Choose the best picking strategy for your Pick-Pack-Ship fulfillment system
Pick-Pack-Ship is the fulfillment process of picking the products required to fulfill a particular order, packing it into the appropriate packaging, and shipping it to the right customer.
Most e-commerce businesses that fulfill their orders in-house have a Pick-Pack-Ship system in place. However, business owners should take the time to optimize their Pick-Pack-Ship process.
In doing so, you can improve the efficiency and productivity of your warehouse personnel. Having a robust system in place also prevents customer dissatisfaction caused by incorrect or delayed orders.
One way to kickstart the optimization of your Pick-Pack-Ship process is by implementing an appropriate picking strategy.
There are different methods of picking available which are more optimal than others, depending on your business needs. Factors such as the scale of operations and your customers’ buying habits play a part in identifying the best picking method for your business.
These are the 4 most commonly used picking methods:
1. Piece Picking (also known as Discrete Order picking)
Each personnel picks for 1 order at a time. Only after completing the current order may the picker move on to the next order.
Pros: Piece picking boasts the lowest margin for human error out of the 4 methods as each person only focuses on one order at a time.
Cons: As each person can only work on one order at a time, efficiency is profoundly affected. This method is not scalable when order volume gets higher.
Suited for: This straightforward method is ideal for small businesses with a low volume of orders that contain only one or a few stock-keeping units (SKUs).
2. Batch Picking
Batch picking is a step up from piece picking, with each personnel working on more than 1 order at a time.
Pros: This method saves time while having increased efficiency as a picker has to make fewer trips overall if they work on multiple orders involving the same few SKUs. This picking strategy is also easily scalable as your business grows.
Cons: Batch picking cannot be applied to businesses dealing with large or bulky products.
Batch picking might also do more harm than good by creating more opportunity for error when uninitiated pickers deal with multiple large basket orders.
Suited for: This strategy is most commonly employed in small and medium businesses and shines best when your orders typically consist of the same few SKUs.
3. Zone Picking
Zone picking involves splitting the warehouse into zones by specific criteria, such as product type. Personnel assigned to each zone typically work on a single order at a time. Zone picking can also be combined with batch picking so that each picker picks on behalf of multiple orders at a time.
If the order involves SKUs from various zones, the picker will pick the items within their allocated zone and pass the order down to the next zone for another picker to continue picking. This type of zone picking is also known as “pick and pass”.
Alternatively, the required SKUs can be picked from their respective zones at the same time and consolidated later in a single area for packing.
Pros: Pickers can familiarize themselves in an assigned zone and are more productive and efficient as compared to having to navigate an entire warehouse.
Zones can be used to divide products by their movement speed as well, which is useful for warehouses containing a range of different SKUs.
Cons: Zone picking requires strategic planning of product locations to be fully efficient. Poor planning might result in some personnel being underutilized as their zone is rarely involved in orders. It also requires more resources as more personnel, and a bigger space is needed.
Suited for: Zone picking is used in fulfillment warehouses that work with multiple e-commerce businesses, with personnel explicitly hired for picking. This method is optimal for companies using large warehouses with numerous SKUs.
4. Wave Picking
Wave picking organizes orders to be picked into various timed sessions (“waves”) within a day. These orders are differentiated by factors such as a common shipping carrier or a shared shipping destination.
Pros: When executed well, the volume of orders fulfilled with the wave picking strategy is worlds apart from piece and batch picking. This holds especially true when waves are aligned with your shipping carrier’s pick up schedule.
Wave picking allows warehouse managers to coordinate picking sessions with other warehouse processes that occur in the same space, such as restocking of shelves. These processes can be scheduled between picking sessions to reduce traffic on the warehouse floor.
Cons: Wave picking is exceptionally complicated and requires advanced warehouse management software to execute, which can be costly.
This method is only efficient when each wave initiated contains a sufficient number of orders for picking. It can cause a bottleneck for businesses that rely on same-day operations as they have to wait for enough orders to hit the required criteria to utilize wave picking efficiently.
Suited for: The wave picking strategy is preferred by massive fulfillment warehouses or retail giants offering direct-to-consumer shipping with large volumes of complex orders. This method is appropriate for established businesses with a high volume of orders and a wide variety of SKUs.
In conclusion, there is a variety of picking methods that an e-commerce business can employ when they use in-house fulfillment.
Here are some questions that may help to identify your ideal picking strategy:
- What is my order volume?
- Do I have a wide range of SKUs?
- What is the buying pattern of my customers?
- What picking strategy can I adopt in my current warehouse?
- Do I need to upgrade to a larger space to accommodate a better picking strategy?
- Do I have the resources needed to employ more staff or acquire more equipment?
Some may find that combining different picking strategies instead of sticking to a single method might be the most ideal for their business needs. Your chosen picking strategy can make or break your e-commerce business!
Deskera Books offers a Pick-Pack-Ship feature packaged with its ERP solution. Find out more here.
