Pick a peck of products

As a result, the warehouse has been able to keep up with the company's sales growth. “It helped because we didn't have to add quite as many people,” Fearing notes.

Product placement also can affect pick rates. By slotting faster movers in the center or “golden zone” of a flow rack, pickers won't waste time reaching up or down for popular items, Rienecke advises. It's also important to factor in the cube space of a hot-selling product, when evaluating which system will work best.

Carousel technology comes in two types: horizontal and vertical. Horizontal systems have three or four pods of hanging bins, each with 20 to 60 shelves that rotate around, for a total storage capacity of more than 2,500 items, Rienecke said. The cost? Usually, it runs from $250,000 to $350,000.

They work this way: The picker stands in front of the pod of bins, and software commands the carousel to rotate to the correct position. A light tree tells the operator where to pick from, and lights on the shelves behind the operator instruct him where to put the items they've picked. “By the time you turn around again, the carousel is ready for you to pick again,” Rienecke says.

A carefully designed carousel system has pick rates of 250 to 450 picks per hour per person, according to Rienecke. “It's all light-directed and you're batching orders, which makes it even more efficient.”

In contrast, a vertical carousel system, which rotates up to take advantage of ceiling heights of 12 ft. to 18 ft., can work well for warehouses with tight floor space.

How do you choose the right one for you? Keep in mind the mix of products, the number of orders per day, the space in the warehouse and the flow of material. That means stock replenishment and conveyance to the packing or shipping area, Rienecke says.

And merchants with a highly seasonal business should consider the training requirements before choosing a system. Those that rely on voice technology require less time to educate new workers, Teres says.

For example, technology provider Vocollect's voice system leads workers verbally through a set of steps as they pick items. “They don't have to remember what the function keys are or what to do with the piece of paper now that the guy who trained you has walked away,” says Larry Sweeney, a cofounder of Vocollect.

The system sends workers to a location where they find a “check digit” printed on a label. As a double-check, the system relies on the operator to repeat back the correct digits once they have found the location, helping to eliminate errors,

“The improved productivity and accuracy can have a tremendous effect on your bottom line,” Sweeney says.

Vocollects software is available in 23 different languages, making the technology desirable for workers for whom English is a second language, Sweeney adds. And because it uses rugged headsets, which cost “a few thousand dollars” apiece, the operators hands are free to fulfill orders faster, he notes.

	Taking your pick

Still, voice technology isn't as fast as pick-to-light. “Each technology has its pluses and minuses,” Teres argues. “Merchants should look at all the scenarios and try to determine what makes sense for their business.”

Pricing often is a consideration, particularly for smaller merchants that don't have the volume necessary to justify a million-dollar system, Teres says. Generally, a put-to-light cart is the least expensive option, followed by voice technology, barcode with wireless terminals, carousel and pick-to-light.

Traditional pick-to-light is gaining ground as an intuitive way to speed order picking, Pelej says. Instead of reading paper tickets, operators are directed by light modules that show them where to go, and a LED display lets them know how many items to pick.

Here's how it works at Tastefully Simple: An order comes in via the Internet and goes into the warehouse management system. The pick-to-light barcode is prepared and placed on a carton. Then workers scan the box.

“Once you scan the barcode, the lights all light up and you put them in the box,” Fearing says.

Merchants can improve the process by allowing multiple pickers to work on more than one box, Fearing says. The company has about 10 different pick zones incorporating 3,000 light modules, he adds.

The increased speed of pick to light makes it ideal for the 20% of SKUs that often generate 80% of a merchant's volume, says Pelej of Lightning Pick Technologies. Accuracy also improves with pick to light because operators are picking from an identified location instead of having to read a description or SKU number. Fewer errors means better customer service, he says.

Doctors Foster and Smith, a cataloger specializing in pet care products, uses a pick-to-light system with about 3,600 lights for its fastest sellers, says warehouse manager Audrey Lepak. It uses an RFID gun for other products.

Since adding the technology more than four years ago, “our volume has grown and we've gotten more efficient,” Lepak says.

The company employs about 35 pickers, and those using the lights have a pick rate that's three to four times faster than those in the other areas using different systems. “We're always looking at how can we improve what we have,” she adds. “Rather than adding more space, we've been able to make it more efficient.”

Still, the price per light means it's not financially feasible to use the pick-to-light technology throughout the cataloger's warehouse, according to Lepak.

At $180 a light, operations with 1,000 SKUs or more often start to consider using more than one technology in their warehouse, Pelej concurs. “It wouldn't be cost effective to put a light for every SKU,” he says. “We have customers using pick to light in fast-moving areas and RF (radio frequency) pick in medium locations.”

Generally, merchants achieve a 40% increase in pick-rate productivity using pick to light vs. paper or other picking methods, Pelej said. What's more, accuracy rates are nearly flawless and training is expedited.

“Operators like using it. Employee retention improves significantly,” Reinecke says.