What is Wave Picking?

Many of the warehouses use a variation of the ways to manage picking: –

• Wave Picking
• Zone Picking:
• Batch Picking:

Wave Picking: Throughout the day orders are grouped and picked up in batches at specific intervals. By using a robust Inventory Management System, wave picking helps warehouse operations by improving efficiency by not just picking the right items but also picking them at the perfect time.

It can be used as a separate pick strategy or combined with batch picking or zone picking to increase the efficiency of wave picking. It is especially efficient in warehouses that have the capacity to store a large number of SKUs.

To minimize any wait time, wave picking takes staff movement and location into account. It also reduces wasted time by finding a perfect workflow based on warehouse assigned requests, layout, and availability of equipment.

Importance of Wave Picking

• More Efficient and Reduced Labor Costs: Wave picking not only improves efficiency when combined with an inventory management system/warehouse management system but also helps to control the workflow in the warehouse. This converted into reduced labor costs and more efficient use of resources and time.

• Saves Money: There will be fewer returns when the orders are more accurate and have been done in a proper manner. Returns not only reduced the profits and other benefits but also takes a lot of time to complete the process. They must be processed manually, restocked, and resold. As well as the cost of the return, delivery costs also going to increase with it.

• Satisfied Customers Spend More: When orders are done by the customers for the products, they don’t think or care about the logistics and supply chain but they expect fast and accurate delivery. If the process isn’t done right or having some issues with it then they aren’t going to be happy with the results. Therefore, it requires the seller’s money or cost to the company to fix the issues and pay to customers. As a result, if the customer gets satisfied with the product as well as the delivery of the product. In this case, the customer is ready to spend more or purchase the products happily.

How Wave Picking Works

The wave picking process starts with your inventory and warehouse management software. This software will create a consolidated pick list based on any number of variables, including:

• Transportation scheduling
• Warehouse staffing
• Warehouse layout
• Customer delivery guarantees
• Customer delivery regions
• Load times
• Equipment needs to pick

Key Inefficiency Challenges that Wave Picking can resolve:

1. Inventory Inaccuracy
2. Inventory Location & Warehouse Layout
3. Redundant Processes & Human Error
4. Picking Optimization

1. Inventory Inaccuracy

Multi-warehouse management challenges, theft, human error, ineffective physical counts, audits or cycle counts, and lack of processes or automation are the reasons your inventory levels are inaccurate. Wave picking can resolve these types of inefficiency with Meta ADCS (Advanced Warehouse Management System).

2. Inventory Location & Warehouse Layouts

Inefficient warehouse layouts and less than optimal inventory location planning can slow operations significantly. In a period of single-line client orders prompting enormous SKU varieties in littler amounts and unpredictable interest designs, pickers can battle without direction.

3. Redundant Processes and Human Error

Human error is still the top issue when it comes to warehouse operations. Such a large number of distribution centers despite everything have manual procedures set up. To maintain order accuracy, they may still be utilizing a picker, checker, stager, and loader strategy. These redundant processes can significantly slow down the operations and lead to human error when a pick-up ticket must pass through various hands. It can be difficult to maintain accuracy and efficiency without a robust Inventory Management System in place.

4. Picking Optimization

Warehouse operations are simply cannot afford to be inefficient. When it comes to eCommerce, a high bar for all retailers is Amazon. Customers now expect orders to arrive quickly at the proper time.

This not only makes the picking process more labor-intensive and time-sensitive than traditional warehouse activities evolving around the warehouses but also an expensive process. That’s why most of the eCommerce orders consist of eaches. The quantity of one order is often combined with other eaches which may be in different parts of the warehouse They should be merged into one shipment in each-picking request get together before delivery.

Improve Your Efficiency and Accuracy with Wave Picking

Notwithstanding single request picking and the pick and pack technique, we offer help for wave picking. At the point when it’s actualized accurately in your office, wave picking can improve profitability while continuing working costs low — successfully helping you get increasingly out of your group without bargaining precision. This will help you to improve your efficiency and accuracy of your warehouse process.

For more information and a tailored demonstration reach out to MetaOption LLC.