How to Improve Warehouse Picking Speed with Automation
BY ONWARD ROBOTICS | December 17, 2024
In warehousing, distribution, and e-commerce fulfillment centers, operational and customer success relies on fast and accurate fulfillment, but achieving and maintaining this service level can be challenging. We explore how to overcome order-picking inefficiencies through smart fulfillment automation.
How to Streamline and Improve Warehouse Picking Speed and Accuracy with Automation
Increasing demand and high customer expectations can put greater pressure on warehouse teams to perform. Rapid fulfillment can strain already scarce resources, and orders must still be processed on time without sacrificing quality. Historically, when demand spikes, additional temporary labor can be used to keep order-picking processing time low. In today’s competitive labor market, where warehouse workers are in high demand and costly, automating order fulfillment can be a viable solution to support existing labor and increase efficiency, resulting in shorter order cycle times and improved on-time delivery rates.
Automation enhances warehouse operations by streamlining inventory management, reducing congestion, and optimizing the pick path. By integrating batch picking, zone picking, and real-time data into a warehouse management system, businesses reduce error rates and boost order-picking accuracy. This leads to faster fulfillment operations, higher customer satisfaction, and improved labor efficiency.
Eliminate Downtime to Boost Speed and Efficiency
Wasted time is the enemy of order-picking efficiency. From induction to packout, the fulfillment process needs to be lean. Designing an efficient warehouse layout and choosing the right order-picking method can help reduce travel distance and improve order-picking speed. When introducing automation, proper resource allocation and process planning can subtract valuable minutes from cycle times. The travel paths of both the picker and the autonomous mobile robot (AMR) should be optimized to enable efficient, dense picking. Smart automation technology should analyze where resources are needed and guide them to the optimal path to reduce wasted travel and time. Without intelligent coordination and resource planning, warehouse automation doesn’t reach its full potential.
What to look for when automating order picking:
- People need breaks, robots shouldn’t. Look for easy-to-charge AMRs with higher battery life to keep order picking moving without slowing down throughput
- People should work alongside robots, not follow them or spend time searching for them. Look for automation solutions that bring people and robots together, eliminating wasted time and budget.
- Technology that works for you: the software behind the mobile robots is just as important as speeding up the fulfillment process. Look for software that integrates with your WMS and uses artificial intelligence (AI) and data to proactively plan, direct, and adjust resources as needed.
- Every second of the end-to-end fulfillment process counts. Look for technology that minimizes picker movement and optimizes it. Whether traveling to their next location or picking items from the shelf into a tote, pickers should move efficiently and stay on task so deliveries stay on time.
Increase Picking Accuracy by Eliminating Guesswork
Warehouse autonomous mobile robots should support pickers, not guide or gate them to their next task. Pickers need to move independently of AMRs to keep the order-picking process moving. To do so, they need to be enabled with the information they need to perform: where to go, what to pick, and where to put it. Warehouse automation should remove time-consuming decision-making and uncertainty from the order-picking process. Pickers who are well-informed and engaged will be more confident and efficient, leading to faster cycle times and happier pickers.
What to look for when automating order picking:
- Smart process coordination.Order-picking automation models that coordinate robot and picker travel and tasks can vary by vendor. Look for AMRs and technologies that intelligently coordinate your resources and seamlessly integrate with your warehouse and order-picking team.
- Clear communication for continuous workflow. Without information, pickers can be helpless in a complex and dynamic warehouse. With increased pressure to stay on task and on time, workers need to be empowered with the guidance they need to perform effectively. Look for easy, engaging order-picking automation that guides associates through each step, reducing confusion and increasing order-picking speed.
Maximize Picking Speed with Optimized Resource Planning
Your order queue needs to be optimized to deliver on your customer commitments quickly and efficiently. Order picking automation software should align and coordinate picker and robot resources with your needs, prioritize fulfillment flow, and communicate directly with your team to execute. AMRs that support various SKU sizes and types can help increase order density and optimize throughput.
What to look for when automating order picking:
- You shouldn’t need an army of robots to complete your picks. Look for AMRs with large payload capacity and configurable shelves to accommodate a variety of SKUs.
- Use data to enhance your resource planning. Look for smart coordination of resources to make picker and robot travel more productive, enabling more efficient, denser picks.
Improve Picking Accuracy: Getting it Right, Every Time
Order picking errors can be costly, significantly impacting efficiency and customer satisfaction. Human error, inadequate training, and unclear instructions can lead to mispicked items and incorrect quantities, ultimately resulting in dissatisfied customers and revenue loss. Automating order fulfillment can support consistent and informed picks that result in higher order picking accuracy and lower return rates.
Pickers may be apprehensive about automation technology, but order-picking automation can make their work easier by providing streamlined order information instead of paper pick tickets and by allowing mobile robots to handle the heavy manual labor of your people pushing or pulling carts. Automating order picking should streamline not only the manual process, but also employee onboarding and overall process efficiency. With minimal, clear instructions and easy-to-use mobile technology, experienced and novice pickers alike can perform their roles safely, quickly, and accurately.
What to look for when automating order picking:
- Interactive and intuitive technology. Look for automation that excites–not scares–your pickers. Enhancing the order picking process with advancements that benefit pickers and the process, such as put-to-light technology and mobile applications, provides information and visual cues to improve pick accuracy.
- Keep it simple. Look for automation that doesn’t require a separate operating manual or constant support calls. With high labor force turnover, it is more important than ever to have easy-to-use processes that minimize confusion and onboarding time. Simple instructions and an intuitive interface ensure accurate and efficient order picking.
Improve Picking Speed and Accuracy with Real-Time Data
In a modern warehouse or distribution center (DC), every step of the fulfillment process should be tracked and optimized to improve operational efficiency. From incoming shipments to outbound delivery, real-time data plays a critical role in managing fluctuating order volume and maintaining a high order accuracy rate. Data from your WMS can be analyzed to inform resource planning, task allocation, and directed workflows. With smart order-picking automation, each order picker—whether human or robotic—can be guided to the correct locations and items, improving pick rate, reducing errors, and driving faster, more reliable fulfillment.
What to look for when automating order picking:
- System integration. Look for automation solutions that integrate with your WMS for real-time data driven decision-making.
- Flexibility to adjust. Look for flexible order-picking automation that can adjust as priorities or demand change. Smart order-picking automation should be proactive, allocating and directing resources where they are needed, rather than reacting to problems too late and incurring downtime and picking errors.
- “This way” to accurate order picking. Look for software that directs all of your resources, not just part of the system. Pickers and robots need to know where they are going and what to pick. Optimizing only the robot path leaves room for human error and for pickers to waste time and travel.
Move Your Order Picking Process Onward
Onward Robotics’ Meet Me automation enables a more collaborative, efficient, and flexible fulfillment team. By uncoupling the picker from the robot, workers are empowered and informed, enabling them to stay on task and perform at the highest level.
Lumabot AMRs speed up order picking, not slow it down. With high capacity, put-to-light shelving, and a hot-swappable battery, Lumabots are a powerful picking partner.
Pyxis technology independently coordinates robot and people workflows—bringing the right picker and robot together at the right time to drastically reduce downtime and aisle congestion. Our proprietary technology optimizes your order queue by prioritizing rush orders, grouping orders as needed, and allocating tasks appropriately across zones and robots, resulting in denser picks and more efficient picker and robot travel.
With easy-to-follow shelving guiding them to the proper bin location and an interactive mobile app leading them through the picking process, workers know which robot to meet, where to meet it, and which product to pick when they get there. Our innovative automation technology not only supports your team but also makes them more accurate and efficient.
Warehouse Picking Automation FAQs
What strategies can improve order picking accuracy?
Using a clear pick list, smart equipment, and warehouse layout optimization helps employees select the right product in the correct quantity, lowering order accuracy errors and inefficiencies.
How does automation reduce operational costs?
Automation improves productivity by minimizing wasted travel, enhancing storage utilization, and coordinating warehouse staff and robots, thereby cutting labor and shipping costs across the supply chain.
What role does batch picking and zone picking play in efficiency?
Batch picking groups multiple customer orders at once, while zone picking assigns staff to specific areas; both reduce travel distance, improve inventory handling, and increase throughput.
How can warehouse management systems support picking improvement?
A warehouse management system tracks metrics such as error rate, cycle time, and inventory flow, providing data-driven guidance to improve the accuracy of fulfillment operations and sales performance.
Will automation replace warehouse employees?
No—automation is designed to support employees by reducing inefficiencies, handling heavy labor, and improving labor efficiency so staff can focus on higher-value tasks and customer service.
Conclusion
Improving warehouse picking speed and order picking accuracy requires more than adding labor; it depends on the strategic use of automation, warehouse layout optimization, and smart resource planning. By combining batch picking, zone picking, and real-time data from a warehouse management system, fulfillment operations can reduce error rate, improve order accuracy, and keep customer orders flowing without disruption. The result is lower operational costs, faster shipping, and greater customer satisfaction—proving that the right performance strategies create lasting improvement for both employees and customers.
Talk to our team of experts to see how Onward Robotics can improve your order-picking speed and accuracy without sacrificing quality.