If you’re in the warehousing business, you’re always on the lookout for ways to increase productivity, improve accuracy, and keep labor costs at a minimum. Pick to Light (PTL) systems are picking technologies that use a software-driven sequence and light to drive accurate and efficient order fulfillment, sorting, and putting.
The Idea
Think about your last trip to the grocery store. How much backtracking was involved in moving through the aisles to find what you needed, and how many items did you realize you’d forgotten once you reached home? This is a common experience, unlike picking and fulfilling orders in a warehouse environment. When pickers need to backtrack and search for items, the process slows down, and often items are missed entirely.
What would happen if you could enter your grocery list into an app and then lights appeared directing you to the aisles and shelves where you can find your items in the most efficient path? Every time you place an item in your cart and hit the light, your app automatically updates, so you know what you still need to find in real-time. The result would be a quicker trip and nothing left behind.
Pick to light warehouse material handling services do just that. A sequence of work is entered into the PTL software and assigned a container ID. Pickers scan the container to begin picking and follow the lights that indicate the container and the quantity. Once the items are picked, the operator presses the light and the system updates in real-time. Operators move efficiently through the warehouse, correct quantities are picked, nothing gets left out, and you can see exactly how smoothly everything runs in real-time.
The Benefits
PTL provides five key benefits:
- Accuracy
Missed pick and quantity errors are expensive and can often do permanent damage to your reputation. Your customers reasonably expect to receive exactly what they ordered and to receive it on time. PTL technology helps you deliver highly accurate results consistently.
- Speed
PTL systems deliver faster results than other picking systems. While operator speed is still a factor outside the system’s control, with PTL, walking distances are reduced, searching time is reduced, and even your beginner pickers can make good time.
- Ease
PTL has a quick learning curve. With less than an hour of training, pickers can get to work using PTL. Scan the container, look for the light, pick, hit the light, and repeat. That’s all there is to it.
- Integration
PTL integrates seamlessly into your other material handling systems. It’s quick to implement, scalable, and provides a rapid ROI.
Want more information on PTL? Talk to your material handling partner today.