Pick and pack warehousing is the process in which fulfillment centers choose products from shipments and re-package them for distribution. When shipments are received by the warehouse, items are stored and entered into an inventory management system for tracking and accountability. Picking refers to selecting the right quantities of products from warehouse storage. Packing, on the other hand, happens when those products are placed in shipping boxes with appropriate packaging materials, labeled, documented and shipped.
Order Picking Strategies
Warehouses offering pick and pack services use these four common methods for picking goods:
Piece picking – Piece picking is a straightforward method where employees handpick each item for orders as they are received.
Batch picking – As the name implies, orders are picked in batches instead of individually.
Zone picking – In this approach, areas in a warehouse are divided into zones and employees are assigned to these areas. Items are then picked from these assigned areas and passed to another zone if the order requires items from multiple zones.
Wave picking – A combination of batch picking and zone picking, this method involves employees staying in a designated area but picking orders in batches within those zones.
Pick and Pack Warehousing Costs
Businesses often take advantage of pick and pack warehousing services because it’s cost-effective for them. In order to offer budget-friendly services, it’s imperative that providers streamline pick and pack fulfillment. The best fulfillment warehouses do this is by reducing the labor required to choose and pack the right products for an order.
Pick and pack warehousing costs can be managed by reducing this labor cost as well as properly utilizing warehouse space and reducing parcel shipping costs. A knowledgeable fulfillment company will have a warehouse management system that helps determine the most appropriate shipping boxes and most cost-effective shipping methods. In addition, the best fulfillment partners will have experienced and engaged employees who are actively working to reduce costs for clients.
Benefits of Pick and Pack Warehousing
Pick and pack warehousing provides a number of benefits, including:
Efficiency – A proper pick and pack distribution process streamlines order fulfillment because it removes the middleman often needed when goods are collected from different storage facilities and sent somewhere to get packed and labeled.
Increased customer satisfaction – When pick and pack is done right, orders are filled accurately, without damage and on time for customers.
Shorter turnaround time – Well-managed and organized handling techniques applied to goods leads to shipments arriving at their destination sooner.
Greater cost-effectiveness – Pick and pack procedures are optimized to handle orders of any size. Consequently, there are no minimum order charges. In addition, there is no need for items to be collected from different storage facilities to be packed and labeled. As a result of these and other factors, human labor is reduced and time-frames are reduced, leading to a streamlined process with minimal waste.
Pick and pack warehousing is an excellent way to manage order fulfilment and an efficient process that increases profitability. In order to realize these benefits, you need to work with a warehouse that can handle orders quickly and with a high accuracy rate.
The key to their success will be the pick and pack workers themselves. At NewStream Enterprises, LLC, our people are our greatest asset. As an employee-owned company, our team has a vested interest in making sure your orders are shipped on time and accurately. It makes good business sense to choose a partner that has an entire workforce that is as invested in efficiency and the accuracy of your shipped products as you are.