The core function design in the outbound process in WMS includes outbound waves, wave allocation, batch picking order generation, outbound picking, seeding, review, delivery, cancellation and exception handling. This time, we will focus on the generation of waves and the distribution of waves, the generation of batch picking orders and the picking and seeding.
1. Waves
The essence of a wave is the screening of a wave of orders, which is split into multiple picking lists based on criteria such as the shortest path of the picking rule, the best location inventory, the logistics channel, and the outbound priority.
The generated picking list will be arranged to the picking operator in the relevant storage area according to the picking duty schedule.
Another advantage of the wave is that it can be centralized to deal with replenishment and other operations, in the warehouse managed separately by the whole zero, there is often a shortage of zero inventory and need to replenish from the whole storage area, if each single replenishment once, the efficiency is too low, so according to the wave to trigger the replenishment task, it is reasonable to replenish a batch of goods at a time.
Note: If the company's business type has B-end customers and C-end bulk orders, B-end customers can be systematically judged by the type because they are all large quantities, and B-end orders do not need to form waves, this order is a wave, and then there is no need to sow seeds, and directly use the fruit picking method for picking.
1. Wave allocation rules
After the wave is generated, the next step is to allocate the inventory of the goods to the outbound order in the wave, and assign the appropriate outbound location so that the picker can pick the goods according to the system guidelines.
Figure 8-37 B2C outbound wave allocation
If the inventory of the goods in an outbound order is insufficient, the wave will fail to be allocated, and the out-of-stock order will be marked as a problem order, which needs to be manually intervened, cancel the outbound order, or remove it from the wave. Available inventory of commodities = physical inventory of commodities - allocated inventory - frozen inventory, and the sum of all locations that meet the outbound conditions in the whole warehouse is taken.
Note: The pre-occupation of inventory takes up inventory when the wave allocates the pick list.
In the case of sufficient total available inventory, because B2C sales are mainly scattered quantities, few customers place orders for more than one large package, so priority is given to the allocation of retail inventory, if the retail inventory is sufficient, the allocation strategy set by the system will be allocated to the location, otherwise the commodity details will be temporarily suspended, and the passive replenishment task from the whole storage area to the scattered storage area will be triggered, and the allocation will continue after the replenishment is in place. The replenishment quantity is generated in waves, that is, all out-of-stock products under the wave are generated together to generate a replenishment task to fill the upper inventory quantity of the goods in the scattered storage area.
After the distribution of the entire wave is completed, the status of the outbound order is changed to Allocation Completed, and the inventory of the allocated location of the commodity is pre-occupied (plus the allocated inventory quantity), and the allocated inventory cannot be allocated to other outbound orders.
The core of wave allocation is the wave allocation strategy, which is subdivided into commodity allocation strategy and location matching strategy, and one or two strategies can be selected and used in combination according to business scenarios.
Common product allocation strategies are as follows.
(1) Specify the batch policy. Specific businesses such as returning suppliers and stores to requisition goods, allocation, etc., have specified outbound batches when creating orders, and the warehouse management system allocates inventory according to the specified batches.
(2) FIFO strategy. If no batch is specified, the batch that comes in first can be assigned first based on the inbound time.
(3) Last-in-first-out strategy. In contrast to the FIFO strategy, batches that are stored last are allocated first.
(4) Priority outbound strategy for near-expiration dates. In industries such as food and pharmaceuticals, priority is often given to batches with a higher production date to avoid product expiration.
The product strategy can locate the batch of outbound goods, but if there are multiple locations for the same batch of goods, how to match the locations? This is where the location matching strategy comes in. Common location matching strategies are as follows.
(1) Least outbound location strategy. Combining as few outbound locations as possible reduces the movement of pickers.
(2) Optimal quantity matching strategy. Allocate the inventory location that is closest to the outbound quantity.
(3) Clearance strategy. Prioritize matching locations with a small amount of remaining inventory and emptying them. Through a combination of commodity and location strategies, one or more of the most appropriate outbound locations can be assigned to each commodity in the outbound order.
2. Generate a batch pick list
For the outbound orders that have been allocated, a batch of outbound orders with the same attributes will be generated into batch picking orders by manual or system according to the preset batch picking rules to facilitate picking. The rules of batch picking can be flexibly set according to business requirements, and the purpose is to be able to automatically match the outbound orders that meet the business requirements through the system.
After the batch picking rules are set, the system can automatically generate batch picking orders according to the rules. Multiple batch picking rules can be set under a warehouse, and if there is an intersection between the rules, such as an outbound order that exists in both rule 1 and rule 2, a batch picking order will be generated according to the priority.
Note that although batch picking orders and waves are batch generation of batch delivery orders, they are combined into one in some warehouse management systems, but the two are not the same in nature, the waves are generated in the distribution link of outbound orders, mainly used for distribution and replenishment, and batch picking orders are generated in the picking link, mainly used to generate picking tasks, and the generation rules of the two can be the same or different, so the decoupling and separate design will be more flexible.
3. Execution of picking lists
After the batch picking list is generated, the picker will be able to receive the picking task, a batch picking list can be split into one or more picking tasks according to the area of the location in the distribution details of the outbound order under it, if the warehouse area is small, a batch picking order can be generated a task, if the warehouse area is large, or need to cross floors, it is best to generate multiple picking tasks, and then through the way of relay or collection of goods will be brought together to sow seeds.
The picker matches the picking task in the corresponding area based on the pre-configured picking area, and then picks the picking task based on the picking priority.
After the picking is completed, because the goods are taken from the location, in order to ensure the consistency of the system and the physical object, the inventory of this location in the system should be deducted in time. If it is PDA picking, you can guide the picker to scan the barcode of the location to trigger the inventory deduction of the goods on the current location, if it is a paper list picking, you can provide an operation function for the completion of picking on the PC, and return to the PC to complete the picking after picking, and deduct all the inventory of goods under the picking task, and change the picking task and the corresponding batch picking order and the status of the outbound order, the status change rule is: the current picking task and all the details become the picking completed, and at the same time judge that if all the details in the outbound list are picked to complete, Then the outbound order becomes picking completed, otherwise the status of the outbound order is still picking, and the logic of changing the status of the batch picking order is the same.
2. Sowing
If there are multiple outbound items in a batch picking order, the seeds need to be seeded after the picking is completed, and the picked items will be distributed to each outbound order according to the system guidelines. The form of sowing can be divided into sorting while picking and sorting before sorting.
The way of sowing has seeding table + PDA; Seeding table + PDA + PC large screen computer; Seeding wall (comes with a barcode scanner and lights up).
3. Review and make orders
The last step before delivery is the review, which is the process of verifying whether the physical goods are consistent with the system outbound details, and at the same time, in this link, you can also recommend packaging consumables, packing, accompanying gifts, printing logistics face sheets, outbound lists (or shopping receipts), suspension interception, cancellation order interception, etc.
After the product is planted, the order and goods need to be sent to the review table for review. The review process is shown below.
This article was originally published by @逸轩Ethan on Everyone is a Product Manager. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.
The title image is from Unsplash and is licensed under CC0
The views in this article only represent the author's own, everyone is a product manager, and the platform only provides information storage space services.