Pick and pack fulfillment services is defined perfectly just as it reads, the act of picking and packing of product for orders received that will ultimately be “fulfilled” to consumers or retail businesses.
Pick, Pack, and Ship is an art at AMS that drives efficiency and success for all stakeholders, including AMS, our clients, and our clients’ customers.
Picking and packing orders is our core service offering at AMS, and we do it quite well!
Of course, key parts of the warehousing operation must come into play for us to be successful at pick and pack, including accurate receiving of product, put-away in the system and physical locations, and ongoing inventory management that ensures accuracy at all times. Once the inventory is set, AMS is in a position to work its magic, picking a product in the most efficient manner possible and moving it to the next phase in the process, which may involve sorting or going straight to packing and shipping.
There are many facets to effective pick and pack, as we balance picking optimization with customization for clients that have unique requirements with their product or branding. One thing is certain, AMS is a Partner to the clients we serve, and we build solutions that meet the operational demands of their respective businesses!
At AMS we work to make the process of picking and packing efficient, deriving the most out of employee movement and reducing strain.
The pick and pack process is often automated, and in all cases, sophisticated systems create batch picking of orders that allow multiple orders to be picked in a single pass. The system also works to reduce travel time as items are picked in an efficient sequence.
At AMS, we are adept at picking and packing for both eCommerce/B2C businesses as well as wholesale/B2B. The methods we employ in pick pack and ship processes will vary based on the number of SKUs, order volumes, and order metrics, which often vary across different industries and sales channels (eCommerce versus B2B).
For eCommerce pick and pack, AMS utilizes a variety of methods based on order parameters. Our Centralized Process Management (CPM) Team is the brain trust behind how we wave orders to the floor and the methods we choose to use for pick and pack, which vary every day based on the data. Let us explain…
At AMS, a client’s daily eCommerce order volumes range from 50 per day to 20,000 or more at peak times… and SKU counts can range from 5 to 20,000+. In addition, some clients average just over 1 unit per order, and others average 10 or more units per order. There’s a whole lot that falls in between these ranges, and the parameters form the backdrop for how we choose to handle pick and pack fulfillment.
Our eCommerce clients count on AMS to process orders the same day to enhance customer satisfaction, and our efficiencies make same-day fulfillment a reality. One of our goals to bolster throughput is to pick the most product possible when stopping at a pick location while limiting the number of steps or travel time.
Many different methods of pick and pack fulfillment are employed at AMS, and our systems help our Operations Team choose the best method. AMS batches orders together for efficiency, sometimes onto batch order carts that can accommodate 20-40 or more orders, where units are scanned and sorted into the bins on the cart. Products can also be pulled in bulk with 100-300 or more orders when using automation that sorts products into orders after picking.
Hand-held devices
In all cases, hand-held devices are used to guide employees in the most efficient path, telling them what and how much to pick. Ring scanners read barcodes on products and cart locations, ensuring 100% accuracy in the picking process.
Put-wall automation
In several of our pick-and-pack warehouse locations, put-wall automation sorts the product into separate orders, where lights will tell the employee where to place the product after the UPC barcode is scanned. AMS also utilizes an OPEX Sure Sort automated put wall that scans the picked product at high speed while robots separate the products for an order automatically.
The benefit of put walls comes from the picking process where employees can pull hundreds of units in one pass, which bolsters the number of picks at each inventory location.
In the world of B2B fulfillment, orders are generally shipped with much larger amounts of product, often involving the use of MHE (material handling equipment) such as reach trucks. This pick-and-pack fulfillment process often requires extensive compliance labeling of outgoing cartons, particularly when shipping to major chain retailers. AMS and the clients will collaborate on whether it makes sense to carry B2B inventory in a separate location and/or virtual warehouse to create efficiencies in pick-and-pack fulfillment and alleviate challenges related to inventory availability between B2B and B2C sales channels.
For larger chain retail orders, where AMS is shipping to wholesale customers such as Target, Walmart, Sephora, Ulta, Nordstrom, Walgreens… etc., data communications and routing compliance are key to avoiding chargebacks with the retailers.
In most cases, data is transmitted via electronic data interchange (EDI) which involves order data transmissions between AMS’ operating systems; the brand’s accounting system or ERP; a vendor bridge (e.g. SPS Commerce) that translates the electronic data between the ERP and the retailer; and the operating system of the retail customer.
For AMS, the process involves the proper placement of GS1-128 or UCC-128 labeling on the outside of cartons, which tells the retailer exactly what is inside that carton. Additionally, orders must arrive within a window of time and an ASN (advanced shipping notice) must be transmitted in advance of product arrival, which notifies the retail customer exactly what product is on the way from the brand/seller.
AMS may pull large quantities of master cartons or pick loose units of product for a specific retail store. No matter the order metrics, AMS pulls products in the most efficient manner possible. For larger bulk orders shipping to DCs, AMS will pull products in bulk to electronic lines or belts where the cartons convey to scan stations, compliance labels are applied, and cartons are sorted at the end of the line by DC location. For loose unit B2B picking, AMS will batch orders together as we do for B2C pick and pack, using batch order carts or bulk pulling and sorting through automated put walls.
The Critical Process of
Packing orders is a vital “near-final” step as we handle pick pack and ship for our valued clients. Presentation, protection, minimizing package dimensions, branding, consistency, B2B routing compliance… all of these success factors are dialed in at AMS with the packing process.
AMS is also very proud to provide sustainable dunnage and packaging materials with our suite of Green Team-certified shipping materials catalog of products. As a B-Corporation, we go out of our way to ensure that every step of our process, as well as the packing materials we use, are earth-friendly if at all possible, and the supply vendors we partner with are vetted to ensure they share the same mindset in our sustainability goals, which includes carbon neutrality.
Packing for B2B can be tricky, as certain retailers require products to be packed in a specific manner to avoid chargebacks. AMS has decades of experience picking and packing for B2B orders, and our clients can rest easy knowing that we understand the nuances of compliance and the tricks of the trade for how we handle omnichannel fulfillment, where B2B and eCommerce fulfillment take place in the same warehousing environment.
Custom packaging is often in play for the client brands that we care for at AMS. The “consumer unboxing experience” is important to many brands – ensuring the same experience for every order, every time. Experienced packers follow set processes by clients with the help of on-screen instructions, which often include instructions for the insertion of specific marketing materials that brands want to place in outgoing orders. They know the importance of choosing the best shipping package for each order, to save shipping costs by minimizing dimensions while ensuring the contents are well protected in transit.
At AMS, we place a tremendous amount of focus on the packing process, from the people who staff this critical role to the equipment layout and fulfillment technology software from which we operate. Picking efficiency and accuracy is extremely important in the world of fulfillment, and in our world, Packing is equally as important!
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