Optimize Your Order Picking in Warehousing: 15 Simple Practices to Improve Efficiency
Order picking is one of the most important tasks in warehousing. In order fulfillment, warehouse managers must guarantee that their operations function smoothly and efficiently when fulfilling orders. To prevent customers from leaving to competitors, managers need to properly optimize their order picking.
Warehouses and distribution centers can greatly improve their order-picking processes by using some best practices, resulting in higher productivity, accuracy, and overall fulfillment efficiency.
Whether you’re looking to streamline an existing inventory management system or set up new warehouse management software from scratch, let’s explore 15 key strategies to optimize your order picking process.
At SPExpress, we offer efficiency, scalability, and comprehensive shipping and warehousing solutions to businesses of any size, easing the burden on businesses. Get in touch with us right now to find out how our fulfillment and warehousing services may help your company.
Don’t let inventory problems ruin your company; work with us to find dependable, effective solutions that give you more control. We are ready to take your order fulfillment game to new levels.
Contact us today to learn how we can assist you with your inventory management and order fulfillment strategies. Together with our experts, you can start on the path to reliable and efficient inventory management right now.
Optimize Your Order Picking in Warehousing: 15 Simple Practices to Improve Efficiency
Why is Order Picking Important?
Order picking has a direct impact on numerous key components of your business:
Delivery Speed: The faster you pick and pack orders, the quicker they reach your customers. This translates to higher customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Warehouse Efficiency: Streamlined picking processes minimize wasted time and travel distances for pickers, leading to increased overall warehouse productivity.
Cost Control: Optimized order picking lowers labour costs, reduces picking errors, and helps in the maintenance of proper inventory levels, all of which contribute to better cost management.
Understanding the components of a typical warehouse operation is essential to recognizing the importance of order picking. Warehouses handle activities like receiving goods, storing inventory, moving stock for efficiency, and most importantly, picking items for customer orders.
Let’s break down the order fulfillment process:
Order Received: An order comes in through various channels – website, B2B platforms, email, or phone.
Order Entry: The order is entered into your system, whether manually or through an ERP, WMS (Warehouse Management System), or inventory management software that integrates with your sales channels.
Order Routed: The order is electronically or manually sent to the warehouse or inventory storage area.
Order Picking: A worker or robot retrieves the ordered items from the warehouse.
Order Packing & Labelling: The picked items are prepared, packed, and labelled for shipment.
Order Shipment: The packed order is shipped to the customer.
Order Delivery: The order is delivered to the customer, completing the fulfillment cycle.
Optimize Your Order Picking in Warehouse with These 15 Simple Practices
Focus on Facility Flow
Effective warehouse management is essential for effective order picking. Organize your warehouse according to the logical flow of inventory, from receipt to shipment. Each functional element should flow effortlessly into the next, avoiding unwanted backtracking or detours. Implement clear signage and maps to assist associates in navigating quickly, particularly when layouts change or for new employees.
A well-organized facility will reduce travel time and improve overall productivity, key steps include:
- Hang clear signage to help associates navigate quickly
- Provide maps for new employees or when layouts change
- Maintain neat, organized storage locations
- Ensure aisles are unobstructed and wide enough to prevent congestion
Establish an Effective Receiving Process
A well-organized receiving procedure paves the way for efficient order-picking activities. Increase the visibility of incoming cargo, communicate clearly with dock staff about expectations, and establish solid delivery schedules with suppliers. Inspect, sort and route received items to their specified storage or picking sites as soon as possible to ensure that pickers always have the correct inventory.
Implement the following practices:
- Increase visibility into incoming shipments and their contents
- Communicate clearly with dock staff about shift activities and expectations
- Set firm delivery times with shippers
- Establish and meet time-to-unload goals
- Inspect, sort, and stage goods promptly for forward pick replenishment or storage
By optimizing the receiving process, you ensure that pickers have continuous access to the inventory they need, preventing delays and improving throughput.
Utilize Bins, Totes, and Dividers
To better manage merchandise, set up a system of reusable plastic boxes, totes, and dividers. This method is very useful for organizing small goods, increasing visibility, and preserving products from damage. Proper labeling of these storage systems can greatly minimize searching time during the selection process.
Incorporating bins, totes, and dividers into your storage system offers numerous benefits:
- Easy location and retrieval of items
- Improved organization of small parts and components
- Enhanced storage density
- Protection of inventory from dust and damage
When properly labeled, these storage solutions significantly reduce search time and boost picking accuracy.
Minimize Walking Time
Reduce the distance pickers have to go by strategically grouping frequently picked items and optimizing your warehouse layout. Consider using goods-to-person technologies to deliver products directly to stationary pickers, therefore significantly lowering trip time. Consider the following strategies:
- Optimize facility layout and slotting
- Group frequently picked items together
- Implement batch picking for similar orders
- Utilize goods-to-person technologies
By cutting down on unnecessary steps, you can dramatically increase productivity and reduce worker fatigue.
Improve Ergonomics with Goods-to-Person Technology
Invest in solutions for delivering products to stationary pickers at ergonomic heights. This reduces physical strain on workers, lowers the chance of injury, and can lead to significant productivity benefits. The key practices include:
- Adding cushioned floor mats at stationary workstations
- Providing regular training on proper lifting techniques
- Placing frequently picked items in the “Golden Zone” (waist-high)
- Implementing automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS) for goods-to-person picking
These measures create a safer work environment while boosting productivity.
Choose the Right Picking Method
Choose an approach that is tailored to your operation’s specific requirements. Options include:
Batch picking: Grouping similar orders for simultaneous fulfillment
Zone picking: Assigning workers to specific areas for localized picking
Wave picking: Releasing orders in groups based on specific criteria
The ideal method will depend on your order profiles, inventory characteristics, and facility layout. Evaluate your operation’s needs to determine which strategy or combination of strategies works best.
Leverage Light-Directed and Voice-Directed Technologies
Use pick-to-light or put-to-light systems to direct pickers to the correct areas quickly and precisely. These visual signals reduce errors and training time, making them particularly beneficial in high-volume picking situations.
Implementing advanced picking technologies can dramatically improve accuracy and speed. These technologies reduce errors and allow for hands-free, eyes-up operations:
Pick-to-light systems: Use illuminated displays to guide pickers to the correct locations
Voice-directed picking: Provide audio instructions and confirmations through wearable headsets
Prioritize Timely Replenishment
Implementing a proactive restocking approach will ensure that selected spots are consistently filled. This reduces stockouts and keeps pickers productive throughout their shifts. Ensure that forward pick zones and fast-moving goods are consistently stocked to avoid picking delays.
Schedule daily replenishments and integrate them with other warehouse processes.
Automated replenishment systems notify pickers of low stock levels, ensuring productivity and avoiding stockouts.
Optimize the Consolidation Area
Create an effective consolidation area for activities that use zone picking or other approaches that need partial order picking. This facility, which is outfitted with both static and automatic solutions, guarantees that orders are correctly integrated before delivery. For operations using zonal picking, an efficient consolidation area is critical. Consider:
- Implement a combination of static and automated equipment
- Design the area for smooth workflow and easy access
- Consider putting walls or sorting systems for high-volume operations
A well-designed consolidation area streamlines the final stages of order assembly.
Conduct Continuous Inventory Profiling
Analyze your inventory regularly to determine which items sell the most quickly and in what quantities. Use this information to improve your slotting strategy by placing high-velocity items in conveniently accessible locations near shipping regions. This approach reduces pickers’ travel time while increasing overall efficiency.
Regular examination of inventory movement patterns enables appropriate slotting and storage options. Optimize your warehouse layout with dense storage solutions for slower-moving inventory and continuous profiling to adapt to changing demand trends:
- Profile SKUs based on velocity (frequency of picks)
- Place fast-moving items in easily accessible locations
- Utilize dense storage solutions for slower-moving inventory
Consider Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS)
ASRS, such as vertical carousels or robotic shuttle systems, can significantly increase storage density and picking efficiency. These systems bring items directly to operators, reducing travel time and improving ergonomics.
ASRS systems provide various advantages for order-picking procedures. These technologies increase storage density, decrease trip time, and improve picking accuracy.
Establish an Efficient Returns Management Process
With e-commerce return rates frequently reaching 30%, a streamlined returns process is required. Designate a specific place for accepting and processing returns, and consider adopting ASRS technology to manage returned goods more efficiently. As e-commerce grows, good return handling becomes increasingly important:
- Designate a specific area for returns processing
- Implement a quality control process for returned items
- Utilize ASRS for temporary storage of returns
- Develop clear protocols for item disposition (restock, repackage, repair, etc.)
A streamlined returns process minimizes disruptions to regular picking operations.
Integrate Scan Verification
Use barcode scanners or RFID technology to verify picks in real-time. This simple step can dramatically improve accuracy rates and reduce the need for time-consuming quality checks later in the fulfillment process. Implementing barcode scanning technology significantly improves picking accuracy. Scan verification enhances overall order accuracy and customer satisfaction, consider:
- Streamline quality control processes
- Use handheld or fixed-location RF scanners
- Verify picked items against order requirements in real-time
- Reduce manual data entry errors
Pick Directly into Shipping Cartons
When possible, have pickers place items directly into shipping boxes rather than intermediate totes. This strategy eliminates the need for a separate packing step, speeding up the fulfillment process and reducing the chances of errors during order consolidation. When possible, picking directly into shipping cartons can save time and reduce handling.
This approach eliminates the need for a separate packing station for many orders:
- Capture accurate dimensional data for all inventory items
- Utilize software to determine optimal box sizes for orders
- Train pickers on proper packing techniques
- Route completed cartons directly to outbound shipping
Establish and Monitor Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Set up a system to measure and analyze key data including pick rates, accuracy, and cycle times. Regularly examine these KPIs to find opportunities for improvement and assess the impact of process improvements. Implementing a strong system of KPIs enables you to continuously improve your picking operation:
- Track metrics related to space utilization, throughput, accuracy, and labor efficiency
- Set clear goals and benchmarks for each KPI
- Regularly review performance data and identify areas for improvement
- Use KPIs to motivate and reward staff for meeting targets
By consistently measuring and analyzing performance, you can drive ongoing optimization of your order-picking processes.
Implementing these 15 best practices for order picking will allow you to run a more efficient, accurate, and productive order-picking operation. As you improve your processes, keep in mind that constant improvement remains crucial for staying competitive in the fast-paced world of warehouse and distribution management.
SPExpress is committed to supporting your order-picking needs, regardless of the size of your online store. Our expertise and resources can help you optimize your order fulfillment strategy and achieve your business goals.
At SPExpress, we offer efficiency, scalability, and comprehensive shipping and warehousing solutions to businesses of any size, easing the burden on businesses. Get in touch with us right now to find out how our fulfillment and warehousing services may help your company. Don’t let inventory problems ruin your company; work with us to find dependable, effective solutions that give you more control. We are ready to take your order fulfillment game to new levels.
Contact us today to learn how we can assist you with your inventory management and order fulfillment strategies. Together with our experts, you can start on the path to reliable and efficient inventory management right now.
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At SPExpress, we offer services from order fulfillment to supply chain management, which includes freight forwarding, transportation, warehousing, picking and packing, inventory and supply chain management, and order fulfillment. We work closely with our customers to ensure their 3PL needs are being met properly. We understand how valuable working with a reputable 3PL provider can be and how it can help our customers focus on growing their businesses.