Ways to speed up order picking
03-04-2022 454
One thing that becomes important is speed and how it impacts the customer service mindset.
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How to pick, pack, and ship e-commerce orders faster. A lot of infrastructure has been created to address this, from changes to the shipping, packaging and distribution center markets. One thing that becomes important is speed and how it impacts the customer service mindset.
Delivery speed has become important. Let's dive into some of the ways you can improve this important inventory metric.
For consumers, speed of order fulfillment can be as important as price. While cost is always important, there are times when the fastest lead time wins. There are always situations where cost, shipping cost or quality will be the deciding factor, but customers in today's market have decided to treat online shopping like shopping in person, they expect to get Fastest delivery from online suppliers.
For in-stock items, there are ways to reduce the time from order receipt to shipping by focusing on the processes, information, and equipment in your facility.
Store and sort inventory for quick picking: The basics of sorting inventory have always been a pain in the ass. In many activities, leaders can change with the seasons, consumer trends, marketing efforts, and other factors. You should always try to find the fastest moving people in a convenient gathering area for the picker. The most popular SKUs can go from picking to packing to shipping with minimal travel time in your system.
If a large number of orders can be filled with a small number of SKUs, consider creating dedicated select modules that focus on those items. This allows you to focus your fastest picks and best storage locations on the items that matter most so you can fulfill more orders faster. Imagine a situation where your most popular items are stored near the packing area, picked up by your most skilled employees.
You then repeat this for the next product level, arranging your “B” items in the next closest position, driven again by the faster staff. Using this strategy, you reduce product stay and travel time, and ensure you have “excellent” pickers working on the things that matter.
While you're essentially assigning less experienced employees to some categories, you're reducing impact because you're also reducing complexity. These inexperienced workers will have a simpler selection list and much fewer SKUs to deal with in this program.
Find ways to deal with slow-moving devices. A handful of slow-moving devices can cripple shipping if they simply don't have the storage capacity. Find ways to make slow scrollers easier and faster when you have to access them. Even if an item is only picked up for 5% of total orders, that means for products with speed you will need to find ways to improve its pick rate.
In some cases, concentrating your slowest items on high density pick modules should be considered. This allows you to focus the space and select these items faster. It not only helps speed up picking, but also saves space for other operations. These types of picking areas can be built into a picking module or mezzanine with racks.
Assuming you can create visibility across your entire operations, automation can provide sustained speed upgrades to any order fulfillment. Do you need to equip robots and conveyor systems right away? Unnecessary. Some considerations for automation include:
- Find a way to selectively automate if your entire operation is not secure. This reduces investment, but increases throughput where it matters most. Simple time studies can show you where the best investment opportunities are. Identify places where new systems, software, or devices are more likely to have a faster impact (and faster ROI).
However, always leave a path for future improvements. For example, we installed conveyor loops and opted to reduce cycle times in an intensive area, but still provide a path to full automation in the future.
- Deploying scanners requires no investment in floor-level hardware. This is not classic automation, but it can help speed up the process for lower volume operations.
- Look into packaging automation that reduces manual handling. This type of automation can focus on areas that slow you down, such as duct tape, gap filling, carton erection, weighing and sealing. This device can be installed on a packaging line to reduce manual handling (also reducing labor costs) while speeding orders to the door.
- One of the most inefficient areas is the end of the conveyor system and the waiting truck. Consider using flexible conveyors to bridge this gap. It's good for speed and great for ergonomics.
There are many ways to speed up order picking that can be based on your current system, process, and product mix. Contact us today for further assistance.
Related Posts:
Delivery speed has become important. Let's dive into some of the ways you can improve this important inventory metric.
Waiting time is extremely important
For consumers, speed of order fulfillment can be as important as price. While cost is always important, there are times when the fastest lead time wins. There are always situations where cost, shipping cost or quality will be the deciding factor, but customers in today's market have decided to treat online shopping like shopping in person, they expect to get Fastest delivery from online suppliers.

Faster way from order to delivery
For in-stock items, there are ways to reduce the time from order receipt to shipping by focusing on the processes, information, and equipment in your facility.
* Handling your fast-moving, frequent SKUs is critical
Store and sort inventory for quick picking: The basics of sorting inventory have always been a pain in the ass. In many activities, leaders can change with the seasons, consumer trends, marketing efforts, and other factors. You should always try to find the fastest moving people in a convenient gathering area for the picker. The most popular SKUs can go from picking to packing to shipping with minimal travel time in your system.
If a large number of orders can be filled with a small number of SKUs, consider creating dedicated select modules that focus on those items. This allows you to focus your fastest picks and best storage locations on the items that matter most so you can fulfill more orders faster. Imagine a situation where your most popular items are stored near the packing area, picked up by your most skilled employees.
You then repeat this for the next product level, arranging your “B” items in the next closest position, driven again by the faster staff. Using this strategy, you reduce product stay and travel time, and ensure you have “excellent” pickers working on the things that matter.
While you're essentially assigning less experienced employees to some categories, you're reducing impact because you're also reducing complexity. These inexperienced workers will have a simpler selection list and much fewer SKUs to deal with in this program.
* Slow engines can still drag your completion rate down
Find ways to deal with slow-moving devices. A handful of slow-moving devices can cripple shipping if they simply don't have the storage capacity. Find ways to make slow scrollers easier and faster when you have to access them. Even if an item is only picked up for 5% of total orders, that means for products with speed you will need to find ways to improve its pick rate.
In some cases, concentrating your slowest items on high density pick modules should be considered. This allows you to focus the space and select these items faster. It not only helps speed up picking, but also saves space for other operations. These types of picking areas can be built into a picking module or mezzanine with racks.
* Access to automation
Assuming you can create visibility across your entire operations, automation can provide sustained speed upgrades to any order fulfillment. Do you need to equip robots and conveyor systems right away? Unnecessary. Some considerations for automation include:
- Find a way to selectively automate if your entire operation is not secure. This reduces investment, but increases throughput where it matters most. Simple time studies can show you where the best investment opportunities are. Identify places where new systems, software, or devices are more likely to have a faster impact (and faster ROI).
However, always leave a path for future improvements. For example, we installed conveyor loops and opted to reduce cycle times in an intensive area, but still provide a path to full automation in the future.
- Deploying scanners requires no investment in floor-level hardware. This is not classic automation, but it can help speed up the process for lower volume operations.
- Look into packaging automation that reduces manual handling. This type of automation can focus on areas that slow you down, such as duct tape, gap filling, carton erection, weighing and sealing. This device can be installed on a packaging line to reduce manual handling (also reducing labor costs) while speeding orders to the door.
- One of the most inefficient areas is the end of the conveyor system and the waiting truck. Consider using flexible conveyors to bridge this gap. It's good for speed and great for ergonomics.
Ending
There are many ways to speed up order picking that can be based on your current system, process, and product mix. Contact us today for further assistance.
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