Order picking / stock location

[Davek0974]

Hi all, im looking to reorganise our order picking methods and wondering if my idea is better than the current system.

Current system - Orders are picked from the invoice, stock codes may be something like JAB01-32 where JAB01=product ID and 32=the product colour, now with this system, there is no clue as to where that product lies within the stock racks, we just keep the products grouped and print the invoices in hopefully the right order, the picker then verifies that they have the right item.

Proposed system - Still picked from invoice but codes would be like 10-04-101 where 10=storage bay, 04=shelf row, 101=bin location. This would point the picker in the right direction but give them no idea exactly what the item is, i.e it relies on the right thing being put in the right bins.

We have toyed with hand-held devices for paperless picking but the cost is prohibitive at present.

Is there another/better system bearing in mind that we have thousands of items to pick. Our main goal is to improve efficiency and reduce picking errors. The stock items are generally very small, craft related products, many of which are card and paper. The picking area takes up over 15,000 sq feet of floor space, mostly in racking that is 6' tall, hopefully that will give an idea of scale

 

[deniser]

Can you not have code and description? We do and it does eliminate most picking errors.

 

[Davek0974]

Can you not have code and description? We do and it does eliminate most picking errors.

Yes we already have that, it is printed next to each line on the invoice. But it does not give any location.

 

[garyk]

What accounting system are you using?

The mid-higher level solutions allow for separate pick lists to be produced from the order.

In your scenario what you are describing as coding the bin location is fine, surely its just a training issue?

Gary

 

[Davek0974]

What accounting system are you using?

The mid-higher level solutions allow for separate pick lists to be produced from the order.

In your scenario what you are describing as coding the bin location is fine, surely its just a training issue?

Gary

The system was written by me a few years ago, i can easily print a pick-list but only if it gave benefits over using the invoice (invoice is dispatched with order so needs to follow anyway).

It may well be that we have the best system already as it has been developed and tuned over the years, i was just wondering if there was a better or more infallible method that relies less on training/memory etc

 

[GraemeL]

Hello Dave,

Suggest - The product code and bin location should be separate entities. This will give you much more flexibility. Your idea make me throw my hands in the air!

You will need to do some analysis, aiming have the items that you pick most frequently closest to your packing area.

In general, if you pick as orders come in, then picking lists are unlikely to be more productive. If you take orders to a cut off time and then print them, or carry out several batch runs, picking lists are likely to be more productive.

If you have a mix of very heavy and fragile items, you may need to alter locations so that heavy items are picked first.

These are very basic warehouse routines, there are a lot more options. The way you label your racks is important too.

G

 

[IanDade]

Hi Dave

What you are suggesting is better than what you have. If i had your current setup, this is how i would alter it to make it easier for your pickers and it should dramatically reduce picking time.

Other posters are correct thought, the way you label your picking bays is very important as this is crucial.

You should alter your product codes on the invoice to be a mixture of location and product information.

Your picking locations can be as simple as A1, A2 etc. so long as they are unique and your picker knows where that bay is located within your warehouse.

So for example, if you put the product you quote in bin E25, then the code on your invoice could read "E25-JAB01-32". This would tell the picker where to go and what product to expect to find.

Your goods in operation will probably need to be upgraded as they will need to know where to locate stock for this system to work.

Also, as others have suggested, if you know which your say, top 100 products are by sales volume, then putting all these in pick bins next to each other and nearest to the despatch location will reduce footflow massilvely. Also if you know that when people order product A, 90% of the time they order product B as well, putting these next to or very near each other can also reduce picking times.

We use a more automated system than this in our waehouses, but in essence the information and logic behind letting our pickers kow where to go and what item to pick is the same.

 

[Davek0974]

Some good stuff coming in as usual, thanks

Another of our major problems is the product itself and the vast range we hold. The worst items are the blank greetings cards we make & sell (our core product) This range alone consists of around 150+ different shapes each in anything up to 80-90 different colours, we may hold a minimum of 100 of each colour, popular colours much more. The problem here is of course that they are merely sheets of card, they cannot be wrapped, protected or labelled in any way and must be shelved in such a way that they can be picked for dispatch without damage.

Having one bin for each item would be ideal but as the range is so big this would increase floor space dramatically so we tend to hold maybe 10 colours of one code in each bin, this means that we could not label bins per item. Cutting the range is not really an option as we have always offered a big colour range and are well known in our market for doing so.

It maybe that we have a good system now (apart from some rearranging for efficiency as mentioned in replies so far) and i am just looking for something that is not possible but i do not have a clue about any other company that holds the range we do, its nothing like Amazon or even RS Components as their stock is all coded and wrapped in individual bags, i would guess that they also have automated picking etc.

And yes, stock control is a nightmare as the cards do get damaged etc and keeping the stock levels accurate(ish) is a big task, don't even ask about stock-take This is one reason we do not have live stock levels on our web site, but this is a minor problem in reality.

I think we have scope for change but not sure where to dive in.

 

[theRB]

I can see why this is a really difficult situation, it's a shame that price inhibits a digital solution at present as it seems like this is the ideal solution.

Of course you have the problem that if you need to change a location then you would need to update SKU's which may throw out your product associations on eCommerce platforms. Do you have any bulk locations? If so, how would you know the locations without also adding these to the SKU too?

I'm not sure whether a solution exists at present, but is there a solution that can receive orders from your order processing system, create picklists and your pickers pick from these? Then this program could record stock locations and operate separately from the SOP.

I guess this would be out of your scope?

http://www.ted.com/talks/mick_mountz_the_hidden_world_of_box_packing.html

Regards,
Ryan

 

[Davek0974]

Thanks Ryan, love that video

Luckily we have no mass storage as such, almost all stock is held on the live picking racks.

I did knock up a demo system using a cheap laptop which was mounted on a picking trolley, this picked up the next available order via wifi, displayed the items one line at a time with a picture of that item, it's rack & bin location, qty required and also had an option of allowing the picker to update the live stock levels if an item was missing or short. It then instructed the picker whether they needed to take the order to despatch or to the secondary picking area for more items o be added, I was quite impressed with my ideas on this but unfortunately times changed and cash was not so easiy available.

These days, it would likely work very nicely on an iPad or other tablet but these were not around then and are still going to be costly as we have around ten order pickers to set up with such a system.

Seems like we do have pretty much hit the limit at present then, one thing we do mess about with occasionally is the method of picking...

At present we have 'areas' that each picker covers, the orders pass through each area and are either added to or passed through. The other system we try sometimes is to allow each picker to assemble each order completely. This method does mean far more walking for each picker but does give more accountability for errors as it is clear who picked it, the first method is kinder on the feet but gives more chance of error. We're never sure which one is better though