One Touch Fulfillment
Quick question – How many times does an order get touched in your eCommerce operations before it is sealed and heads to a truck?
Three? Four? Maybe even five or more times?
All research shows that the more times an order is touched, the more opportunities it has for errors. Wrong products picked, products being omitted or worse an order sent to the wrong place. Fixing errors and eroding customer’s trust in the company is something that all eCommerce operations want to avoid.
Many businesses employ a strategy where the orders are given to pickers in the same sequence that they are received. The pickers then wander the racks picking each order separately. The picking tote or case could then be given to another worker to pick more items in a different area or zone. Then the order could be transferred to yet another staff member who selects the box and places the order into the box. The order then would be dropped off at a shipping station where another worker prints the shipping label, verifies the order, and seals the box for shipping.
Whew, that is a lot of touches.
One Touch Fulfillment, on the other hand, offers the attractive option of having only one person handle or touch the order throughout the entire process from order receipt, picking, packing and shipping.
How does One Touch Fulfillment work?
Select Box or Container First
By leveraging a WMS, like the FASCOR WMS, an operation can use cartonization to analyze the dimensions of each item that is to be picked. By knowing these dimensions, the software will take each item into consideration and then select the right box(s) available that the order will fit into. By selecting the box before the pick, there is no wasted shipping space in the box and shipping rates and shipping costs will be reduced as you are using the correct box and not paying for empty space.
Rate Shopping
With the WMS working hand in hand with a TMS like the FASCOR TMS (Transportation Management Software) the WMS has already selected the correct box, then the TMS can rate shop LTL and Parcel carriers like UPS, FEDEX and USPS to find the most inexpensive shipping rate that meets all the customer, vendor and carrier requirements. This keeps shipping costs as low as possible sending the right package with the right carrier.
Print and Apply Shipping Labels
Two of the biggest tasks in a warehouse operation have been completed before the picker has even taken one step. Now, the picker prints the shipping label, applies it to the selected box and sets the boxes on a box picking cart. They can put as many orders on the cart as possible and leave the area now able to pick all the orders on the cart at the same time.
Pick to Box
The WMS guides the picker (through RF devices) to designated areas, in a designated order, on a specific path that will maximize picking time and steps taken. The pick is accomplished by fulfilling multiple orders on only one trip through each area.
Sealed and Ready for Shipping
After the pick, all that is left is for the orders to be sealed. This can be done by the picker, but many operations employs an auto sealer with a barcode scanner that can read the barcode, verify the order is ready to be shipped and readied to leave the warehouse.
One Touch Fulfillment
One thing that 2020 taught us was that operations have to improve to meet demand and keep customers satisfied. By moving to a One Touch Fulfillment strategy, you can dramatically change your warehouse operation’s accuracy, productivity, and employee satisfaction.
Want to see this process in action? Click the video below to see One Touch Fulfillment.
Want to learn more? Click below to schedule a no obligation 30-minute demo with our team.
