Manual vs. automated picking
As a business that fulfills and ships orders for customers, the picking process, are likely to consume more resources than any other area of the fulfillment operation. Every company has a picking process whether it is an organized or a routine based process. The question is; As you grow, will you be able to proceed using that process in order to meet the accuracy and delivery demands of the customers?
Why optimizing the picking process?
As demands continue to grow businesses are forced to optimize continuously. This entails scouting for new ways of optimizing and implementing new technologies. But why is it that important to optimize the picking processes? For a starter let us highlight the benefits of optimizing the picking process.
Reducing costs is the inevitable subject that all managers always will be looking at. Accuracy is connected to making customers happy, but it can also be very expensive to make picking mistakes, especially if the mistake is caught late in the order process or even caught by the customer itself.
Manual picking or single order picking is a common fulfillment method, but it is also extremely time-consuming, and many mistakes do happen.
Order picking is one of the most important processes for a company because fast and accurate order fulfillment gives a huge increase in customer satisfaction. Therefore, the order picking method is crucial for your company and especially it’s economic growth.
As your business continues to grow you will at some point be forced to evaluate and optimize continuously.
By optimizing your max throughput, you will be able to handle an increased amount of orders with the same number of employees in the same amount of time. The derived effect will quickly show an improved turnover.
Customer satisfaction is key. Increased demands for fast delivery time, high order mix and customization are becoming the new standard. These demands have to be met to keep customers satisfied.
Improving processes by moving orders out of the door faster, reducing the cost-per-pick will most likely improve your competitiveness.
How to optimize the picking process
Highlighting the benefits of optimization of the picking process, may have confirmed you in what you already know. The question is then – How do you optimize?
Once you have analyzed your current processes and held them up against your expected growth you will be better situated to choose the best picking method for your business.
