Whether your warehouse has hundreds or thousands of unique SKUs, there are endless ways to organize and structure your inventory. Pick modules are a vital component of inventory storage for many operations. They are single, or multi-layer engineered structures that use various warehouse storage systems to store inventory for order fulfillment.
An effective pick module optimizes warehouse layouts and streamlines order fulfillment, reducing the time order pickers spend searching for and picking SKUs. When well-optimized, pick modules can increase order accuracy and streamline manual picking tasks. However, poor optimization causes the following problems:
While these order picking problems are common in warehouses and order fulfillment centers, they’re also preventable. From analyzing SKUs to investing in more space-efficient storage systems, there are numerous strategies and best practices that you can follow to optimize your pick module.
Before you can optimize your pick modules for maximum efficiency, you need to analyze your current operations. What type of order picking methods are you currently using in your facility? How is your warehouse laid out? Are your workstations set up to reduce fatigue and workplace injuries?
Once you understand the ins and outs of your current operations, consider implementing these pick module best practices and strategies.
To better understand what storage systems are ideal for your pick module, you need to analyze and organize your SKUs. We recommend categorizing your SKUs as fast, medium, or slow movers based on throughput. Product type and similarity, as well as seasonality should also be taken into consideration. Here’s a brief overview on throughput to help you better organize SKUs in your pick module:
Warehouse throughput refers to the number of units processed per time interval. By categorizing SKUs as fast-, medium-, and slow-throughput, you can:
Shaving just 10 seconds off the time it takes an order picker to locate, pick, and deliver medium-throughput SKUs will increase capacity (by 100 picks per day) and reduce variable costs (a 20% reduction). This is an example of why it’s essential to implement pick module storage solutions for throughput.
After categorizing your inventory, you can then choose the best types of storage systems for your pick module, ensuring storage is as efficient as possible for all SKU types:
Slow Movers: SpeedCell We recommend static shelving, tilted-pick shelving, or a high-density dynamic storage system, such as SpeedCell, for slow-moving SKUs. A storage solution like SpeedCell maximizes space utilization within standard pallet racking, creating a highly efficient and accurate pick. SpeedCell has been shown to increase storage density by up to 60% while reducing labor costs.
Medium Movers: SpanTrackFor medium movers, carton flow storage systems, like SpanTrack, are an ideal solution to optimize picking. SpanTrack is fully customizable. For each picking, it can be configured with adjustable pick trays, allowing order pickers to pick products from open cases without interference from the shelving above. SpanTrack can also optimize first in, first out (FIFO) storage lanes, which are essential for full case picking. Overall, SpanTrack maintains organized pick faces and improves throughput by up to 150%.
Fast Movers: Pallet TrackFast-moving SKUs are best left on a pallet or loaded into a pallet flow system, such as Pallet Track, for speed. A solution like Pallet Track lets you store a pallet on a pitched conveying surface. The pitch enables your order pickers to move pallets forward quickly and easily as other pallets are emptied. Pallet Track provides FIFO replenishment to your pallet positions and is fully customizable to meet the unique needs of your operation. UNEX Pallet Track eliminates double handling and reduces restocking requirements by 50%.
To decrease the amount of time order pickers spend walking, utilize conveyor systems, like gravity conveyors to move orders throughout your warehouse.
Gravity conveyors move packages without using electricity. Instead, they use wheels or rollers to move items along. They can move orders from your pick module to your warehouse’s shipping area, eliminating the need for employees to push or pull boxes manually as they move through the pick module and into other areas of your operation.
Takeaway conveyors are commonly incorporated into pick modules and installed between aisles. Order pickers can select the SKUs for their orders. Then, the takeaway conveyor moves the order to the next picking zone until it’s ready for packing. Takeaway conveyors can be motorized, but the most cost-effective, space-efficient, and high-performing, durable solution is UNEX Gravity Conveyor.
When used strategically throughout your operation, gravity conveyors reduce wasted motion and streamline the fulfillment process in pick modules and numerous other areas of an operation.
Order picking is essential in any warehouse, impacting your operation’s output and bottom line. But if a warehouse isn’t correctly configured for order pickers — inaccessible shelves are just one example — it can cause employee fatigue, impacting workplace safety and your business’s efficiency.
To enhance picker productivity, accuracy, and speed, we recommend implementing the following strategies, all of which apply to optimizing warehouse pick modules:
Storing SKUs according to throughput, implementing space-saving dynamic storage systems, and focusing on workplace ergonomics can help transform your current pick module setup into a more efficient order picking operation.
Dynamic storage solutions from UNEX, like SpeedCell, SpanTrack, and Pallet Track enable warehouses to fully utilize their available space while improving pick rates and accuracy and increasing SKU density. UNEX solutions are ideal for optimizing pick modules to meet and surpass your efficiency goals.
If you would like to learn more about how our dynamic storage solutions can increase efficiency in your pick modules, we’ve got you covered. Contact our team of experts get on your way to better pick module optimization today!
