What is Picking and Packing?

Picking is the physical retrieval of an item from the warehouse. For modern warehouses, this is a computer-driven process that tells where a pick item is located. The pick has long been a process that is fraught with errors, even with computerized assistance. It takes an experienced warehousing expert to devise an inventory management system that reduces errors while maximizing efficiency.

Once all items that are to be included in a shipment are gathered and double-checked against the order, the packing process bundles the products together and protects them for transportation. The same software that generated the pick can also calculate the size of the box needed for each order. This reduces material costs and makes the packing process even more efficient.

Different warehouses can use different systems for picking and packing. The choice of system is critical to how efficient picking and packing will be; the more orders that are processed and fulfilled in a certain amount of time, the lower the fulfillment costs will be. 

This is the most straightforward way of fulfilling an order. An employee takes a list for a single order and gathers all the items for that order until it is filled when they move on to the next. This is the easiest to understand and may work for very small warehouses with only a few different products and a few orders per day. Large warehouses, however, will need to use more efficient processes. 

While similar to piece pick and pack, batch systems pick multiple orders at the same time. Each batch of orders is for items in the same area of the warehouse, with the goal being to give pickers an efficient path through a warehouse. Batch orders are great when you have a moderate amount of orders, and you designate a single time of day to fulfill all orders at once. While batch orders do save time, especially if you have multiple orders for the same item, multiple lists may confuse pickers, and accuracy rates may suffer. 

Zone fulfillment puts employees in a specific area to only pick products in their designated zone before passing the pick list to a new location and a different picker. While this is much more efficient because employees stay in the same place, it can bog down if a number of orders need fulfillment from multiple zones, the process can slow down. 

A combination of batch and zone picking, wave picking has pickers fill batches of orders from a certain zone before passing the batch to the next zone. This system grew out of necessity for large warehouses with thousands of items both in high and low fulfillment volumes.

The goal of picking and packing is to efficiently get a shipment out the door quickly and accurately, and FW Logistics makes sure we nail this for every client. How?

Ultimately, our full-service pick-and-pack solutions give you full control of your shipping and inventory, all while being able to focus on your core business. We understand how to pick and pack in a warehouse, and we apply this expertise to every client. At FW Logistics, we have the space to ensure you always have a place to store your products. If you are disappointed with your current outsourced fulfillment process, give us a call. We offer warehousing, fulfillment, logistics, and transportation services that are scaled to your needs.