Piece picking is best suited for operations with a high mix of SKUs and smaller orders, such as e-commerce, retail, or small-scale warehousing. It’s commonly used in environments where the order volumes are relatively low, but SKU diversity is high. This method is ideal for businesses that fulfill a large number of unique, individualized customer orders with varied items, like in online retail where many customers purchase only one or two items per order.
Advantages:
Simplicity: Piece picking is straightforward and easy to implement, making it ideal for small warehouses or operations just starting out. It requires minimal infrastructure and is manageable with manual labor.Accuracy for Small Orders: This method allows for detailed focus on individual items, ensuring high accuracy for small, varied orders.Flexibility: Piece picking works well with unpredictable demand, especially in industries where the types of items ordered can vary significantly from day to day.
Disadvantages:
Inefficient for High Volumes: Piece picking becomes inefficient as order volumes grow because each item is picked individually. This results in longer travel times within the warehouse and slower fulfillment speeds.High Labor Costs: Since each item is handled individually, the labor required is significantly higher than bulk picking methods, driving up operational costs.Limited Scalability: Piece picking does not scale well for businesses with high order volumes unless supported by automation technologies, which could mitigate some inefficiencies but require substantial investment.
Piece picking is a simple and accurate method best suited for small operations or businesses with diverse products and low-order quantities. However, it may not be the most efficient solution for high-volume environments.
A strong example of a company using piece picking is Shipbob, a third-party logistics (3PL) provider that specializes in eCommerce fulfillment. ShipBob integrates advanced technology like barcode scanning, RFID systems, and warehouse management software (WMS) to optimize piece picking processes. The company handles a large volume of small, direct-to-consumer orders. For example, Bunker Branding, a print-on-demand company, fulfills over 10,000 orders per month through ShipBob’s system, boasting an error rate of less than 1%. This high efficiency is attributed to their WMS, which calculates the best routes for pickers and integrates inventory tools to reduce human error. (Modula) (ShipBob).
Similarly, Pit Viper, a sunglasses company, improved its order accuracy from 92% to 99.7% after adopting ShipBob’s piece picking solutions. This drastic improvement significantly cut down on mispicks, reducing errors by approximately 2,100 per year. Such case studies illustrate how ShipBob’s technology-driven approach makes piece picking highly effective for businesses dealing with a high volume of small, individual orders. (Optioryx blog) (ShipBob).
