In previous blog postings, we discussed various inventory picking strategies such:
In this final post, we will discuss Replenishment Picking. All of these picking strategies are designed to gain warehouse inventory efficiencies by selecting the best movement of goods in the most productive manner and part of any good “Best-In-Breed” Warehouse Management System, like AccellosOne WMS.
Replenishment Picking. Replenishment Picking combines the concepts of Batch Picking and the Reserve Storage/Forward Picking best practice. Reserve Storage/Forward Pick is the practice of segregating the warehouse into a storage (Reserve Storage) area and a picking (Forward Pick) area. This approach tends to optimize overall space utilization and pick labor productivity. Space utilization is improved by storing product in bulk (pallets or cases) in dense storage locations. Pick labor productivity is improved by keeping pickers working in smaller forward pick zones that typically hold smaller inventory volumes (days on hand vs. months on hand) with the inventory, eaches, or cases, in more easily accessible and ergonomically friendly locations referred to as the “strike” zones.
When using this approach it is common practice to setup a replenishment strategy to move inventory from the (reserve) storage locations into the forward pick locations. The timing of the replenishment activity is driven by a predetermined reorder point and the amount of inventory to replenish is typically driven by a pre-determined inventory level set at the forward pick location.
The same basic storage and picking principles apply when using Replenishment Picking – Forward Pick with minor variation to reorder point and quantity. With Replenishment Picking, a dedicated forward pick zone is setup to allow operators to work in a smaller area and the inventory is replenished from bulk reserve storage locations. However, replenishment quantity and timing is driven by the projected number of orders over a given time frame (typically a day). Once a group of orders for the day is created, the orders are replenished, in batch, to the forward pick area. At the end of the day, the forward pick area is picked clean and ready for the next pick cycle.
Another form of Replenishment Picking is replenishing to a pack station rather than a dedicated forward pick zone. In this process, all inventory for a group of orders is replenished in batch from reserve storage locations and deposited at a pack station. At the pack station, the inventory is picked to specific orders for shipment processing as outlined in the Batch Picking process.
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