Walking in an order picking operation isn't productive. In fact, it's terribly counter-productive. It causes fatigue, which in turn reduces throughput, increases errors and safety concerns. Workers who are tired make worse decisions, pick less, and pick it less accurately.
While the issue of walking is more complicated than this graphic can show, and solutions are more varied than space allows, this is a good overview of the reasons you should care about walking times, and some methods you can use to reduce it. Solutions can range from automated storage and carousels to process improvements, carton flow and high density shelving to lean design, facility layout, zone picking schemes and more.
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