To keep competitive, warehouses must always be working at optimum. If another enterprise can fulfil orders faster in their sector, firms will find they can quickly lose customers to their competitors. As a result, the methods used to pick orders from stockholding are important. Warehouse operators must be constantly assessing their on-site practices and workflow to ensure it remains as swift and streamlined as possible.
In this blog, we’ll take a closer look at how warehouse order picking methods can directly affect warehouse productivity and how different types of equipment can help. Read on to learn more.
Order picking challenges
To remain effective, equipment for picking orders must allow employees to load and move the maximum amount of stock possible, while keeping it secure and separate in the smallest amount of time. To this end, a wide range of picking trolleys have been engineered to enhance productivity.
Picking large quantities
Every type of order picking presents unique challenges. When one product type must be picked in bulk it can be easier to pick, but the ability to move it to where it is required quickly remains essential. Options like 4-Rail Hanging Trolleys can be an ideal option for products like garments. With up to four levels of racking, large stock quantities can be easily transported.
Shifting light goods
It’s understood that picking equipment must match the products being moved. A large and cumbersome trolley is unnecessary for lightweight goods. Fortunately, solutions like the 5 Basket 2 Step and the 2 Step Pigeonhole Picking Trolley provide pickers with the ability to easily move large quantities of lighter goods in a single trip, saving time. With different compartments, products picked can be easily separated by type, colour or style to keep them categorised.
Moving mixed products
Customer orders will often include products that vary in terms of size, shape and weight. If order pickers must use a different material handling solution for each type of product, workflow can become impacted. Thankfully, order picking trolleys have been cleverly designed to handle an extensive selection of mixed goods at once, like the 3 Step 2 Shelf Warehouse Trolley.
These versatile trolleys are made with durable steel frameworks to ferry heavier goods but can be customised with different types of shelves to suit a variety of product types. Shelves can be made from rubber metal or wood as required.
Remaining agile
To maximise the available space in a warehouse, the racking that stock is stored on must be constructed as closely together as possible. Unfortunately, this does not always leave much room for order pickers to access stock easily. If an order picking trolley is too bulky, it will not fit in the aisle and must be parked further from the racking. As a result, warehouse staff must collect goods by hand and carry them to the trolley, wasting time and energy and harming productivity.
To answer this issue, specialised order picking trolleys have been designed with a slim-line design and a tighter turning circle. Models like the Narrow Aisle Picking Trolley can navigate racking areas with limited space, ensuring that pickers can fulfil orders quickly and work rate never suffers.
To increase their capacity, warehouses must also store stock as high as possible to maximise their use of space. This can slow pickers down if they must locate a set of steps not in use on site to collect stock. To this end, many order picking trolleys also include built-in steps and a handrail for added security and a more streamlined way of working.
Solutions to suit your site
While there are a multitude of order picking trolley designs that you can choose from as a warehouse operator, the constant development of brand-new products means that the ideal solution to pick them had not always been developed. Along with supplying ready-made reliable trolleys, at Steely Products, we can be called upon to visit your site and engineer specific order picking equipment that is bespoke to your individual needs.
Are you looking for a range of warehouse picking trolleys for your operation?
You might run a small-scale or large warehouse operation, but either way, if you need to pick orders effectively, you can rely on Steely Products for material handling solutions that are second-to-none. From our dedicated base in Manchester, our team at Steely Products have been designing and manufacturing order picking trolleys specifically designed to optimise work rates while keeping products in ideal condition as they move from storage to despatch.
Browse our comprehensive range of British-made order picking trolleys or let our experienced team of in-house metalworkers create a bespoke solution for the way you work at your warehouse.
For material handling solutions that you can count on, get in touch with us today using our contact form below.
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