Picking
A pick job is the main entity in the picking process. It contains all the necessary information to carry out a picking task. A pick job is created automatically after the routing, but can also be created via API. One of the cases when a pick job is created automatically is the outcome of an order routing decision. In that case, an order was created, assigned to a facility, and a pick job was created. Furthermore, a pick job can be created due to a re-route, which also involves order routing.
If a picking task cannot be fully picked because some of the required items are unavailable, it is referred to as a short-pick.
Picking methods
The following picking methods are available:
Single Order Picking
Configuration of picking methods
Tenant-wide default picking method
The defaultPickingMethod of the tenant can be set to one of the following values: SINGLE_ORDER, MULTI_ORDER or BATCH (see Configurations of Picking Methods for details). This configuration is considered a fallback configuration: It will only be used for new pick jobs if there is no facility configuration for picking methods in the target facility and no pick job-specific configuration.
Facility-wide picking methods
If the picking method should be different for each facility, it can be configured when creating or updating a facility. ThepickingMethods in the facility can be set to none, some, or all of the following values: SINGLE_ORDER, MULTI_ORDER or BATCH. This configuration overwrites a potentially present tenant-wide configuration.
Configuration of picking method in the pick job
The picking method can also be defined for an individual pick job. It is defined in the pick job itself (field preferredPickingMethods). The value is the outcome of the configurations on tenant and/or facility level and may be overwritten during creation of the pick job. Providing pickingMethods in the creation of a pick job overwrites any given facility-specific or tenant-wide configuration.
Configure picking methods via tags
It is also possible to add picking methods according to tags in the pick job. This can be done via tag configuration pick job REST API. The corresponding tags must exist in order to apply the preferredPickingMethods in the configuration.
Batch picking
Batch picking is one of the available multi-order pick methods of fulfillmenttools. In batch picking, a pick run is used to execute multiple pick jobs in one run. When two pick jobs of a batch pick run contain the same item, the two items are merged to one pick line item for the picker.
Example
Pick job A contains the item "apple" with a quantity of 3. Pick job B contains the item "apple" with a quantity of 5. A batch pick run of these two pick jobs would combine both pick jobs and result in three pick line items in the pick run.
After the picking process is finished, the picked items are separated by order and can be shipped or handed over to the customer.
Multi-order picking
Multi-order picking is another available method at fulfillmenttools to pick multiple orders in one run. The multi-order fulfillment process involves consolidating multiple customer picking tasks into one pick run for efficient picking. Workers collect items for all tasks simultaneously and transfer them to a packing station, where packers organize, pack, label, and prepare the tasks for shipment.
A detailed description of multi-order picking can be found in the use case section.
Zone picking
Zone picking can be useful if certain workers in the facility are only to pick tasks in their assigned zones. Each user can carry at least one zone. After a zone is created, it can be assigned to any available user. For a user to be able to pick products from a specific zone, those products need to be linked to that zone. This linkage is achieved by using storage locations that have an associated zone. Consequently, products located in these storage locations will be automatically assigned to the respective zone.
Upon the zone's creation and its assignment to both a user and storage locations, it becomes feasible to generate picking tasks that can be executed by users assigned to that particular zone.
The picking task gets automatically assigned to a zone immediately after a product is allocated to a storage location within that zone.
Substitute items
Substitute items are items that can be picked if the originally ordered items are not available. A list of potential substitute items can be defined for each product on network level via tenant article substitutes REST API. If an item could not be picked successfully, and the substitution configuration in the REST API is active, users have the option to choose one (or more) substitute item(s).
Substitute items are connected via matching tenant article ID with the originally requested item. They can be prioritized so that a more suitable candidate is offered to the user before less suitable ones are shown. If a corresponding listing exists for a substitute item, the stock of that listing is adjusted as soon as the task reaches the end of picking.
Substitute items do not necessarily require an existing listing. As a result, unlisted products can also be picked as substitute items.
Picking substitute items is currently only available within the Operations Android App for single order picking.
Measurement units in picking
Creating and using measurement units in picking
With every order, it is possible to provide information about items that must be weighed or measured during the picking process (for example, fruits, liquids, or fabric). It is possible to configure individual measurement units for each tenant, such as grams, kilograms, liters, milliliters, etc. via measurement units REST API.
The configured measurement units can be used to mark items of an order as “must be measured”. There is no check of completion for measuring items, which means that no short-pick will be triggered when the picked measurement is lower than the ordered measurement.
Optionally, it is possible to specify tolerance limits that must not be exceeded or undershot when picking these items. If a soft tolerance is defined, the picker just sees a hint when entering more or less than configured. If a hard tolerance limit is configured, it is not possible to enter more or less (except of 0) than configured.
Secondary measurement units
In addition to a quantity of a line item, an order can also contain a second quantity and unit of this item, which leads the picker to enter a second quantity. This only works if one of the two units was created as measurement units.
Short-pick
A short-pick describes a case when an order could not be completely picked. This can happen when some ordered items are too low in stock or out of stock. Several configurations can be made for the case when a short-pick happens:
Confirm short-pick in Operations App
Short-pick reasons
Short-pick reasons provide clarity on why specific picking tasks could not be fulfilled entirely. They can be added to the line items of each picking task.
Before using short-pick reasons during the picking process, they must be configured via picking configuration REST API. The reasons are constructed using a multi-language JSON format and are translated accordingly. Short-pick reasons will be translated into the required language. The language is determined either by the requested locale or the user's default locale. If neither is specified, the translation will default to the first available localized reason, or if unavailable, it will default to the localization for "en_US".
If a picking task is restarted or reset, the short-pick reasons on the pick line items will be deleted.
Available pick jobs statuses
The available status values of a pick job are:
OPEN: The pick job is open and can be picked.IN_PROGRESS: The pick job is currently being picked.PAUSED: The pick job is paused and can be continued laterWAITING_FOR_INPUT: The pick job is waiting for input from the workflow. This can be the case if the pick job is first supplied from a different facility.PICKED: The pick job was picked but is not closed yet.CLOSED: The pick job is done and closed.REJECTED: The pick job was rejected and will not be picked.RESTOWED: The pick job was restowed.REROUTED: The pick job was rerouted to a different facility.ABORTED: The pick job was aborted.EXPIRED: The pick job expired over the expiry time of the connected order.OBSOLETE: The pick job is obsolete via the workflow. E.g., because the order was canceled.CANCELED: The pick job was canceled.
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