SCDigest
Editorial Staff
SC Digest Says: |
The technique
could also work with RF picking, though
likely would require some WMS modification.
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A simple
technique offers distribution managers the
chance to improve picking productivity in
split case pick modules
by eliminating picker “deadheading”
back to the start of the zone.
In high and
medium volume piece or split case picking
areas, many companies use some version of
zone picking, in which operators work a
specific range of locations for each tote
or carton. After the individual picks for
a carton or tote are complete within the
zone, the container is passed on to the
next picker, or sent to shipping if complete,
generally using either an unpowered or powered
conveyor system. Picking instructions in
such a system have typically been delivered
to operators via a Radio Frequency (RF)
device, or more recently through a voice
terminal.
In most zone
picking operations, after the set of picks
for the zone are complete, the operator
will walk back to the beginning of the zone
to start working on the next carton or tote.
This operator “deadheading”
– walking back to the start of the
zone – eats up a lot of time over
the course of a shift.
If the Warehouse
Management System software was configured
to simply reverse the sequence of the picks
in the zone after each carton is complete,
that deadheading could be eliminated.
Steve
Belardi,
VP of Logistics for sporting goods and apparel
retailer Sport Chalet, offered this smart
tip at the recent HighJump Software Users
Conference in San
Diego.
He noted that the use of voice technology
makes the process especially easy –
after identifying the carton or tote to
the system, the operator simply speaks “reverse,”
and the WMS re-sequences the order of the
picks in the zone. In Sport Chalet’s
case, this change alone led to an almost
15% gain in split case productivity.
The technique
could also work with RF picking, though
likely would require some WMS modification.
After scanning the next carton or tote,
a menu choice on the RF screen would be
provided that would allow the operator to
select “Reverse Pick Sequence”
or something similar to accomplish the same
result.
The available
savings will depend on several factors,
especially the length of the zones. It would
seem most effective and be least disruptive
to flow if the picker can take two empty
cartons or totes at the beginning of the
zone, picking one on the way up, and the
other on the way back.
Another
technique to improve split case picking
efficiency is the concept of “bucket
brigades,” in which operators don’t
use defined zones at all, and pass work
to each other based on the speed each picker
operates, as SCDigest detailed earlier this
year. (See Bees,
Order Picking and Self-Organizing Logistics
Systems.)
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