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Methods for order picking differ greatly. The level of difficulty in choosing what method is the best for your operation depends on what type of operation your business has. Therefore, it is not only important that you know the order picking methods such as light picking, piece picking, case picking and pallet picking, it is also essential that you understand your business operation to the extent that you know the total number of transactions and orders, the number of picks per order, the quantity per pick, the number of picks per SKU and the total number of SKUs to help you decide on what method to use.

There are three major key objectives in designing an order picking operation: productivity, reduction of the cycle time, and increase in accuracy. When it comes to order picking, productivity is measured by the pick rate. Productivity gains are usually evaluated in the form of reducing the picking travel time because the actual amount of time it takes to physically remove the product from its location is fixed, regardless on the kind of order picking method used. Cycle time on the other hand, refers to the amount of time it would take to get an order from the order entry to the shipping dock. Accuracy is an objective that is highly relevant in order picking. Order picking technologies that aide in picking accuracy are counting scales, bar codes and pick to light systems.

There are times when the objectives conflict with one another. For example, a method that focuses on accuracy may sacrifice productivity. In some cases, methods that focus on productivity fail to provide a short enough cycle time. Hence, as a business owner, you also have to determine which objective is more important in your operations.

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