The Seven Keys to Effective Order Picking System Design

SCDigest editorial staff

View Full Article >>
Order picking in most distribution centers represents the largest area of cost
often 50 percent or more of labor costs and has become increasing complex for
many companies in recent years.
A recent article on the Material Handling Institute web site by Norman Saenz
offers a basic but common sense framework for designing your order picking
systems right. (See also SCDigest column The Dos and Donts of a designing a
World Class Facility)
Saenz offers a seven-step framework:

Activity Profiling: Defining the product movement in terms of lines

ordered per product; in other words, the number of times you travel to a
location to pick an item. Based on this criterion, products are classified as:
fast (A); medium (B); slow (C); or dead (D) moving items. Key is not only
analyzing unit volume but also cubic movement and profile by unit of
measure (eaches, cases, pallets, etc.)

Picking Equipment/Technology: After activity profiling analysis,

consider the appropriate storage mode and technology support for each
picking area. Typical technologies used for each, case and pallet picking
are shown below:

Slotting Strategy: Effective slottingcan increase throughput, improve

labor utilization, reduce injuries, improve cube utilization, and reduce
product damage. The art of effective slotting is assigning the fast-moving
items to the most ergonomic levels, while balancing the volume across
many aisles to reduce order and labor congestionThe slotting assignment
must be reviewed for its effectiveness monthly and/or as the activity of
products fluctuates with seasonality.
An important component of slotting is calculating the number of facings
or locations required for each product. This requirement is determined by
considering the desired days on hand for each product. The days-on-hand
value is multiplied by the quantity ordered per day to calculate the pick
location inventory. This value is divided by the capacity of the assigned

location type to calculate the number of facings required.

Replenishing Forward Pick: Effective replenishment of forward pick

slots is key to order picking productivity, and often the biggest operational
challenge. Replenishment strategies range from visual
(operators/supervisors see a location is running low) to a variety of WMSgenerated replenishment tasks. Storage modes, material handling
equipment decisions, WMS capabilities and warehouse design must all
come together to achieve efficient replenishment.

Layout/Pick Zone Design: The basic choices for picking area design are
U-shaped and straight-through. Picking and replenishment lanes/paths
should generally be kept separate to avoid congestion. The development
of pick zones within the active picking area is crucial to the productivity of
the picking operation. A common philosophy is "items that are shipped
together are also stored and picked together." Other pick zone
philosophies include storing by a product's physical characteristics or
specific product category. A newer philosophy introduced as a result of
growing e-commerce business is creating pick zones by business type or
order size. The driving factors behind selecting a philosophy include
volume-balancing, labor congestion, pick travel distances, routing, and
order consolidation. Layout planning is closely knitted to the development
of picking methods. The development of pick zones within the active
picking area is crucial to the productivity of the picking operation. A
common philosophy is "items that are shipped together are also stored
and picked together." Other pick zone philosophies include storing by a
product's physical characteristics or specific product category. A newer
philosophy introduced as a result of growing e-commerce business is
creating pick zones by business type or order size. The driving factors
behind selecting a philosophy include volume-balancing, labor congestion,
pick travel distances, routing, and order consolidation.

Picking Methods: Picking methods are defined in terms of: (a) pickers
per order - the number of pickers that work on a single order at one time;
(b) lines per pick - the number of orders a single item is picked for at one
time; and (c) periods per shift - the frequency of order scheduling during
one shift.

The most common pick methods are illustrated in the following table:

Material Handling: The warehouse layout and material handling

equipment design and selection are of course closely intertwined, and
much usually be developed using an iterative process.

What would you add to this framework for order picking system design? Let us
know your thoughts.