Where Does Piece-Picking Fit in the Vast World of Warehouse Picking?
Piece picking is a type of order-picking commonly used for ecommerce orders in warehouses and distribution centers. It involves selecting individual items or products from inventory to fulfill customer orders. Unlike case picking or pallet picking, where multiple units of the same product are picked together, piece picking focuses on the specific items required for each order.
The process typically involves the following steps:
- Order Receipt: Customer orders are received and processed, and the required items are identified. Each order specifies the individual products and quantities needed.
- Inventory Location: Warehouse workers or automated systems locate the items within the warehouse. This may involve referring to inventory management programs, using barcodes or RFID technology, or relying on workers’ knowledge of the warehouse layout.
- Item Selection: Warehouse personnel or automated robots physically retrieve the specified items from their designated storage locations. They can use scanning barcodes or using visual recognition technology to select the correct items.
- Verification: The picked items are typically verified for accuracy and quality. Scanning technology may confirm that the correct items and quantities have been retrieved.
- Packaging and Shipping: Once the picked items have been verified, they’re prepared for packaging. They’re often sorted, labeled, and combined with other items from the same order. Afterward, the order is packaged, sealed, and sent for shipping to the customer.
Explore the Benefits of Piece Picking as a Warehouse Picking Method
Piece picking, regardless of whether it is done manually or using robotic automation, offers several benefits that contribute to the overall efficiency and effectiveness of warehouse operations:
Increased Order Accuracy
Piece picking ensures a higher level of order accuracy compared to bulk-picking methods. By individually selecting items, there is less risk of picking errors, such as incorrect quantities or wrong products. This reduces the likelihood of order returns and associated costs.
Improved Customer Satisfaction
Accurate and timely order fulfillment directly translates to improved customer satisfaction. Piece picking allows for faster processing of customer orders, resulting in shorter lead times and prompt delivery. Meeting customer expectations enhances brand reputation and encourages repeat business.
Enhanced Inventory Management
Piece picking enables better inventory management by providing real-time visibility into stock levels. Each item picked is recorded, allowing for accurate tracking of inventory movement. You can use this data to analyze demand patterns, identify popular products, and make informed inventory replenishment decisions.
Efficient Space Utilization
Piece picking facilitates the efficient organization and arrangement of individual items. By grouping similar products and using space-saving storage systems, warehouses can maximize available vertical and horizontal space. This leads to reduced storage costs and improved accessibility to items during picking.
Streamlined Workflow
Breaking down orders into individual items allows for parallel picking activities, where multiple pickers can work simultaneously on different orders. This reduces bottlenecks and minimizes order processing time, improving overall workflow efficiency.
Adaptability to SKU Variety
Piece-picking methods can handle a wide range of SKUs with varying sizes, shapes, and characteristics. Whether small items, fragile goods, or irregularly shaped products, piece picking offers the precision and customization required to handle diverse inventory profiles.
The missing ingredient to a perfect throughput rate could be as simple as a picking strategy change. Polymatic Solutions has the market expertise and advanced resources to evaluate your current warehouse operations and recommend improvements to boost your productivity across the supply chain.
Selecting the Right Order-Picking Process for Your Management System
So, you’ve settled on piece picking as your method of choice. While it is a great way to increase productivity in your warehouse environment, there’s another decision to make: do you implement a manual or automated picking strategy? Your choice here can significantly affect your overall operational efficiency, so fully comprehending your options is vital.
Here’s a breakdown of manual and automated approaches to warehouse order picking:
What Is Manual Piece Picking?
Manual piece picking is a traditional method in which workers physically navigate the warehouse to locate and retrieve individual items from inventory to fulfill customer orders. These workers rely on their knowledge of warehouse layout and product placement to efficiently pick the required items.
Manual piece picking involves identifying the correct product, confirming its quantity, and then preparing it for packaging and shipment. It requires human dexterity and familiarity with the inventory, making it a labor-intensive process.
Manual picking may be the best choice for the warehouse if you’re interested in boosting:
Quality Control
With manual piece picking, workers can personally inspect items during the picking process. This allows for more thorough quality control checks, ensuring that only the best products are shipped to customers. Workers can identify damaged or defective items, reducing the likelihood of customer complaints and returns.
Cost-Effectiveness
Manual piece picking requires minimal upfront investment compared to automated systems. It suits warehouses with lower order volumes or variable product characteristics that robots may struggle to handle. The method also enables a more cost-effective scaling of operations as the business grows.
What Can Piece-Picking Robots Do?
Automated piece picking involves using robotic systems to select individual items from inventory. These robots use advanced technologies like computer vision, artificial intelligence, and machine learning algorithms to identify and handle products.
Robotic piece-picking systems can work collaboratively with humans or operate independently, depending on the warehouse setup. The robots use grippers, suction cups, or other specialized tools to handle items and place them in designated containers for further processing and shipping. Well-implemented picking automation improves efficiency, accuracy, and overall order fulfillment speed.
You should consider picking robots if you value:
Goods-to-Person Technology
Warehouses can boost productivity and order completion speed by integrating a piece-picking robot with a goods-to-person solution. The goods-to-person system brings the necessary items to the picker’s workstation while the robot uses cutting-edge technologies such as computer vision and grippers for picking. This combination of processes creates smooth and rapid workflows, leading to shorter cycle times, higher precision, and maximum efficiency in item selection.
Scalability and Adaptability
You can easily scale robotic piece-picking systems to accommodate growing order volumes. As business needs change, additional robots can be deployed, or the existing system can be reconfigured to handle increased demand. Integrating robotics with warehouse management systems allows for seamless coordination and synchronization with other automated processes, optimizing overall operations.
Worker Support and Safety
Robotic piece picking systems are designed to increase pick accuracy and reduce labor in the order picking process. By offloading repetitive and physically demanding tasks to robots, workers can focus on higher-value activities, such as quality control, inventory management, and process optimization. This improves job satisfaction and reduces the risk of injuries associated with manual lifting and repetitive motions.
Vitalize Your Warehouse With Polymatic Solutions
With labor shortages and big orders piling up, warehouse managers have had to rethink their order-picking strategies. Thankfully, modern technology solutions from our team can help establish more accurate picking processes for streamlined inventory control. We share your long-term goals, offering you the resources and market expertise to achieve your ambitions.
