How to Automate the Picking Process in Logistics?

Freight forwarding is a complicated process designed to make thousands of companies run smoothly throughout the world. It’s enough to google freight shipping companies near me to find hundreds of available carriers and brokers. Modern business owners can entrust logistics to professionals and devote more time to further business development.

At the same time, there are several significant issues and problems that almost every freight forwarder faces. The picking procedure is one of them. It seems so easy to pick up parcels from the warehouse – you need just to arrive at a definite place, get the definite items, and transport them to the final consumers. In reality, the situation is different.

Common Issues

You may be surprised to get to know that the list of possible problems is quite long.

The most common issues are the following:

Warehouse workers can’t find the needed items.

For the greater part of freight forwarders, warehouses are hell. And it is not an exaggeration. As a rule, warehouse space is rented by different companies. It isn’t always possible to keep everything in order. Sometimes drivers have to wait several hours until they can pick up the needed cargo.

Forwarders pick up the wrong boxes.

It is a common case, especially for partial truckload shipping and LTL delivery. because of human mistakes, messes, or rush. It becomes a real challenge to put everything back in its place. Moreover, such mistakes entail additional expenditures.

There are still warehouses that accept only paper documents. If forwarders lack some papers, they are unlikely to pick up the parcels. Sometimes the papers are misplaced and it becomes impossible to find the needed cargo unless you are ready to spend ages in the warehouse.

Too many trucks and workers in the same place at the same time.

No wonder, both carriers and shippers are interested in more effective picking procedures. It may be an automated warehouse picking that implies the implementation of robotic or semi-robotic technologies. They are to enhance the work of human pickers.

Solutions

There are several steps toward automated picking. They include the following solutions:

E-documentation.

The easiest way to make the process of picking as simple as possible is to switch to e-papers. Nowadays there are lots of platforms and software designed for these purposes. If the papers are electronic, you can’t lose them. You can find the needed document in no time.

The use of bots and robots.

Innovative technologies contribute greatly to the development of the logistics industry. Warehouses are not an exclusion. Such machines are able to sort parcels, prepare them for loading, label boxes.

Human pickers as monitors.

It’s impossible to give up human pickers in warehouses. Yet, they should be monitors who control the whole process. They are to set up the needed programs and commands for both bots and robots.

Automated picking is to provide lots of perks. It allows for minimizing mistakes and delays.

So, automated picking is a good way to make freight forwarding more convenient and trouble-free. When looking for warehouses, it should be one of the aspects you have to pay attention to.