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Order picking: less travel, fewer errors, more orders per shift

Order picking is the task that consumes the most hours in a warehouse, and the one whose errors reach the customer. STOKA redesigns the travel path, the storage locations and the picking method in your operation, trains the team that will use them, and shows you from which point assisted picking is worth it.

Tell us your problem

Does your order picking set the pace of the warehouse, or hold it back?

Almost no one calls STOKA about an order picking problem. They call about what is visible from outside: the order that ships late and the customer who complains. These four signals are the ones that, during the site survey, point back to travel paths and storage locations.

  • Orders are picked but ship late

    The team picks without stopping, yet the aisle jams at peak hours, forklifts wait to get through, and the shipping cutoff slips.

  • Overtime week after week

    The same volume that used to fit into one shift now takes two hours more, and the pattern repeats every week.

  • Claims for wrong or missing items

    Orders come back without a quality problem: the wrong item was picked, a line was missed, or the quantity does not match the packing slip.

  • Only two people know the warehouse

    Everyone else has to ask where things are. When those two are away, picking becomes slower and less accurate.

What STOKA does with your order picking

STOKA reorders the work of picking an order so that the picker walks less and confirms each line better. A STOKA engineer surveys the real travel path and the time of each task on the floor, with the team working. STOKA then re-slots products by rotation, defines the picking method for each type of order, and leaves the task written down and the team trained. It does not require buying equipment: the work is done on the existing storage locations, travel path and procedure.

How the project is carried out

There are four steps, and the third one is piloted in a single area. The timeline depends on the number of storage locations and on lines per order: we give it to you closed after the site survey.

  1. 01

    Site survey with operating data

    A STOKA engineer walks the route with the team working and times each task. You provide the order and line history: without that file, slotting by rotation cannot be done.

  2. 02

    Redesign of locations and route

    STOKA proposes the new position of each product and the route that follows from it. The warehouse manager reviews the proposal against what they know: seasonality, products that cannot be stored apart, handling restrictions.

  3. 03

    Pilot in one area and adjustment

    The change is applied first in a limited zone, with the pickers who work it every day. It is measured for a week, corrected, and only then extended to the rest.

  4. 04

    Training and standardization

    The task is written down step by step, with the slotting criterion explained. STOKA trains the whole team, backups included, and the area supervisor takes over the periodic measurement.

What the project includes and what it does not

What it includes

  • Survey of the route, the task times and the current storage locations
  • Rotation analysis by order lines over your order history
  • Map of new storage locations and proposed picking route
  • Definition of the picking method by order type
  • Pilot in one area, measurement and adjustment
  • Written procedure, team training and an indicator sheet

What it does not include

  • Correcting system inventory: that is an inventory control project
  • Supply or installation of pallet racking, shelving and mezzanines
  • Implementation of a warehouse management system (WMS), the software that tells you where everything is
  • Redesign of the overall warehouse layout or civil works
  • Installation of assisted picking equipment or autonomous mobile robots

There are two cases in which STOKA asks to postpone this work. One: system inventory does not match what is in the aisle, and the picker will keep looking for what the record shows and the location does not hold, however short the route; inventory is resolved first. Two: the catalog turns over completely this quarter, and the new order is better built on the assortment that will remain.

How the position of each product and the picking method are decided

Slotting by rotation is defined by a criterion, not by a snapshot of Tuesday's inventory. The criterion STOKA uses is how many order lines each product appears in over a period, not units sold and not value: what makes people walk is the line, not the volume. With that order, the products with the most lines sit at hand height and close to consolidation, and the rest moves up and toward the back.

The method is chosen afterward, based on how many lines an average order carries and how much products repeat across orders: order by order when orders are large, by batch when they are short and similar to each other, by zone when one person cannot cover the whole route.

What is measured before and after, and who takes the measurement

A picking project rests on four indicators, measured the same way before and after. Time per order: picking hours divided by orders picked in the period. Orders per shift: those closed and confirmed, not those started. Lines per hour: lines picked divided by effective picking hours. Accuracy: lines picked without error over total lines picked.

STOKA does not publish a reference value for any of the four: it depends on lines per order, on the type of load and on the order the warehouse already has. The number that matters is yours. The area supervisor takes the measurement, over a full operating period and with the form left by the site survey, and repeats it the same way after the change. Two measurements taken differently say nothing about the project.

When it is worth automating your order picking

There is a point at which the route is already short, storage locations follow rotation, and the operator still walks most of the shift. At that point process improvement has reached its ceiling, and what follows is one of two things: stop walking, with a system that brings the product to a fixed station; or assist the confirmation of each line, so that errors no longer depend on the picker's eyes.

The condition is not the size of the building: it is sustained line volume per day and the variety of products in an average order. A small warehouse with many lines qualifies before a large one with short orders. In the same project we show you from which point assisted picking is worth it.

when it is worth assisting picking with technology

picking methods compared against each otherhow picking errors are measuredbringing the product to the picker or sending the picker to the productwhat a warehouse management system solveswhat changes in picking at an e-commerce warehouse

Frequently asked questions

How much can picking improve without buying anything?

The first gain comes from re-slotting products by rotation and shortening the route. How much you gain depends on how the operation stands today, so STOKA does not put a number on it before measuring: it comes out of the initial measurement of your warehouse.

Do you need a warehouse management system to improve picking?

Not to start. But without reliable storage locations the redesign does not hold: each product needs an identified position, and what is picked has to be recorded by order and by line in the system your company uses today. A WMS organizes that record, but it comes later.

What if my catalog changes all the time?

Slotting is defined by a criterion, not by a snapshot: a product that climbs in order lines climbs in position, without redoing the whole map. STOKA writes down that criterion and how often it is reviewed, and the supervisor can apply it alone.

How do you know whether the change worked?

With the same four indicators before and after: time per order, orders per shift, lines per hour and accuracy over lines picked. The area supervisor takes the initial measurement over a full operating period, and repeats it the same way after the change.

When does improving the process stop being enough?

When the route is already short, storage locations follow rotation, and the picker still walks most of the shift. That is the signal that what is left to gain lies in assisting picking with technology, and it is worth looking at which systems exist.

The other warehouse processes

Back to the six processes
01Space and layout02Receiving process04Inventory control05Order shipping06Returns and reverse logistics07Warehouse diagnostic

Tell us how you pick orders today and we will tell you what can improve

Write to us with three figures: how many orders you pick per day, how many lines an average order carries, and how storage locations are organized today. With that we can tell you where the work would start. We reply within 24 business hours.