Shelf pick option is a new picking flow made to speed up the process when you have items in Pio stored both in bins inside the grid and larger products stored on shelves or hanging racks.
If the orders in the picking queue contains products from other locations than the Pio grid, it will ease the picking flow for the port worker if these products are collected and prepared first, and placed on designated trolley locations next to the workstation.
Step-by-step intro to shelf picking in Pio
This video will guide you through the process of shelf picking and consolidation in Pio.
Watch the video first, and then explore additional step-by-step information below for more clarification.
Filtered pick options
When starting the filtered picking flow in the Port, you can choose to:
- Pick the grid-only items from bins
- Prepare the shelf items by selecting 'Shelf pick'
- Consolidate orders with prepared shelf items and grid items (prepared orders with only shelf items must be packed and shipped in the consolidation flow)
Follow these steps to start shelf picking in Pio
Preparations
How to start a new shelf picking round
Select orders
Take your trolley and start picking from the shelves
Skip items
Complete shelf pick
Start picking in port
Exit during picking
Preparations
To start with shelf picking flow in Pio, there are a few things to prepare. Here are some recommendations before you start:
- name the shelf locations in alphabetical order, with aisle+shelf+level. Ex. 1.1.A - 2.10.E
Important! Pio will sort the orders alphabetically/numerically to minimize the walking distance when picking from shelves. So make sure your locations are sorted orderly, preferably in a snake pattern to avoid unnecessary travel distance.
- use barcodes for location names/id's for easy storing (scan location to store the items on a shelf)
Example:
Contact Pio Support if you need help creating barcode labels for shelf locations.
- connect a scanner to the iPad to use on the shelf picking round
- prepare a trolley to move the items picked from shelves to the port or workstation
- add barcode locations on the trolley to keep the items sorted and enable fast consolidation
How to start a new shelf-picking round
Select orders
When entering the Shelf pick flow you can use the + / - buttons to select how many orders you want to pick from the shelves.
The product images will be listed on the left side of the page. This makes it easy to plan the batch size per the type of products and trolley.
If the same product is to be picked for multiple orders, only the number of items to pick (in the upper right corner of the product image) will be adjusted.
When re-entering the Shelf-picking page, Pio will suggest the same number of orders as picked the last time.
Cherry-pick orders with shelf items
Instead of letting Pio define the order batch, you can select specific orders to prepare. Use the button in the upper right corner, '3 available orders', to list all available orders with shelf items.
You can choose which orders to add to the picking queue by using the 'Add +'/'Added'-buttons on each order line, or the +/- buttons above the order list.
If all orders should be added to the picking queue, select the 'Add all orders' button and all orders will be listed with the green 'Added' button.
To view more details for one order, click the order line, and you will see all items in the order, including the shelf locations and ordered quantities.
There are 3 tabs in the list view of shelf pick orders. Click the tabs to switch between shelf pick orders in status 'Available', 'In progress', and 'Completed'.
When you have added the orders to pick from shelves, select the green button 'Start shelf picking 3 orders'.
Take your trolley and start picking from the shelves
Pio will organize the most optimized picking route, based on an alphabetical order of shelf locations.
Bring the trolley to use for temporary placement of the items that are retrieved from the shelves. Here is an example of a trolley where you can use multiple locations:
Use the scanner to scan the item's barcode when picking, or select 'Confirm pick' on the iPad.
If the order has more than one item, you must 'Confirm pick' for each pick from the specified shelf location.
Place the item on the trolley, and scan or enter the location ID on the trolley:
Skip items
If, for some reason, you have to skip an item during the shelf pick round, use the arrow icon in the top row to skip the next item.
Confirm in the popup dialog that you want to 'Skip items':
Skipped items will be removed from the shelf pick list, and the order will be made available for the next shelf pick round.
Complete shelf pick
When you have picked all the items for the selected orders, follow the instructions on the success screen. The trolley with the picked items can now be moved back to a Port workstation.
The next step is to start the consolidation flow under 'Filtered pick' to pick and pack items from both bins and trolley locations.
Start picking in port
When the shelf pick round is completed, and the trolley is placed next to the workstation, everything should be ready to start picking in Pio.
You have two options for picking the orders ready for consolidation:
1. The first option is to prioritize these orders using 'Filtered pick' and 'Consolidate'. The red number indicates how many orders are ready for picking and packing from the trolley.
2. The second option is to start the normal picking flow in the Port by selecting the yellow 'Pick' button. The consolidation orders will be part of the order backlog when picking the order backlog in the Port.
When a shelf-pick order is next in the Port, Pio will tell you which location on the trolley to pick the item from.
Pick the item and select 'Next' or 'Complete order'.
Exit during picking
If you have to exit in the middle of the picking round, you can use the 'Exit' button in the upper left corner.
Follow the instructions in the dialogue box and move the trolley with the picked items to the workstation. These items are now ready to be consolidated with orders from the grid.
If you decide to exit mid-picking a shelf order, the order will be left in the status 'In Progress'. Orders in progress must be resumed by the same user who started it.
You will be asked to resume this incomplete order when resuming shelf picking.