In this article, we present 9 best practices to optimize your order picking.
E-commerce order preparation (and therefore the choice of logistics processes) is the key to logistics success: it’s the result of the e-merchant’s performance that will be visible to the end customer. Poorly managed, logistics can be a source of customer dissatisfaction. It is a strategic element for any company operating in the e-commerce sector. Handling a customer’s order can be time-consuming if the product is not available in stock or is poorly located in the warehouse. The order may be incomplete, or there may be a product inversion (picking error). The parcel may arrive damaged if the packaging is inadequate, etc.
Improving logistics to optimize order preparation is therefore a necessity for all e-tailers. So how do you make e-commerce order picking a positive customer experience? A high-performance e-commerce order-picking solution like Shippingbo will enable you to optimize your processes, but it’s also essential to implement a number of best practices.
First of all, it’s worth pointing out that the parameters to be taken into account differ from one company to another. Each company has its own organization, its own products, different customers, different order profiles, and so on. That’s why we’ve put together a series of practices that can be adapted to your company’s needs, and which will help you optimize your e-commerce order preparation and, consequently, your customer satisfaction. To achieve efficiency in the order preparation process (in terms of costs, lead times and quality), you can intervene in a number of ways.
1- Reduce journey length
The more the warehouse organization is optimized upstream, the shorter the distances to be covered by order pickers. It will therefore be possible to entrust more orders to the same picker, or to reduce the payroll. To optimize order picking, first think about how your warehouse is organized.
It is possible to opt for an ABC-type classification and ordering of references. The Pareto (or ABC) method involves analyzing sales over a given period and classifying products into three categories: A (products with high turnover = very high sales), B (products with medium turnover) and C (products with low turnover = very low sales). The products with the highest order volumes are located at the most accessible points for the order pickers, thus optimizing their movements.
In order to limit the number of steps taken by order pickers in a day, it is essential to optimize their movements with a suitable order picking system. By respecting picking circuits that do not require the order picker to pass through the same place several times (optimized picking order), it is possible to limit the distances covered.
2- Global picking, essential for e-commerce order preparation
The principle of global picking is a logistical process that consists of generating a single movement in the warehouse to pick the products required to prepare a set of orders. Global picking reduces the number of movements in the warehouse, thus increasing productivity. The larger the warehouse surface area, the more relevant the principle of global picking is, and the more time and effort it saves – in other words, the greater the optimization of order picking.
To gain an idea of the time and productivity saved by implementing a global picking system, some logisticians record the distances covered by their pickers during the day (smartphone applications can be used to measure the number of steps or the distance in km). The results are sometimes surprising! In a 7-hour day, an order picker can cover the equivalent distance of a half-marathon!
In short, it’s an optimized form of point 1. However, whereas the ABC method only requires a warehouse layout, global picking requires a WMS (Warehouse Management System) to manage identified storage locations, optimized picking routes, and to generate order picking sessions or waves (a homogeneous set of several orders). These functions are mostly standard in WMSs.
WMS systems offer the possibility of editing a preparation or picking slip with the list of locations in the order of the picking route, OR the possibility of carrying out global picking using a PDA.
Using the PDA for global picking has a number of advantages, and can make a major contribution to optimizing order picking. Firstly, it avoids the need to print out mountains of paper, and in some cases, to lose some of it. Secondly, the PDA makes picking more secure: if the product scanned is not the right one, the PDA will emit a visual and audible alert. This means no more picking errors. The final advantage of using a PDA is that you can assign preparations or picks to a user, and thus monitor the activity of his pickers (productivity calculation, for example).
The logistics process of picking products can be carried out in any type of mobile container: caddies, carts, etc. It all depends on the morphology of the products and the quantities to be picked for a preparation session or wave.
3- Limit the risk of damage
What could be more annoying for a customer than to receive an order damaged or spoiled by a heavy, liquid or toxic product?
To avoid this, it’s important to set up picking paths that respect the nature of the products (don’t pick toxic items at the same time as foodstuffs, for example), and organize the picking of items in an order that respects their weight and density (during e-commerce order picking, place the most dense items below fragile items).
Wedging products inside packages prevents them from being crushed during multiple handling operations during transport and delivery.
Similarly, the choice of shipping packaging is strategic in guaranteeing the physical integrity of products. There are many different types of packaging available for deliveries to merchant sites: cardboard boxes (with different levels of robustness: single-flute, double-flute and triple-flute), plastic pouches, envelopes, wooden boxes, and so on. A careful study of the characteristics of products and orders is necessary to choose the right packaging.
4- Optimize article accessibility
To reduce the workload of order pickers, and thus increase their productivity, there are a number of reflexes to acquire: don’t place heavy items high up, don’t store items too deep on shelves, set up picking aisles that allow pickers to pass each other, and don’t launch too many picks in the same area at the same time (risk of bottlenecks in front of picking locations for fast-moving items).
Once again, it’s theanalysis of products (characteristics and rotation), as well asorders , that will enable you to optimize your stock layout.
In addition to heavy products, you may sometimes come across atypical cases in your e-commerce logistics management.
5- Atypical orders or bulky products
In order to handle these orders differently, we recommend tagging atypical products in the article database: bulky products, products containing hazardous materials, products with serial numbers, products requiring special packaging.
In this way, we can generate a specific picking session with all orders containing at least one “atypical” product, and perform single-order picking for example.
For bulky products or orders shipped by pallet, the cabinet is converted into an area of X pallets. One pallet = one customer order. Each pallet location has a number for identification during sorting.
6- Use storage units adapted to product characteristics
As we’ve just seen, when you’re looking for the best way to prepare an e-commerce order, it’s important to store and categorize your products properly, even more so when you’re dealing with atypical cases.
For efficient product picking, it’s important to choose storage units according to product rotation, as well as item volume and density.
There are many different types of product storage. Rack pallets are the best option for palletized product storage. Dynamic furniture is optimized for the storage and picking of fast-moving products, as are simple shelving units for medium and slow-moving products.
7- Improving workstation ergonomics for e-commerce order picking
To reduce workloads and improve productivity, you need to choose the right order-picking furniture, forklift trucks and all types of handling equipment. Logistics activities are repetitive. To protect your staff’s health and avoid the risks of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), you may need to carry out a workstation study for certain professions.
It’s all too often forgotten that the pain of working is linked to the rate at which a logistics order is prepared , and that reducing the former allows us to increase the latter.
As part of workstation design, to facilitate sorting and order picking, it is also possible to use hive sorting.
8- Breakdown sorting for multi-reference orders or Put to Pack
What is burst sorting?
When the number of SKUs per order is two or more, it makes sense to set up a logistics picking process for these orders. This picking method is also known as “burst sorting”.
The principle of burst sorting is used in many logistics organizations, and can be applied in any configuration and with any product.
Explosion sorting consists in making a global pick to pick all the products required to prepare several orders at once. Your picking time is optimized because there is only one picking path in the stock to prepare a set of several orders.
You then sort the products into X orders, using a sorting cabinet or beehive. The WMS gives you an indication of where to place the product according to the item scanned. Each box corresponds to a customer order.
Once all the products have been broken down into boxes, all the products in box 1 are packed and dispatched again, followed by the products in box 2, … and so on.
How to create a breakout cabinet?
To be effective, the furniture must be designed according to the type of order you are placing:
- Dimensions, average weight of products to adapt box dimensions
- The number of products a picker can pick at one time = the maximum number of orders per picking session = the number of slots in the cabinet.
Once this calculation has been made, any piece of furniture corresponding to these constraints / dimensions can be used, even Ikea furniture.
In some cases, when the size of the products allows it, it may be worthwhile to have a mobile bursting cabinet. The products are sorted and broken down as they are picked from stock. In this way, products are handled only once for picking and bursting.
This sorting-bursting process can also be industrialized by incorporating put-to-light technology.
In order to optimize the bursting cabinet principle (productivity and reliability), we can add technologies such as Pick to Light System. This system helps you place your products in the right box. It eliminates the need for the operator to think, and ensures that the product is deposited in the right slot.
Each time a product is scanned, the WMS lights up the box corresponding to the order.
Some systems even go so far as to ensure that the product is deposited in the right slot, using an infrared ray system for example.
For large order volumes, there are double-entry cabinets that allow you to work on both sides of the cabinet. On one side, products are sorted and broken down to reconstitute orders. On the other, products are picked from complete orders for packing. Everything is controlled by the WMS, which lights up the corresponding boxes on either side of the cabinet.
On the other hand, if you have a smaller volume of ecommerce orders to prepare, you don’t need to use break-down sorting, and can instead use Pick and Pack or Pick to Light.
9- Pick and Pack and Pick to Light
When the number of product references is less than 50, it’s worth proposing a different order-picking logic that will eliminate the need to move around the warehouse. In this configuration, picking stock can be placed next to the packing station, so that orders can be prepared as they come in. This is known as pick and pack. This system can be improved by adding pick-to-light technology. In other words, when an order is placed, the place where the product to be picked is placed will light up with the help of a light box, displaying the quantity of product to be picked. It’s a pick-to-light aid.
Pick and Pack: placement of picking stock next to the packing station, so that orders can be prepared as they come in.
Pick to Light: a system where the product to be picked is placed, which lights up when an order is placed and displays the quantity of product to be picked.
Boost your e-commerce order preparation with Shippingbo
Applying these best practices will enable you to optimize your order preparation to dispatch e-commerce orders as quickly as possible.
In all cases, the first step in choosing an order-picking logistics process is to carry out a detailed analysis of the order history and product base. To improve productivity and picking quality, split picking is often recommended for multi-reference orders, as the principle is simple and foolproof. However, it’s not suitable for all order volumes, and even when it’s right for you, it requires a WMS or an order-picking logistics solution.
ShippingBo meets all these needs by combining OMS, WMS and TMS functionalities in a single solution.
After centralizing the orders received from your online stores, marketplaces and private sales sites, the solution automatically establishes the list of products to be picked and defines the route to be taken through the warehouse.
Whatever your order volume, your warehouse and your logistics processes, ShippingBo helps you optimize your e-commerce order picking logistics by linking your products to the solution, so you can define the best process to adopt at all times.
The solution alsoprevents out-of-stock sales, as all stocks are automatically updated in real time on marketplaces in France in particular. Your parcel labels are printed directly in the carrier’s format. Tracking is provided from receipt to final delivery, enabling you to notify your buyers of the progress of their orders.
” But first, it’s essential to know your order profile and your products. An in-depth logistics diagnosis of your warehouse is also essential in a logistics optimization approach. These two steps will help you to understand the areas for optimization, so that you can move towards the solutions best suited to your company and your market. ”
Florian LAILLETDirector of the Supply Chain Department at ShippingBo
