Why Should You Move from Paper Based Picking to an Automated Picking System?

Let’s face it, keeping up with the likes of Amazon is far from an easy task. The sheer scale of their business is intimidating, and their warehouses equally vast. Nevertheless, Amazon are now making inroads on delivering orders within the same day they’re placed – something that was thought near impossible not too long ago.

For the rest of us though, we’re still aiming for deliveries within the week. Why? Because we rely on systems that haven’t really changed in a hundred years. We speak, of course, about paper based picking systems.

Paper picking has its advantages, in particular its low cost and low barrier of entry for new employees, but as technology has advanced, so has our demands for fast and accurate delivery. What you need now is an automated picking system.

These systems can totally revolutionise your order fulfilment, but why should you make the move?

• Huge improvements to efficiency: Instead of having your employees wander from zone to zone looking for products, have your employees know exactly where to go and how to find the product to be shipped. One company who utilised our automated picking systems saw a productivity increase of over 750% following the implementation of the system.
• Remove human error: As accurate as your pickers might be, they’re limited by their ability to maintain focus consistently. How many complaints do you handle from customers who didn’t receive what they ordered? Automated picking systems ensure that every customer gets exactly what they ordered every time.
• Reduced labour costs: Because efficiency will rise dramatically, the number of pickers you have to employ is lower. What means less bodies in the warehouse, greater safety and a higher quality of working environment.

Pickers in an automated system carry around a specialist barcode scanner which allows pickers to ensure what they’ve picked is exactly what they need. For warehouse owners, the electronically assisted system lets you keep a very accurate record of your stock levels as well as performance throughout the system.

All in all, automated picking systems provide a huge leap forward from the slow, unreliable and expensive paper based picking systems that we’ve come to rely on. So, what is your business waiting for?

For more information view our warehouse picking systems.