6 Tips to Increase Withdrawal Speed

29 April 2022

The separation of orders is one of the most important intralogistics processes for business success and is directly related to customer satisfaction. And not only that. It is a costly activity, accounting for almost 60% of the total cost of managing a warehouse. Therefore, it must be optimized so that resources are used in the best possible way and the company ensures its profitability.

To work with maximum efficiency, it is important to use the right strategies for the type of business and have the support of technologies that eliminate errors and speed up the process. Those who already have efficient separation know how much of a difference investing in innovations makes. The results are seen not only in terms of cost reduction but also in increased sales thanks to the higher quality of service provided.

Therefore, you cannot neglect this important process. It’s time to make the right changes to speed up the picking in your warehouse! In this text, you will have access to six tips that will help you increase picking speed, bringing gains from various orders to your company. Check out the following topics:

Keep SKUs Organized and Grouped

Organized stock is the watchword when it comes to efficiency in picking. If you don’t keep SKUs properly positioned, all other efforts to optimize picking may be in vain. Often, in an attempt to save space, different SKUs are allocated in the same position.

When this happens, the result cannot be different: time is lost in sorting, as employees will take longer to locate the products requested in the order. And as everyone knows, time is money. Imagine if a separator goes to a designated shelf to separate the goods and there are other mixed items there. They will have to search the place until they find the right product.

And, in this case, there is still the possibility of an error in separation, leading to losses of various kinds. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that each SKU is in a specific and strategically defined position. Don’t forget to also have a good routing strategy.

Reduce the Routes of Separators

Many studies over the years have shown that travel time can easily represent 50% to 60% of the total order picking time. That’s why reducing the distances traveled and the number of accesses results in a huge speed gain.

To do this, it is necessary to develop the right strategies to make it a reality. Many of our clients who work with fractional parts have used batch picking, a separation method that groups orders to reduce stock access. With batch picking, each operator picks products from a group of orders in one movement. After this process, the grouped goods are separated based on each order and destination (hive/put wall).

With this strategy, operators don’t need to go back and forth multiple times in the same position to separate the same product, significantly speeding up the collection. This is just one example of how it is possible to reduce travel by adopting the right strategy for the business. Companies that invest in conveyors or automation systems for picking also pursue the same goal.

What they all have in common is the priority given to technology as an ally to reduce trips and accelerate separation.

Try to Place High-Volume Items on Lower Shelves

The verticalization of stock really helps a lot in space utilization. But it is necessary to use the shelves strategically, as this affects the speed of picking.

When pickers constantly have to stretch, look for a ladder, or use other tools to access products located higher up, they end up spending more time sorting. To prevent this from happening, keep high-volume goods at a lower level in the inventory.

This will make collection much easier for employees. Remember: noble products must occupy noble areas. This brings us to the next suggestion.

Strategically Position the Merchandise

A separation process is facilitated when the company knows well the turnover of each product and correctly uses the ABC Classification in composing the layout. Following this scheme, high-turnover products (group A) occupy the best positions in the warehouse, being close to shipping. Medium-turnover products (group B) are in intermediate positions.

Those with low turnover (group C) can be allocated in more distant positions, as they are less accessible. This definition of positions has a significant impact on daily operations, as it brings greater agility in the production of the most requested products.

Accelerating the separation of these items, the company ends up increasing the rate of orders separated/day. It is worth remembering that the ABC classification must be reviewed periodically, and when necessary, changes to the layout must be made.

Invest in Technologies that Support Picking

In point 2, we showed that reducing travel is achieved with investments in technologies, such as the WMS system or automation tools. But the truth is that all the previous topics will be better implemented if you have a warehouse management system, which always works to make good use of resources (people, equipment, and area) and to bring greater agility and precision to all processes.

The WMS helps not only to implement the ideal picking model for your company but also to intelligently handle products, stock rotation, replenishment, grouping, and activity management, among other advantages.

To give you an idea of the gains obtained with the use of the software, one of our clients managed to increase the separation speed by 4 times. 90% of the orders were picked in just 10 minutes.

Always Evaluate Performance

It is essential to monitor the progress of the picking process and, preferably, in real-time. This will allow you to identify moments of slowness and unproductivity, making the necessary adjustments to regain high performance.

Additionally, you will be able to identify errors that can be corrected before they cause rework or losses. It would be even better if your employees could self-manage, monitoring their performance while performing their tasks.