Order Picking & Fulfillment | Warehousing Insights | Material Handling Systems - Part 4
Cisco-Eagle Logo
Blog Home > Order Picking & Fulfillment

Conveyor Down in the 2nd Shift, On a Holiday Eve

July 13, 2012
by

This note came to us regarding one of our Service & Maintenance clients, a major retailer distribution operation in Dallas, TX, and the experience it had with our technician. With a power conveyor out during the evening, the night before a holiday, he needed fast assistance.

 

“Tuesday night (July 3) we experienced a significant conveyor failure on night shift. The belt on a straight conveyor section leading into a critical area had broken and wrapped around the drive unit. A huge mess on the night before a holiday.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Order Picking & Fulfillment|

10 Ways to Reduce Inventory Errors Through Order Picking

June 25, 2012
by

checking inventory at a warehouse

Mistakes happen, but in order picking operations, reducing the number of errors is critical. Because order picking is the last touch point between you and your customers, it’s more important than public relations, press releases, or your website. Whether you’re shipping direct to consumers or to another processing operation, customers are directly impacted. Not only is the customer with the incorrect order harmed, so are potential future customers who suffer because of inventory errors delaying orders.

What are some ways you can increase inventory accuracy related to order picking?

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags:
Posted in Order Picking & Fulfillment|

Hand Carts vs. Pallets for Retail Distribution

September 19, 2011
by

Pallet and order picking carts for retail distribution

Retail distribution facilities have multiple options for shipping product to store locations. They can send full pallets which must be unwrapped, unloaded, and stocked at the store location. They can send packed carts that can easily be rolled onto store floors and stocked at the point of sale. What method works best?

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Order Picking & Fulfillment|

Picking to Cartons vs. Picking to Totes

July 14, 2011
by

conveyor comparison totes vs cartons

In a pick-to-tote operation, you have the advantage of a dedicated packing function that allows more precise packaging and evaluation of order quality. That added quality comes at a price, however: floor space, time, labor and dollars. Can the same functions be executed in a pick-to-carton operation?

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Order Picking & Fulfillment|

How to Improve Order Picking without Automation

November 20, 2009
by

picking from flow racks
Cliff Holste at Supply Chain Digest (opens in a new window) has a good piece on ways to improve picking productivity.

Distribution centers will benefit from emerging automated case picking technologies, but those don’t fit for every operation, at every level. They’re also expensive upgrades, so your ROI has to be considered as well.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Order Picking & Fulfillment|

How to Quadruple the Number of Pick Faces in Carton Flow

December 26, 2008
by

order picking line with flow storage
When your load is case-picked, relatively light, and smooth, column flow racks allow you to create storage density and increase the number of pick faces.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Order Picking & Fulfillment|

When it Comes to Order Picking, Don’t Walk the Walk

November 3, 2008
by

warehouse workers walking

Three areas – picking, packing and returns – incur anywhere from 60% to 80% of labor costs in your typical distribution operation. 60% of the average pickers’ time is spent walking. Not picking, not packing, not checking for quality and accuracy – walking. This is an activity that cannot add value to your operation or to your customers, so you should strive to eliminate it whenever possible. Not only does it waste time, it makes people tired, and tends to cause a loss in focus and can increase error rates.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Order Picking & Fulfillment|

Comparing Gravity Flow Rack Types

June 15, 2008
by

Carton flow rack system for order picking

Walk into any order fulfillment operation, and you will see gravity flow rack.

The reason is obvious–it’s one of the best ways to pick orders utilizing first-in, first-out principles. It used to be that there was one kind of the stuff, the plastic-wheel tracks, but these days the choices are more diverse than ever. For the most part, these flow rack types act the same; they decline toward the picker and boxes or totes or even larger components flow toward him. They’re restocked from the rear and picked from the front onto a takeaway conveyor line, a cart, workstation, or another step in the process.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Order Picking & Fulfillment|

Read our customer reviews