Put to Order

Put to order is "goods to person" picking method in which an order picker focuses on distributing a single item at a time across multiple orders. This is in contrast to a traditional "orders to goods" method in which an order picker visits multiple locations to gather stock for a single customer order.

Put to Order is appropriate for environments in which:

there are a limited number of outbound orders each day (for example retail replenishment, where the number of orders is limited to the number of stores)
there are no fixed picking location for products or products are stored in a "block stack" configuration where it might not be practical to direct a picker to a specific product.

Please note: Your system will likely have been customised and may differ slightly from this process. Certain prompts may have been added to assist in workflows specific to your company, or removed to streamline the process.

Getting Started

Within Navigator WMS, go to the Pick Overview screen.
Review the list of orders to be picked, and tick the orders you want to pick now.
Click the 'Create Wave' button.
Navigator will open up the 'Wave' screen. Click the run button next to the option 'Batch Pick and Put to Order' option.
Navigator will generate a "bulk" pickslip, containing all of the items to be picked across each pick slip on the wave.

Bulk Pick

From Navigator Voice, sign on and select option 8 - Bulk Pick.
Navigator Voice will assign this order to a picker, who is directed from one location to another.
Pick instructions can be sorted according to weight of the item (allowing for heavier items to be placed on the bottom of the pallet) or the picking sequence of the stock item.
Each time the picker confirms the quantity picked, a "lot number" is also spoken. Navigator transfers inventory from the picking location to the 'container'.
At any time, the person performing the "bulk" pick may drop off the picked "lot numbers" to the picking area, then continue on to find the rest of the stock for the bulk pick.

Put to Order

Voice System Conversation

Explanation

Step 1. Identification of the Lot number

Navigator: 'Container number?'

User: 102941, ready

Navigator: 'Container check digit?'

User: 123

The picker retrieves the next pallet containing stock to be picked. Usually the pallet has been delivered to the picking area by a forklift operator, and pallets are queued on the ground awaiting picking.

Speak the container number from the label, then speak the container check digit. The system will check that the pallet number is valid, and retrieve a list of orders relevant to the stock item on the pallet.

Step 2. Direction to the Order

Navigator: 'Pick slip 1024, check digit?' or 'Store 912, check digit?'

User: 196

The system identifies the next order (or store) requiring the item from the current pallet and tells the picker where the next batch of items should be placed. To confirm that the product is being picked to the correct order, the Talkman asks the user to speak back the check digit relevant to the order. If the check digit spoken does not match the expected value for the order, the picker receives an error message and must re-enter the check digit.

Step 3. Quantity

Navigator: 'Put 30.'

User: 30, ready.

The system tells the picker how many items need to be picked for the current order. The user should speak the quantity they can place with the order and say ready.

If the picker attempts to confirm more than the amount required for the pickslip (including any items picked onto previous pallets or by other staff), the system speaks an error message and the user is prompted to re-speak the value. 'Too many items placed. Expected 30, current tally is 10, heard 30.'
The picker may pick less than the quantity requested (for example, if a pallet is full). In this case, the item can be picked from the next available pallet of stock.

Step 4. Empty Pallet

Navigator: 'Container complete. For the next container, say ready.'

User: ready.

Once all items have been picked from the pallet, the system tells the picker that the pallet is empty and prompts for the next pallet. The pallet record is removed from the database at this time.

Step 5. Despatch

At any stage throughput the picking process, a full pallet may be taken from the pick area for despatch and replaced with an empty pallet. A new pallet record is created for the order in the WMS, and a pallet label printed for attachment to the wrapped pallet.