How to Increase Full-Case Picking Efficiency

A modern and efficient full case picking platform really does wonders for your supply chain and your warehouse’s productivity. It solves a lot of issues and future-proof your organization. Full-case picking is a tech’ that revolutionizes distribution centers in the United States and Europe. It is an exciting new solution that improves every benchmark you value —- stately, ergonomics, productivity, competitive edge. In this article, we’ll discuss what full-case picking is and why it’s so important. After all, order picking often accounts for 40-45% of your labor force’s direct action in your warehouse. 

What is full-case picking?

There’s a saying in order fulfillment, “picking is when the rubber meets the road.” In other words, it’s when you grab all your strategies, all your blueprints, all your investment, and truly test them out — in the foxhole, in the field of battle. It’s when you see if your ideas are up to snuff. 

In full-case picking, the product is picked up in carton quantities or in full-case from a variety of mediums it is stored in. Including, but not limited to, pallet positions, carton flows, and shelving. 

This type of picking is commonly used in distribution centers or warehouses specialized in retail goods and online stores. In e-commerce, mostly. Nevertheless, it has become a standard in big-box store suppliers and, oddly enough, in beer and liquor distribution. Many of those industries devote a significant amount of effort and share-footage to the practice. 

Full-case picking systems are at the vanguard of today’s supply chain. They improve warehouse metrics and truly boost how a business operates and takes on new clients. Still, it is a double-edged sword rife with challenges. 

The biggest challenge?

With all those cartons, with all those full-cases, comes an ever-growing footprint. Our warehouse needs to be re-organized in order to truly seize every square foot available. Space optimization is a huge issue when it comes to full-case picking. You’ll need to find interconnected solutions, between your tech and your team, that not only ramps up your product flow but can condense and organize packages and maximize your space. 

Benefits of full-case picking

Historically, full-case picking has been a manual operation. Most picking for that matter has been manual. With today’s tech, that is no longer the case. Today, we’re just a couple of updates from spring-boarding headlong into a Hannah Barbara cartoon — into The Jetsons. Technology has really upped our game and given us a lot of legroom to work with. 

From robots to automation services, the tech revolution has truly gifted our warehouses with great benefits.

Among these benefits in full-case picking, we can find:

Increased order accuracy

When you make a mistake, when your orders are inaccurate, you’re forced to waste resources, time, and capital correcting the issue. Not only that, but it ultimately damages your reputation with the customer. Automated Full-picking systems can increase your accuracy rates. How? if fully integrated into your Warehouse Management Software – WMS – and other tools, you can generate automated documentation, use different scanning devices – like RFID or Pick-to-light or voice – and ultimately reduce picking errors. Along with robotics, a good full-case picking system can improve your accuracy dates by 67%.

More productivity

Full-case picking systems boost your order processing speed by 25%. Your overall productivity skyrockets the minute you integrate these types of systems into your order fulfillment assembly line. They maximize your picking and replenishment abilities and simplify your order consolidation methodology.

Reduced Labor

With robotics, with a good labor funneling strategy, with a perfected warehouse blueprint, with key sections of your space, properly organized, your business is bound to see a reduction in labor. Your staff members and pickers will appreciate it. 

More Safety

By using automation service and robotics in full-case picking, you can enhance your warehouse’s safety standards and reduce workplace accidents. This will not only keep your employees safer but can reduce your insurance costs. 

Higher profits

Full-case picking can empower your business. Give you the ability to be more competitive and reach new contracts, attract new clients, and scale up your operation. These types of systems not only help you obtain more and better clients, but they also help you retain the ones you have. Not only that, since they allow you to better move your labor and even give you the ability to work 24/7 they can reduce operational expenses. 

What industries can benefit from full-case picking?

If you work with cartons or products that come in full case then this type of system is a godsend. They can help you move huge quantities of products at record speed and fulfill multiple orders at a time. Right now, aside from retail and e-commerce, full-case picking is mostly employed in food and beverage, as well as in the pharmaceutical industry. 

This system increases your picking efficiency and gives you a lot of flexibility when it comes to facing future changes in your industry. 

Full-case picking tech

Modern tech has boosted full-case picking’s potential. It has given it automation power, drone capability, and the ability to work 24/7. From robotics to conveyors, to forklifts, to software, if properly configured, full-case picking can integrate all these technological features and give you new productivity standards that blow your old ones away.

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