Batch Picking

Understanding Batch Picking in Warehousing

For businesses handling hundreds or even thousands of orders daily, efficient order fulfillment isn’t just desirable; it's critical for survival against an ever-increasing demand for speed and low-cost products. Batch picking plays a vital role as part of the order fulfillment process for many companies, streamlining operations and enhancing warehouse efficiency. Let's discuss how this strategy transforms order fulfillment into models of efficiency - reducing travel time and enhancing productivity by grouping similar orders.

The Role of Batch Picking in Order Fulfillment

Pivotal to any order fulfillment operation, batch picking involves grouping orders into batches based on consistent SKUs or other characteristics. The order picker can then pick the same SKU for numerous orders simultaneously, preventing the need to revisit the same picking location. This strategy is preferred because it drastically reduces travel time within the warehouse and reduces the number of visits to a given pick location, thereby improving productivity.

How Does Batch Picking Work?

The magic of batch picking starts with a critical first step: generating pick lists. Pick lists are created based on order profiles and can be optimized with the use of Warehouse Execution Systems (WES), artificial intelligence (AI) or other software solutions. The pick lists become the picker's guide as they navigate through the aisles of your distribution center. The pick list includes each SKU and quantity that must be picked by the operator.

Once the pick list is completed, the orders are now picked and can be moved to the next process in the fulfillment lifecycle.

Generating Pick Lists

A typical pick list might include several SKUs or 'stock keeping units', each representing different products stored in various locations throughout the warehouse. Pick lists should not be generated randomly, but instead  using software algorithms which take into account factors like product location and frequency of demand among others.

Grouping Orders by Common Items

To further enhance efficiency, orders with similar SKUs or SKUs located in neighboring pick locations are grouped together forming what we call 'batch orders'. By doing so, you reduce repeated trips around the warehouse. A single picker can pick multiple quantities of a given SKU during their route which would otherwise require separate visits if processed individually as single-order picks.

Automating the Batch Picking Process

The Role of Warehouse Execution Systems (WES)

A well-implemented Warehouse ExecutionSystem (WES) is crucial for automating batch picking. By optimizing routes and integrating operations, WES plays a pivotal role in streamlining the process. With its help, pickers can now easily be directed, and locate items within large distribution centers while minimizing travel time.

This reduced travel time also means fewer repeated trips around the warehouse - another win for productivity. Additionally, it gives way to improved accuracy as picker errors are significantly minimized when they're dealing with one type of SKU per trip instead of multiple visits.

Batch Picking vs. Other Picking Strategies

In the complex world of warehouse operations, picking strategies play a crucial role in boosting efficiency and reducing travel time. Let's compare batch picking with other common strategies like zone picking, waveless picking, and overlapping waves.

Discrete Order Picking

One alternative to batch picking is discrete order picking. Here, pickers collect items for one order at a time rather than multiple orders simultaneously as in the batch strategy. It might seem more straightforward, but it often involves repeated trips across the warehouse, which drops productivity rates significantly.

Zone Picking

This method assigns each picker a specific area or 'zone' within the picking area where they're responsible for picking all items that fall into their assigned zone. This reduces overlap between workers but doesn't necessarily minimize total travel distance.

This approach contrasts with batch orders that group similar SKUs together irrespective of zones, resulting in reduced overall travel times when retrieving an entire set of items. Zone picking also lends itself nicely to automation. In the simplest form, orders are created in totes conveying throughout the picking zones where operators can pick items in their zone before sending the order to the next picking zone for processing.