Preparing Picking List / Documentation
Picking Slip
- The picking slip lists the contents of the shipper, providing a record for the customer to match against the invoice.
A pick list
- A pick list is a document sent to your warehouse pickers to fulfil a customer order.
- A pick list communicates the items they will need to retrieve from inventory storage, including inventory SKU, quantities and locations.
- A pick list allows warehouse management to keep the picking process organized by assigning orders to each picker so they always have the next set of orders queued up as soon as one is picked.
Types of pick lists
- Physical pick lists
The old school way of generating pick lists is printing them. Before integrated software, mobile technology, and Wi-Fi were ubiquitous, warehouses would use physical pick lists and hand each pick list on a piece of paper to a picker.
- Digital pick lists
Digital pick lists are used when mobile devices, tablets, or laptops are used on the warehouse floor. Order details are automatically assigned and sent to each picker, where they can follow instructions on their device for a more efficient process.
Elements of a picking list
- Product descriptions — be specific about the most important characteristics of the product (i.e., size, colour, etc.)
- SKU number or UPC codes
- Bar codes
- Images of each item to be picked
- Quantity for each item
- Order number
- Order date