Zone Picking

In this latest article, explore the ins and outs of zone picking, what it is, what its major advantages and disadvantages are, and, finally, how to execute it well within your production or warehouse needs. Many companies have utilized zone picking to streamline their workflow, improve productivity, cut down on waste, increase the accuracy of their supply chain management systems, and reduce costs. Zone picking in the context of warehousing, however, has a number of limitations. It is not recommended for all but the largest operations, can be quite expensive for smaller operations, and only accurately measures product movement within a small "zone" of a given facility.

This is why many companies or individual traders are looking towards integration of the inventory management systems of different warehouses with the zone picking software, using both as a way to centrally manage their inventories. While this makes great business sense, zone picking does have its limitations. The main downfall is that you can only move product within one physical location, or warehouse, by physically visiting each location and logging in to the systems there.

With the advent of Warehouse Management Information Systems (WIMS), however, the problem is no longer one of proximity but rather one of data accessibility. Enterprising IT companies have designed WMS to take advantage of existing GPS or RFID technologies to gain access to the contents of even the most remote warehouses, allowing them to map out entire routes, scan labels, and streamline workflow processes from any location on the planet where an Internet connection is available. Zone Picking can still occur, but now the work takes place entirely off site, making it entirely more efficient for the company involved. Not only is this better for efficiency and waste elimination, but it also means that your product can be moved where your customer wants it at any time, reducing shipping costs and increasing profit margins. This is exactly what the new era of WMS is all about.

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