ORDER PICKING OPTIMIZATION

Chapter eight RightPick RightShip: Order Picking and Shipping

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Figure 8.17 Serpentine and mainline picking with side trips

Serpentine Picking

Mainline with Side Trips

Side Trips Main Picking Path

In order picking from a pod of two or three carousels, picking from alternating carousels should eliminate any idle time for the order picker waiting for the carousel, and the A-activity zone should be defined as the locations at or near waist level. Follow the Map to Slot Simply stated, the principle of golden zoning is to store the most popular items in the most accessible locations. In RightSlot we rank each location by accessibility and rank each item by pick density. We slot the item with the highest pick density in the location with the greatest accessibility. We slot the item with the second highest picking density in the location with the second greatest accessibility. We continue until all the items have been slotted and the locations occupied. Develop Re-slotting Statistics Unfortunately, almost as soon as an item is properly slotted, its activity profile changes. For example, in the mail-order industry, changes in catalogs yield major changes to thewarehouse activity profile andmajor changes to the slotting requirements. Hence it is critical to maintain current slotting to keep the pro ductivity and storage-density gains achieved under the initial slotting program.

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