Assessing Fulfilments

Background & Rationale

TOT follows the random stock keeping  approach. Stock is stored in any location provided there is sufficient space, which means the same SKU can (and is often likely to be stored in multiple locations.
This can present challenges for establishing and adopting best working picking from locations, as the number of variables involved results in a series of similar but different scenarios.

The best way to overcome these challenges and establish efficient working practice is for an experienced member of staff assess each fulfilment ahead of the pick to determine the optimal method to administer the pick. Once assessed the fulfilment is updated to record the best picking protocol to use. For the member of staff assigned the pick, they only need to follow the predetermined instructions.

 

How to Assess Set of Fulfilments

 

Stage One: identifying number of locations, and level of stock

 

  1. Fulfilments layout, use Can Pick : Today to return a foundset of ready to pick records.

    See understanding Fulfilment Filters for supplemental information as to how these filters work.

  2. Review each record via its Picker button (i.e. one at a time.)

  3.  This will list all the locations which contain stock needed on the fulfilment, together with the Qty of each wanted item held in each location.

  4. Notice for the above example, the In location balance matches exactly the required (to be given qty) for each of the four items needed.

  5. At this point you know that this single fulfilment can be fully satisfied by visiting this location, but there are other potential scenarios that may exists - for example the location identified may contain items that are required on other fulfilment records. If so, then it would be more efficient for the picking staff member to satisfy the other fulfilment's when visiting the location.

Stage Two: Identifying other requirements that the location can satisfy.

  1. From within the picking form - click Stock Check.

  2. This displays the contents of the location .

    It also gives more information, notice the following:-
    (1) - This is the Subfrantic requirements that we originally came from in. However we can see a series (2) of Diddly Squat items which have been allocated (3),. i.e. are required in those qtys, and moreover that these requirements can all be satisfied in entirety (4) from the location.

  3. It therefore makes sense to group the Fulfilments for "Subfrantic" and "Diddly Squat" together. That is, assign them to the same picker, and use the Group Pick field to communicate to the picker that they should be picked together  - that is, only one visit to the location Temp 6 is needed.

 

Picking scenarios

Now that the method of how to assess fulfilments has been outlined, let's look at the different scenarios that can occur.

Single Fulfilment Single Location Scenarios

Under the first four scenarios, we have a single fulfilment, and the item (or items) required on it, are held in a single location

 

1: One Fulfilment For One Item:  Single Location: No Surplus Stock.

This is relatively common and occurs when a fulfilment requires one item, stored in a single location which contains the exact qty of stock needed for the pick.

Under this scenario, processing is easy - the picking person will visit the location and retrieve the whole of the SKU balance.

Important: If you have a series of these easy quick  small volume picks, you may want to consider grouping them together so that the picking staff member picks a series of unrelated picks in one pass.

 

2:  One Fulfilment For One Item:  Single Location: Surplus Stock

This is essentially as simple as above, with the exception that location holds more of the SKU than is required.

However aside from picking the requirement, there are some additional activities that are recommended for best working practice :

Important: Depending on the quantities picked, vs stored It may be more efficient to relabel the balance in situ.

 

 3: One Fulfilment For More than One Item:  Single Location: No Surplus Stock

 

This is essentially identical to scenario one with the exception that the fulfilment contains multiple requirements, each of which is satisfied by the entirety of the stock balance stored in a single location.

 

 

Under this scenario, processing is easy - the picking person will visit the single location and retrieve the whole of the required SKU balances.

Important: If you have a series of these easy quick  small volume picks, you may want to consider grouping them together so that the picking staff member picks a series .

 

 

 4: One Fulfilment For More than One Item:  Single Location: Surplus Stock

This is essentially identical to scenario two with the exception that the fulfilment contains multiple requirements, each of which is satisfied from a single location,

However, for one or more of the items, the location contains more quantity than is required, and thus a residual balance will result.

 

For example in the below Qtys 10 and 5 are needed versus the location balance of 24 and 10.

 

This is essentially identical to scenario 2, with the exception that there are multiple items being picked.

However aside from picking the requirements, there are some additional activities that are recommended for best working practice.

 

Single Fulfilment Multiple Location Scenarios

Under the following four scenarios, we have a single fulfilment, and the item (or items) required on it, are held in multiple locations

 


5: One Fulfilment For One Item:  Multiple Locations: No Surplus Stock

A single fulfilment requires one item, with the exact amount that is required stored in two or more locations.

For example in the below screen-shot, 92 lanyards are required, with 46 held in Location D-18K2 and 46 in W-7A5.

 Picking for this single fulfilment is therefore easy - both locations need to be visited, with the entire 46 location balance of the SKU picked from each.


Important: If you have a series of these easy quick  small volume picks, you may want to consider grouping them together so that the picking staff member picks a series of unrelated picks in one pass. Additionally by using smart relocate the system will create a picking route that is the shortest possible

 

6: One Fulfilment For One Item:  Multiple Locations: Surplus Stock

A single fulfilment requires one item, with surplus amounts of the item stored in one or more locations.

For example in the below screen-shot 10 of the Sky Mobile T Shirt is needed, and two locations hold this stock. Moreover, both locations hold 15 of the item, so whichever location is selected, a residual balance of 5 will result in that location post-pick, or in other words, pre-pick a total of 30 is held, and post pick a total of 20 will be held.

 

Under this scenario one single location will be visited and the requirement picked.

However aside from picking the requirements, there are some additional activities that are recommended for best working practice.

 

Note, there is a variation on this scenario.

Namely, when the requirement for the fulfilment is satisfied across multiple locations but multiple locations will need to be visited, and a location balance will result.

For example,  in the screen-shot below the same 10 items are required.

However, neither of the two locations that hold this SKU can satisfy the requirement in entirety - but between them they hold more of the SKU than is required.

 

In this scenario - a smart relocate is the most appropriate picking method. This method will calculate the most efficient picking route which ensures that the smaller quantity balance is exhausted first which will result in a reduction in the number of locations.

 

 

7: One Fulfilment For More than One Item:  Multiple Location: No Surplus Stock

Under this scenario a single fulfilment requires multiple items. These requirements are held in multiple locations. Between the locations, the exact amount of the requirements is held. That is no balance for the items required will result.

 

For example in the below screen-shot, two items are needed :

30 of SKU 1090945  - and this is held exactly in W-1F5

13 of SKU 1090946 - held is exact qty in D-11M1

 

Under this scenario, processing is easy - the picking person will visit each location and retrieve the whole of the SKU balance.

 

Note

Again  there can be variations on this scenario where the requirement exact quantities are across multiple locations, but one or more of the requirements is satisfied only when multiple location balances are used.

For example, below two items are needed

TOT holds exactly 5 of each of these - but for each SKU, the holding are stored across multiple (5)  Locations:-

Picking for this scenario is easy - all of the 5 locations will need to be visited and the whole of the respective SKU balance picked to satisfy the requirements.

Smart Relocate would be an appropriate pick method to use for this scenario, as even though all locations will need to be visited, part of the smart locate algorithm is to work out the optimum route for the picker - i.e. the shortest/most direct possible walking route.

 

 

8: One Fulfilment For More than One Item:  Multiple Locations: Surplus Stock

Under this scenario a single fulfilment requires multiple items. Each of these items is stored in multiple locations.

Further, each location holds a surplus of the items required

 

Picking for this scenario is easy -as both locations hold a surplus of all the items required - then a single location can be visited for the pick.

 

 

Note

The above situation is not always so easy. There will be frequent variations on this scenario where the quantities needed will require visiting multiple locations, and will still result in one or more residual balances.

 

For example in the below, there are two requirements to be picked:-

 

Notice that a) no single location holds sufficient balance for a requirement and b) that residual balances for each will result once picked

Thus smart relocate is the most appropriate picking method. This method will calculate the optimal pick so that the smaller quantity balance is exhausted first so that the number of locations is reduced.

In fact, only one location/balances will be left once the pick has been administered.