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The faster you are at picking and packing items in the warehouse, the faster your customers get their orders. But time is also money, so you can also save money by optimizing your workflows in the warehouse – and you can avoid picking errors by using a hand scanner when you pick. There are different picking solutions that can help speed up the picking process, but which solution is the fastest?
We have tested our three different picking solutions;
- manual picking, where you pick for one order at a time,
- the route-optimized picking solution, where you can pick for several orders at once from a route-optimized picking route,
- the digital picking solution, where you can pick from a digital device with route optimization, product images, and scanning of items when picking, so that picking errors are avoided.
In Shipmondo, you have the option of picking with all three solutions. If you are in doubt about what the different picking solutions are, you can read more about them here.
Read much more about the test and see the results below.
Test: How long does it take to pick items from the warehouse?
In short: We have tested which picking solution in Shipmondo that can save you the most time (and steps) at the warehouse.
What we used:
- Five orders with 4-5 items per order
- A warehouse of 152 m²
- A printer for printing pick lists
- A computer for digital pick paths
- A scanner for order check (digital pick paths)
- A phone for timing
See the warehouse below:
What we did: The test step-by-step
The first test was picking with pick lists, which is our most manual picking solution. Here, picking is based on a pick list, printed on paper, with information about the items to be picked. One pick list was printed per order, and the items were found based on location codes.
Time: 6:52 min. in total / 1:22 min. per order.
The second test was made with pick path lists. Here, one pick path is printed with an overview of all the items to be picked. In our test warehouse, there are location codes on the items, so the picking route is optimized based on these. This means that we only had to go through the warehouse once in total, even though five different orders were being picked. Even here, the time was almost halved compared to the previous test pick.
Time: 3:52 min. in total / 0:46 min. per order.
The third and final test was performed with digital pick paths. Here, the picking route is shown on a computer (but it is also possible to use a tablet, phone or handheld terminal) and, in addition to being route-optimized, the picking route also shows product images of the items to be picked. Each item was scanned when picking, which the computer registered. If we scanned a wrong item, the system reported an error message due to order check.
Time: 3:27 min. in total / 0:41 min. per order.
See an overview of the results below:
Are you unsure which solution is right for your business? Learn more about the different picking solutions in Shipmondo by clicking the button below.
The result: Save time with a route-optimized picking solution
The results certainly speak for themselves. You can save up to 50% of your time per order in the warehouse by using a route-optimized picking solution, such as digital pick paths, compared to a regular picking solution without route optimization – not to mention all the steps you can save, because you only have to go through the warehouse once per pick.
Note that our test was made in a 152 m² warehouse but, if you have a larger warehouse, the time savings will be even bigger!
On top of saving time with digital pick paths, you can also avoid picking errors by scanning your items and, in that way, always be sure that you are sending the right items. It is a pure win-win. Make up twice as many orders with digital pick paths vs. manual picking.
Depending on the structure of your warehouse, the average number of items per order, and which items you sell, you might save even more time (and steps)!
So how much time do you spend per order? Optimize your picking with Shipmondo’s digital pick paths – it is worth it.
