Pick-to-light solution
While working in the picking area and having to pack orders, a few issues might appear for the operators, such as having to search and identify the products they need, facing with misplaced items, having to double-check the quantity of required goods, forgetting where certain products are stored and so on, thus losing a lot of precious time.
Moreover, the logistics area is already complex due to the evolution and modernizing of industries, which also implied modernizing the warehouse processes in order to adapt to the increased work volume and to fasten as much as possible the delivery. Such expectations include, but don’t limit to: on-demand fulfillment during the same day, faster production, quicker delivery and so on. In order to keep up with the fast moving evolution of processes, warehouses and work facilities also have to upgrade their procedures, to further be able to comply with all their clients’ requests.
If activating in the e-commerce sector, the pick-to-light solution is even more suited to be used by the personnel. During sales peaks, such as Black Friday, Easter, Christmas, etc., the work flow rises and the demands considerably increase. This is the perfect time to use the pick-to-light systems, which help in fastening the picking process. On special occasions like these, customers buy more and the sells rise, which is why more workforce is needed. In order to be able to keep up with the large volume of orders, without having to overwork or to increase the volume of operators, the pick-to-light solution provided by Logimarkt is helpful in many scenarios, such as:
- While multiple pickers operate in the storage area and each one of them has an order to complete, in order to not get confused, each operator can have a personalized color. Thus, each person will know exactly which items are required for the assigned order and their shelf place.
- Have a better traceability of the stored and packed items
- Keep up with the requests, without exhausting the employees
- Be updated on the progress of order picking
The pick-to-light solution is a technology created especially to enable smart and efficient picking through touch technology. As the name suggests, this solution actions by following a simple principle: while the picker operates in the picking area and has to pack a few items, the light that corresponds with the shelf where all needed items are stored, will turn on. When the products are extracted from the shelf, the sensor will detect the movement and turn the light beam off.
The optical guidance system offered by Logimarkt is a solution that incorporates a simpler, safer, more efficient and ergonomic alternative to the classic handling method. It represents a solution that guides the pickers to the exact spot that they need to access in order to find the right items, furthermore displaying the required quantity of goods and even calibrating in order to calculate the most optimal route.
The pick-to-light solution works through a system that also includes a button, which is attached to a correspondent shelf. The light activates whenever the items that it is associated with are needed for an order. It indicates both the items’ position and the quantity needed to be loaded into the picking trolley. The light beam turns off by simply pressing the button after all items are picked. This is a useful procedure that always keeps the system up to date. Each picking is also automatically indexed and may be monitored separately due to the button acknowledgement function.
The solution is mostly used in the e-commerce, production, automotive or intralogistics areas, but it can adapt to any warehouse space.
The packing station is a workstation used in a warehouse to prepare the orders for shipping. During order fulfillment, that imply identifying and packing multiple different items per each order, it might happen that the wrong product is often picked, an item might be forgotten or the wrong number might be enclosed. As a consequence for the customer not receiving his complete or correct order, not only that comply costs are associated with this issue, but also the company’s reputation suffers.
By using the sensor buttons, these errors, which are associated with the packing area, are diminished. The employee finds the needed objects more easily and completes the order quicker by being reminded of the requested quantity. The system also displays to the operator how many orders have already been fulfilled and how many more need to be completed. Even as small of a change as using a smart system that visually reminds a person of a work step can be, it is essential in order to avoid serious errors. By using the pick-to-light solution provided by Logimarkt, the employee satisfaction is increased and the stress is reduced.
The working system of pick-to-light sensors is simple: the LEDs light up and show the picker the article’s storage area. Furthermore, it displays the number of products that are requested from the shelf where it is installed. After the operator has extracted the needed items from the correspondant shelf/bin/rack/etc., he has to push the sensory button on the display, to confirm that the right items were placed into the picking cart. The system will store the information that the products were extracted, and will forward it to the supervisor, production or logistic employee, when needed.
The picking solution is a possibility for a warehouse’s workflow to enable a digital and ergonomic exchange of information, because of the variety of sensors options and combination possibilities. All possibilities—from the powerless, to the contactless, to the automatic confirmation—are available to choose from. Due to this, the processes may be set up and designed with tremendous flexibility. Lean management principles serve as the foundation for the design and ongoing development of our contemporary, process-focused software.
Throughput times are decreased and the entire process is more transparent, as a result, thus raising the process quality overall. It also maximizes working capital and is easily incorporated into top ERP programs.
The consumer behavior, which has led to more and individual order processes, is caused by online trading becoming more and more popular amongst clients from all over the world. Even if the work volume has increased, the number of operators often remains the same, and in these cases, it is important to be able to keep up with the workflow and not lose capital from not being able to complete orders. As a result of this phenomenon, the processes of order sorting and picking have to be optimized as well.
The pick-to-light solution proposed by Logimarkt offers the possibility of keeping up with the work volume and also maintaining the same operators, thus saving costs, time and optimizing the warehouse processes.
The technology of the smart buttons was created with the purpose of guiding employees throughout a warehouse in the most time-saving manner, in order to make the picking process more intuitive and efficient. This solution have integrated buttons, which offer real-time information on the picking status.
More improvements of the pick-to-light solution are present as it follows:
- Ergonomics: receive a confirmation after the goods are picked from each shelf
- Employees satisfaction: the pickers are more motivated by working in a relaxed environment, where they don’t have tense eyes, hands and feet all the time by stressing about having to make sure they have got the right products or by worrying about not picking the needed number of items
- Transparency: due to the less complex material flow, the stages of the picking process can now be seen more clearly, by receiving a confirmation after each step is competed
- Increased space in the picking area: the footprint is minimized due to the intelligent system that calculates the most optimal route to follow in order to reach the items needed for the order
- Productivity: the aspect of productivity is valued by simply working with a solution that decreases the time spent on having to find certain items and verifying the exact quantity of them
- Increased service quality: the service quality is increased by simply fastening the order fulfillment process
- Optimal guidance: single trips are reduced and item assignment is also possible with the pick-to-light solution provided by Logimarkt
Moreover, multiple orders can be completed at the same time, without having to worry about mistakenly delivering incomplete or erronated orders. While the employee has to complete two orders, each picking sensor correspondent to its cart will light up when new items need to be placed inside the cart. After all the items are moved into the carts, the sensor’s light will turn green and the employee will identify this signal as a confirmation that the orders are complete and ready to be moved to the packing station and, furthermore, shipped.
By upgrading to this solution, handovers will be done more easily and directly in the production area. The material overview is as transparent as always and it can also be accessed from any position, whether if a supervisor, a logistics or a production employee needs to connect to it. Each of the mentioned positions has individually adapted dashboards, in order to make it easier for everyone to use the product.
There can also be seen improvements in manufacturing’s efficiency and speed, by just:
- Increasing the flow of goods
- Considerably reducing the errors and rework
- Increasing the transparency
Put-to-light
This option functions in reverse to the put-to-light system, as following:
An employee, which has to store items and operate with the racking placements or the large number of products he has to store in many different areas, might often get confused or forget which task is completed. In these situations, it is important to keep track of the items that need to be stored, which is why it is essential to use a system that centralizes the place and the number of each category of products that needs to be attended.
The working system of the put-to-light function is simple: the system is attached to the shelves corresponding to each category of products. When an operator has the task of storing multiple types of items, each put-to-light device’s light, corresponding to each category of goods, will turn on and the display will show the exact number of products that need to be stored in the designated spot. After the items are put on their assigned shelf/crate/bin/etc., the operator only has to confirm with each put-to-light system (by pushing its button), an action which will register the task as complete.
The information in regards to the tasks’ progress is stored and available for the supervisor, production or logistic employee, when needed.
This solution not only that fastens the operations, but also provide a better traceability of the stock and eliminates the errors which appear at centralizing the goods in the storage area.