Pio supports two flexible picking methods — Pick & Ship for a streamlined all-in-one flow, and Pick & Pass for teams that prefer to separate picking, packing, and shipping. With a shipping integration in place, it is easy to switch between the methods to match your workflow and order types.
The available picking methods in Pio are:
Pick & Ship
Pick & Pass
Pick & Ship
The recommended and streamlined picking flow in Pio is to pick all the items for an order, pack them in a polybag or a carton while picking, and have the shipping label printed automatically when wrapping up the order. This is all done at the Pio workstation, called a Port.
If you're familiar with a WMS and batch picking orders into totes or onto a trolley, think of the Pio workstation as the packing station. However, instead of packing orders from a pre-picked tote or trolley, you pick directly from the Pio port and pack each order on the spot.
Maximize efficiency at the port
By packing and shipping directly at the port, every second during bin exchanges is used efficiently — maximizing the productivity of robots, ports, and personnel in a streamlined, one-step process.
Integration with a shipping software like ShipStation is highly recommended. With a shipping integration in place, dimensions and weight can be entered directly in the Pio app. The shipping labels can then be printed automatically, eliminating the need to switch between systems for each order. The Webshipper and ShipStation integrations both support the pick & ship method.
Examples and more details on the pick & ship method are available here: How to pick orders in Pio
Pick & Pass
The Pick & Pass picking method provides complete flexibility in the order picking workflows, and can be used with or without a shipping integration in Pio.
This makes it ideal for teams that need to separate picking, packing, and shipping tasks or switch between the different workflows on the fly.
The picking method switch flexibility is particularly beneficial when you want to pack smaller orders at the port while sending larger or multi-parcel orders to a different workstation for further processing.
Watch the video to see how the picking method switch is enabled and used in a picking workflow:
Enable the picking method switch
Navigate to Admin > System > Organization settings to enable the picking method switch for the order complete screen:
By enabling picking method switch, a toggle is added to the top menu on the order complete screen. Switch between Pick & Ship and Pick & Pass when the order is picked at the Port.
The picking method switch is available for organizations where a shipping integration is in place. For customers without any shipping integration, the default workflow is Pick & Pass.
Pass the order to complete it downstream
Start by picking the order at the Port. After picking the items from the port, you have two options on how to complete the order:
- pack the order items at the port and pass them on for shipping (recommended*)
- pass the products downstream directly for packing and shipping
*This option will optimize personnel utilization at the Port
With the picking method switch enabled, you can easily change between the two methods when completing the orders.
When passing the order downstream, a license plate with the order ID will be displayed in the Pio app. The license plate can be printed either automatically or manually (requires Printnode integration).
Put the license plate label with the products to identify the order at the packing/shipping workstation. The license plate can include a scannable barcode for quick lookup in your shipping software (requires a shipping integration).
Pick with totes
Another option when using the Pick & Pass method is to put the picked items in a tote. Orders can be picked to totes, typically managed by a WMS. The tote IDs are scanned in Pio as part of the picking flow and reported back to the WMS together with the order status update.
Navigate to Admin > System > Organization settings to enable totes with the Pick & Pass picking method:
Picking with totes
When the 'Pick with totes' setting is enabled, you pick the products from the Pio bins as normal, but you will be requested to scan the tote ID after scanning out the product. The tote ID will be requested for the first product, and for the rest of the products in an order, simply confirm they are in the same tote.
If the tote needs to be changed during picking, scan the new tote ID and follow the instructions on the screen to move all picked items over to the new tote.
An order can only have one tote registered with it.
When all order lines are picked and placed in the tote, the order fulfillment is finished in Pio, and the license plate to go with the order can be printed automatically (Printnode integration is required for label printing). Pass the tote on to the next workstation for packing and shipping the order.
Skip the tote input
It is possible to pass the order downstream without a tote. Leave the tote ID input empty and select 'Next' to skip it.