Getting products out the door and into the customer's hands in a timely fashion is a critical element of warehouse activities and key to a manufacturer's success. How quickly orders are fulfilled directly relates to customer satisfaction.

A major aspect of product distribution and fulfillment in a warehouse setting is the efficiency of case picking. Typically, the pallet rack is the generic storage medium for cases. This allows a pallet truck to move a pallet of a like SKU directly to the outbound truck to be loaded for quick shipment.

A hand-held or positional bar-code scanner can quickly verify both unit count and accurate product selection, and when integrated with an automated inventory control system can maintain accurate counts on inventory levels.

If adequate storage heights of a minimum of 40 feet are available, an automated storage and retrieval system can be a useful and efficient tool, especially when dealing in low volume of SKUs and a high quantity of whole cases per SKU.

For efficient transfer of whole cases of mixed SKU product onto a pallet, a gravity conveyer system is useful. A gravity conveyer system can be force fed from a conveyer that is manually loaded from multiple SKU storage points. This allows a mixed SKU pallet of product to be easily and efficiently loaded onto a delivery vehicle. The gravity conveyer can directly feed the pallet already positioned on the transportation vehicle.

Automated case picking accuracy is the key objective. High volume shipping errors can prove to be extremely costly. Returns processing is cumbersome because a separate entry and processing function is necessary to reintegrate the product back into the SKU for future picking.

Cycle time is important because efficiency is money, but accuracy is paramount. Checks and balances are only as good as employee training. An unchecked error can prove costly. Accountability is critical to the successful operation.

The settings for productive ways of case picking have evolved significantly. How successful an organization can be with implementing a continuously more successful operation is a comprehensive understanding of what that organization's environment is.

There are obvious elements, such as product movement and current operational costs to be considered. Other factors, such as environmental issues, sequencing needs, product dimensions, future labor costs and expansion of product lines, all need consideration. The list is voluminous.

To reach the ideal system requires constant analysis and the realization that change is inevitable. Management viewpoints regarding change, approach and technology can clash. Successful evolution is never an easy task.