A Revolutionary Order Fulfillment System Combining
Light Directed, Voice and Wireless Bar Code Scanning Technologies
US Patent 6,775,588
US Patent 6,775,588
Dynamic Zone Picking
"Bump Back" Cart Passing
a.k.a. The Bucket Brigade
Dynamic Zone Picking in Action
Some warehouses use carts passed between pickers in static zones
when batch picking multiple orders. The problem with this technique is that batches being picked in one
zone may take so much time that the picker in the next zone is
idle, waiting for a cart to be passed. This situation results
in a serious load balancing problem and associated
inefficiency and wasted time. One reason some companies use static zone
passing is
that it provides picking accountability
(workers are tied to products in zones) and appropriate "career
counseling" can be conducted for those workers who repeatedly
commit picking errors.
FastFetch uses a technique called "Dynamic Zone Picking" (a.k.a. the "Bucket Brigade", the "Toyota Sewing System" or "Bump Back" picking) in which zone boundaries automatically change depending on the picking load of each batch. Consider an example in which three pickers with carts are filling orders in a picking area. When the first picker finishes picking his batch, he disposes of his cart to the packing area, walks back to the second picker and "bumps" him so as to take his cart (wherever the cart may be) and continues picking. The second picker walks back to the third picker, "bumps" him in a similar way, and the third picker goes to the cart setup area to start a new cart into picking. When a picker is "bumped" he touches a "Logout" button on the display of the PDA or Tableet PC, to sign out and bring up a new display for the "bumping" picker to sign in. FastFetch will not tell the "bumping" picker what to do next until he successfully signs in by touching a button with his name, scanning his ID badge or otherwise identifying himself. Consequently, accountability is provided automatically, no picker is ever idle waiting on another picker to pass a cart into his fixed zone and the workload is perfectly balanced, An additional benefit of this technique is fairness to pickers who work on an since no picker waits on another picker. Click here to download a brochure on Dynamic Zone Picking.
Incidently, Subway uses a form of Bump Back processing when making sandwiches. Read about Subway's process here!
Some warehouses use carts passed between pickers in static zones
when batch picking multiple orders. The problem with this technique is that batches being picked in one
zone may take so much time that the picker in the next zone is
idle, waiting for a cart to be passed. This situation results
in a serious load balancing problem and associated
inefficiency and wasted time. One reason some companies use static zone
passing is
that it provides picking accountability
(workers are tied to products in zones) and appropriate "career
counseling" can be conducted for those workers who repeatedly
commit picking errors.
FastFetch uses a technique called "Dynamic Zone Picking" (a.k.a. the "Bucket Brigade", the "Toyota Sewing System" or "Bump Back" picking) in which zone boundaries automatically change depending on the picking load of each batch. Consider an example in which three pickers with carts are filling orders in a picking area. When the first picker finishes picking his batch, he disposes of his cart to the packing area, walks back to the second picker and "bumps" him so as to take his cart (wherever the cart may be) and continues picking. The second picker walks back to the third picker, "bumps" him in a similar way, and the third picker goes to the cart setup area to start a new cart into picking. When a picker is "bumped" he touches a "Logout" button on the display of the PDA or Tableet PC, to sign out and bring up a new display for the "bumping" picker to sign in. FastFetch will not tell the "bumping" picker what to do next until he successfully signs in by touching a button with his name, scanning his ID badge or otherwise identifying himself. Consequently, accountability is provided automatically, no picker is ever idle waiting on another picker to pass a cart into his fixed zone and the workload is perfectly balanced, An additional benefit of this technique is fairness to pickers who work on an since no picker waits on another picker. Click here to download a brochure on Dynamic Zone Picking.
Incidently, Subway uses a form of Bump Back processing when making sandwiches. Read about Subway's process here!