to scan barcodes to enter information about your products into the software. When it’s time to go pick an order, your staff can use the software to locate the items based on the most recent scan.
If your warehouse frequently consolidates orders, then you should have a dedicated area for consolidation. Gathering multiple orders and combining them together can take up an exceptional amount of space in your facility.
Having a designated area gives warehouse staff the room they need to consolidate orders away from the regular movement of equipment or pickers to prevent congestion.
Keeping track and analyzing the mistakes in your picking process reveals room for improvement. You’ll be able to identify at exactly which point an error occurred. From there, you can develop a plan that addresses the specific problem.
You should also communicate error rates with your warehouse staff. This makes them aware of where they’re falling short and helps them improve their performance.
One piece of error data you should look out for is how many returns you receive due to items being damaged or defective. I’ve provided some revealing statistics to demonstrate the importance of this metric.
As the data shows, damaged or defective items are the primary reasons for returns. You can address this problem by teaching your staff to inspect and carefully pack the products you sell.
Using inventory tracking technology and software is essential for locating and retrieving cargo inside a warehouse. That said, your picking process might start to suffer if the technology you’re using becomes outdated.
Make sure to always update these systems when needed to guarantee they operate efficiently. In some cases, you might want to explore new technology and software providers to see if they can give your picking operations a boost.
Once orders are picked, they need to get on an outbound vehicle as quickly as possible. To do this, you can speed up your packing process though a combination of technology and training.
There are packing machines that wrap, seal, and fills any voids inside a package as it travels down a conveyor belt. In addition to speeding up the packing process, they also reduce errors. Taking the time to set up proper employee onboarding and training will also speed things up.
No matter how good the technology is, if people don’t know how to properly operate it, you’ll generate more harm than good. Which leads to our final tip.
The most important part of your warehouse picking operations are your employees. No amount of technology, data, or warehouse organization will help without well-trained staff to apply these resources. That’s why you should give your workers the best training possible when they join your company.
Warehouse staff should be taught:
The specific training your workers receive should differ based on the role they’re assigned to perform. Staff should also be given more training when the need arises. This could be when you implement new technology, equipment, or when training a worker that’s been promoted to a new position.
Before you implement practices that will optimize your warehouse picking process, be sure to set some goals to measure yourself against.
Metrics you should check include:
Continuously track these metrics to accurately evaluate the performance of your warehouse on a regular basis. The insights you uncover will indicate if your picking optimization practices are working, or if you need to make additional changes.
Implementing new picking optimization practices and tracking your progress can be exceptionally time-consuming. Fortunately, there are 3PL providers that can help. They have warehouses that offer picking and many other services.
3PL facilities are run by well-trained staff and company leadership that typically have decades of experience in the logistics industry. Trusting a 3PL to handle your picking operations reduces the pressure on you and your business.
If you need to improve your order picking process, then Fulfillment and Distribution is ready to help. Our warehouses are staffed by trained professionals that can handle the picking process on your behalf. They can also offer a variety of other warehousing services that can help your business.
You can find our facilities in a variety of locations, such as:
When you choose Fulfillment and Distribution, you’ll be getting access to company leadership that has 80+ years of experience in the logistics industry. Get started today by filling out a service request. You can also set up a consulting session by calling our team at (866) 989-3082.
