Taking the paper out of pick and pack

In many small and mid-sized warehouses, an order’s journey still looks like this: the office prints it, someone walks it to the warehouse, it’s picked and packed, and then someone walks back to the office with weights and dimensions so the delivery can be booked.

Every one of those walks is a delay, and every handwritten number is a chance for an error. Replacing them doesn’t need a full warehouse management system. A set of rugged handheld devices connected to your order platform is usually enough.

Choosing devices

Consumer phones don’t last long in a warehouse. Look for rugged Android devices with:

• drop testing onto concrete from around head height
• full water and dust resistance (an IP68 or IP69K rating)
• a battery that comfortably lasts a full shift
• a decent camera, because photos matter (more on that below)
• a warranty with UK support

Good rugged phones cost a few hundred pounds each, a fraction of the price of specialist warehouse terminals. They’re also easy to replace.

Locking them down

A warehouse device should do one job. Kiosk software such as Fully Kiosk Browser locks the device to the order platform, so staff can’t open other apps or browse the web. It also keeps the screen on, reloads after a dropped connection and restarts the app if it’s closed.

Signing in

Email addresses and passwords don’t suit gloved hands and shared devices. A list of warehouse staff with a 4-digit PIN works much better: tap your name, enter your PIN, and you’re in. Staff stay signed in until they sign out, so devices can be passed between shifts while every action is still recorded against the right person.

The order queue

The main screen is a queue of every approved order waiting to be picked, sorted by delivery date, with orders that need packing before the next-day cutoff highlighted. Each card shows the order number, customer, delivery date, carrier and number of lines.

When someone opens an order, it’s marked as in progress with their name. This small detail prevents two people picking the same order, which happens more often than you’d think when lists are printed.

Pick lists that follow the building

The order of lines on a pick list matters. Sorting by product group, then alphabetically, means a picker works through the warehouse in a sensible route rather than in the order the customer typed the lines. Each line is ticked as it’s picked, and packing only unlocks once every line is ticked.

Weights, dimensions and photos

After picking, staff enter the weight and dimensions of each parcel or pallet on the device. A running total shows at the bottom. This is the data the carrier booking needs, captured once, at source.

Then come photos. Requiring at least one photo of every packed order before it can be completed is one of the simplest and most valuable changes you can make. When a customer reports a damaged or short delivery, you have a dated photo of exactly what left the building, attached to the order.

Wi-Fi

The one thing devices can’t fix is poor connectivity. Walk the warehouse with a phone before you start, and check the signal in the far corners, between racking and near the loading doors. Where Wi-Fi is weak, devices with a SIM card are a straightforward fallback.

What it changes

• Orders reach the warehouse the moment they’re approved, not when someone prints them.
• Nobody walks back to the office with numbers on a scrap of paper.
• The office can see which orders are in progress, and who has them.
• Every packed order has photos and a timestamped history.

If your warehouse runs on printed lists and you’d like to see what a device-based process would look like in your building, get in touch.