Abstract:

There is still a lot of money to be saved by optimizing order picking processes and technology, without materials handling automation.

The reality is that even high-end Warehouse Management Systems have delivered few improvements in their order picking capabilities in recent years, often using basic algorithms developed many years ago. Companies operating with less robust capabilities, whether it is from an ERP WMS, a second tier system, or legacy WMS, likely have even fewer capabilities to tackle order picking costs.

The fact is order picking is already by far the highest cost activity in most distribution centers. These costs are also rising for many if not most companies, as order profiles continue to change, with more case and "eaches" picking, driven by B2B customer requirements and/or ecommerce order fulfillment.

Companies looking to reduce rising order picking costs and distribution costs as a percent of sales should know that there are focused, new generation order picking solutions that can enable you to reach those goals without changing or upgrading your WMS.

In reality, there are many approaches that can be used individually or in combination that provide a real and proven ability to reduce order picking time and cost without expensive investments in materials handling systems. They include advanced picking processes combined with real-time batching algorithms and pick path optimization, multi-modal Voice solutions, smart-phone based systems, augmented reality, and more.

In this outstanding Videocast, we’ll explore how these new solutions are working right now to generate significant reductions in order picking costs whatever your current environment, with little or no disruption to current operations, and detail the wide portfolio of technologies that can be applied today to get your order picking costs back headed in the right direction. The broadcast will include real world cases studies.

This Videocast will feature SCDigest editor Dan Gilmore and Ron Kubera, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Lucas Systems, an expert on these new order picking approaches.