Pick and pack, in a warehouse, is a process that kicks in after an order is being received from a store online. ‘Pick’ denotes locating proper quantities of an item from its respective warehouse location. ‘Pack’ indicates the placement of items in the right box, along with proper documentation and necessary packing materials before the package could be labeled and shipped. Pick and pack software help automate the process and minimize or totally eliminate mistakes that might arise during this process.
Types of Picking
Warehouses doing picking and packing fulfillment employ different methods to achieve this: batch picking, piece picking, wave picking, and zone picking. Piece picking is basically an employee handpicking different products for a specific order. Batch picking is like piece picking; however, the orders get done in batches at once, and not one piece at a time.
Zone picking refers to employees being assigned a specific warehouse area and picking just one order at a given time in that area. In case an order requires items from multiple zones, it gets handed off to another zone employee, usually through a conveyor belt. Wave picking combines zone and batch picking wherein the staff would remain in a zone but pick multiple orders at a time.
What Does Packing Entail?
Packing involves putting the goods into the correct boxes with proper packaging materials to make sure the items reach their end destination unscathed. To decrease shipping expenses, the packing team must use the right boxes (both in terms of size and number) and packing materials for every product. Several warehouses usually have a system in place, such as pick and pack software, that could help ascertain the box that would be right for a given order. This picking and packing system would enable any proper warehouse to quickly turn around orders and with high accuracy.
Optimizing the Process
When a warehouse is designed for efficient picking, the time taken for gathering items for orders would come down dramatically. The following design principles shall come in handy:
• Positioning top-selling goods close to the packing stations (as they would get picked more often)
• Storing or placing goods that are usually packed together abreast
• Arranging the remaining portion of the inventory starting from what sells the most and ending with what is the least selling.
A few other things you could do is keep the warehouse properly organized, program the warehouse management system (WMS) for easy picking, double checking every order, keeping an accurate count of inventory, and improving the system beyond the scope of picking and packing.
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