Pick and pack!

Pick and pack is part of a complete supply chain management process commonly used in retail distribution of goods in order to expedite the order fulfillment process.

Pick and pack entails receiving the incoming merchandise at the warehouse, disassembling it, picking the relevant products needed to fill any given order, and re-packing it before shipping it to their final destination.

In the next video you can see how “pick and pack” works

The success of the pick and pack approach relies on the organization of the warehouse space and staff. Most large companies typically use technology to manage this process, in some cases automated systems handle the process helping to reduce the time between the preparation of the package and the shipping to the final customer.

Making your warehouse pick and pack process more efficient and cost effective must be the top priority for any company. The following tips are key to increase the reliability of this process:

Item location

The warehouse layout is vital so that fast moving items are located in zones near the packing areas, this will help to reduce the idle time and increase the productivity. Another tip any warehouse manager should keep in mind is trying to locate near each other those items frequently purchased together.

Pick areas

A tidy warehouse is a more efficient warehouse, therefore bins, shelves and picking areas should always be in pristine condition in order to facilitate the pick and packing process avoiding at all cost scruffy areas that will force workers to waste their time finding the item they need. Having a neat warehouse will make a massive impact on labor productivity.

Standard packaging

Despite the inevitable time the worker will have to spend packing the product before dispatching it, having several package sizes will help to save time and cost and will avoid the packers waste of time derived from making decisions about the best box to use.