Order picking is considered one of the most important services of warehouse service providers. The whole structure of the Warehouse services depends on the productivity of order picking.
There are different types of order picking and the warehouse owner had to figure out the best type of order picking which is suitable for their warehouse activities. Various types are mentioned below:
- Single Order Picking
Single Order Picking refers to a method where the warehouse pickers retrieve SKUs one by one to fulfill one order at a time. SKUs or the Stock Keeping Units are the barcode labels that are printed on the product. It helps the Pickers to maintain a systematic record of the inventory.
Suitable for: Small Warehouse Businesses.
2. Batch Picking
Batch Picking refers to a method where the SKUs are retrieved in bulk, i.e. Inventory is stocked in bulk and different batches are made and then multiple batches are delivered at once. It helps in reducing the time and cost of the warehouse as many goods with the same SKUs are picked and delivered at once.
Suitable for: Warehouse business that deals with multiple goods, i.e they receive and deliver multiple goods at once.
3. Wave Picking
Wave picking generally refers to the use of order picking tools that creates intervals in waves that align with either the plan regarding the departure of goods or the efficiency of transportation. Wave picking helps the warehouse to meet its goals of sending the specific quantity of the goods outside the warehouse or ensuring the efficiency of the transport. In wave picking, orders are grouped and picked in batches, but at specific times of the day.
Suitable for: Warehouse business that deals with multiple goods, i.e they receive and deliver multiple goods at once or the warehouse deals in goods which require urgent deliveries.
Note: Both wave picking and batch picking is derived from the concept of Short Interval Scheduling (SIS). It is a tool that narrows down the information gap between what’s happening at the ground level and what is being communicated at the leadership positions.
To understand SIS, let us analyze its process. The warehouse will first create a plan to schedule the flow of goods. However, the procedure becomes cumbersome when the schedule is over a long period of time and complex.
SIS defines a schedule in a very short period of time, let say within a day or two. When the schedule is small then there is better communication between the lead and the workers as they give more focus to the work as the order fulfillment is required to be met in a short period of time. So, it becomes more manageable and leads to effective communication. It also reduces the chances of human errors.
4. Cluster Picking
Cluster Picking refers to the method where the goods are stored in different containers or bin according to their SKUs. All the containers are associated with a different pick list of goods which eliminates the repeated trips of the workers and the need for sorting goods (reducing human-made errors).
Suitable for: Warehouse business that deals with multiple goods, i.e they receive and deliver multiple goods at once. Also, cluster picking requires well developed WMS software.
5. Zone Picking
Zone picking refers to the method, where the goods are stored in different zones within the warehouse. The zone divided on the basis of the order picking list and retrieved SKUs. Once all the items in that zone have been picked, the order carton is passed to other zones. In this way, the goods are picked and passed from zone to zone and packed for shipping in a central consolidation location. This eliminates the error of picking wrong goods as each good is sorted by the zone.
Suitable: For all types of the warehouse.
Conclusion
There are too many options to choose from. The warehouse should carefully analyze the types of goods they are dealing in and on the basis of their requirements.
It’s not important that each warehouse can adopt all these picking methods.
No doubt Warehouse picking methods are great and efficient but as it is said a boon for someone and can be a bane to others.
Therefore It can totally uplift the quality order picking productivity for a certain warehouse and even can disrupt the whole process of order picking for another warehouse.
Hence it is very important to analyze and plan before making any decisions so that optimum utilization of the wave picking method can be derived into the business processes.
