en
Written by Bjorn Hutgens, Manager sales
Estimated reading time 7 minutes
Tip for reducing picking errors
Any company that has a warehouse and processes e-commerce orders undoubtedly has a logistic department. Picking is one of the most important tasks in this department. This task contributes to the economic success of the company.
But how accurate is order picking in a warehouse? In an ideal world, every order that is packed and shipped to a customer would be perfect. The reality is different. Picking errors can occur for a variety of reasons. By addressing some of the most common picking errors, you can avoid unnecessary work, costs and customer loss.
After reading this article and white paper, you know:
- What a logistic process looks like;
- How picking errors can occur;
- When it is useful to automate the logistic process;
- What automation possibilities there are.
Download the free white paper here
What does a logistic process look like?
What a logistic process exactly looks like, is different per company. However, there are a number of main activities that are almost always part of the logistic process:
- Create and print the pick order;
- Collecting the articles;
- Move the collected items to a checkpoint;
- Check the picking order;
- Approving and reporting the picking order, and make it ready for dispatch.
How do picking errors occur?
Mandy mistakes that are made during order picking or packing can lead to customer complaints. Although it is difficult to get everything right to perfection, major improvements can certainly be made to the process. This way it can be ensured that e-commerce orders are handled and shipped in the best possible way. To achieve this, it is good to know how picking errors can occur when preparing orders.
- Picking the wrong article = wrong order picking
When an item is in the wrong place in the warehouse, it is likely that the person responsible will place the wrong item in the box. - Picking the wrong number of items
It can happen that a warehouse worker picks more or fewer items than necessary because the quantity of items is indicated incorrectly. - Wrong interpretation of the article number
The coding of a storage location is one of the most common errors in logistics. The system ensures that an employee can quickly find the storage location of an article. But this can also often lead to errors; instead of the employee interpreting the item number correctly, he/she reads a different number and collects a different item. - Items are distributed throughout the warehouse
This error can lead to loss of time during order picking: the warehouse employee has to go to different areas in the warehouse to find the right article number. - Combining two or more orders
It often happens that a warehouse employee is responsible for picking multiple items for different orders. This method of working does increase the speed of order processing but, on the other hand, it is very risky because a lack of attention can lead to errors.
So there are many factors that can lead to errors in order preparation. To avoid losing money, time and customers, there are various solutions that can be implemented to optimise and automate the order preparation process. But when is it useful to automate a logistics process? You can read about it below.
When is it useful to automate the logistic process?
Whether it makes sense to automate a logistics process depends on a number of things:
Size of your company: A small company with a few orders per week can easily manage the logistics process. But as the number of orders grows, difficulties can arise. In that case, look for steps that can be automated.
Tasks within the process: A logistics process can be divided into physical work and administrative work. Administrative tasks include the creation of a picking order. Physical activities include the collection of articles. Both activities can be automated.
Expected savings: Automating the logistic process only makes sense if it brings sufficient benefits. Like: time savings, money savings, fewer picking errors, smaller stocks, etc.
What automation options are there?
Now that we know that an automation step within the logistic process makes sense, we are only missing the types of solutions that are available. There are various methods and technologies for reducing picking errors. One of these technologies is the Pick to light system. In this system, luminous LEDs indicate to warehouse staff which and how many items should be picked.
Want to know how this system works exactly? Then download our entire white paper.
What our customers in the Supply Chain & Internal Logistics sector say about us
‘Looking back on this project, we have to say that the cooperation with ARCO was very smooth. We joined forces and implemented the best solution for our production line. Where we previously used many manual and labour-intensive processes, we now have a fully automated system that enables us to work very efficiently.’
‘We greatly appreciated ARCO’s ability to respond quickly. But not only that, they demonstrated exceptional creativity when devising the solution and the various test set-ups that they developed to test the design. The close cooperation between ARCO and ourselves facilitated the successful implementation of this particular packaging line.’
‘’ We are very satisfied with ARCO’s automated solution and how it fits perfectly in our picking line. ARCO worked together with us on the solution from start to finish. We had a good cooperation in which customer focus was key. During implementation, the technicians worked neatly and without any inconvenience. We will certainly come back to ARCO for more solutions.’’
Want to know more?
Feel free to get in touch – we are more than happy to discuss all the possibilities, together.
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