While many companies have a highly organized order-taking process, order fulfillment organization often lags behind, hurting customer service.

Many warehouses could improve their efficiency and customer service by paying closer attention to how their orders are organized for fulfillment. Most typically, they need to refine their processes, often with the help of software, to improve overall order flow coordination.

There are three areas that often cry out for improvement – handling of out-of-stock items in an order, allocation of limited stock, and picking for maximum carrier utilization. In each case, the intent is to eliminate wasted time and duplication of efforts. It's also important to create processes that put the decision-making capability in the right hands.

Take the out-of-stock inventory issue. If an item is not in stock, it should be eliminated from that order before the order is turned over to the warehouse. If it remains on the order, it creates adjustments that result in delays and errors. Allowable substitutions should be controlled by order entry or inventory control personnel not by the order picker.

Then there's the issue of how limited stock gets allocated. This is a decision that should be determined by sales staff, not by the first order selector who happens to get to the picking location. By the way, the situation doesn't have to get to that point. A proper inventory count program can resolve inaccurate inventory issues before they become a problem.

Picking to satisfy specific transportation needs is a third key issue. Unless you ship via courier, consolidation of orders by geographic zone into a full truckload can provide significant transportation savings that can help the bottom line. Transit time is often shortened compared to less-than truckload (LTL) delivery, providing an optimum mix of improved service and lower cost.

Now the balancing act takes place.

Batch picking is often an ideal as far as picking operations are concerned. In fact, a single batch a day would be the most efficient. But it usually creates a nightmare for sortation at the dock.

To simplify the order assembly process at the dock, batch picking can be coordinated into a wave process for each truckload, particularly if picking is done from several zones in the warehouse. Within each picking document or download, items are first divided into picking zones. Within each zone, items are then sequenced for efficient picking.

Another route is to combine all outstanding orders to a single consignee into one pick document. This can greatly simplify warehouse handling because it puts into one order all outstanding orders of the same type that have a single delivery destination. It is also beneficial to batch together different order types for the same destination.

Generally, large truckload orders will be picked as a single order. For common types of smaller orders, a further organizing step may be desirable.

Orders for several destinations that will be shipped together can also be effectively combined to produce an average number of order lines for efficient picking. Usually there is a target batch size that is used as a planning guideline.

Finally, don't forget about hot picks, those rush requests that just can't be ignored. If this process is to work, there is a need for someone to ensure that hot picks really are rush and not just someone's method of trying to jump the queue.