Order Picking

1
Order Picking
Adapted from Facilities Planning, Tompkins,
White, Bozer, Frazelle, Tanchoco, Trevino, Wiley,
New York, 1996
2
Importance of Order Picking

• Highest priority activity in the warehouse
• Most costly activity in the warehouse up to 55
  of all operating costs
• Increasingly difficult to manage
• Just-in-Time
• Cycle Time Reduction
• Quick Response
• Micromarketing
• Megabrands

3
New Programs

• These programs require
• Smaller orders be delivered to warehouse
  customers more frequently and more accurately
• More stock keeping units must be incorporated
  into the order picking system
• Renewed emphasis on quality improvements and
  customer service have forced warehouse managers
  to re-examine the order picking activity from the
  standpoint of minimizing product damage, reducing
  transaction times, and further improving picking
  accuracy.

4
Order Picking Principles

• Encourage and design for full-pallet as opposed
  to loose case picking and full case as opposed to
  broken case picking.
•  Why?
• Reduced counting
• Reduced manual physical handling of cases, and
  loose case picking

5
Working With Vendors and Suppliers

• 2. Pick from storage
• 3. Eliminate and combine order picking tasks when
  possible
• See Table 9.7, p.437
• See Figure 9.31, p.437
• 4. Batch orders to reduce total travel time