Where warehouse order handling gets stuck

In a warehouse, the problem isn't always in the picking itself. For us it started earlier, in the way orders reached the warehouse.

How it worked before the system

The storekeeper received orders as printed sheets. That caused three problems:

• Last-minute orders that came in when the work was already under way.
• Many missed orders.
• Missing products that nobody ordered from the supplier. The order waited a long time, and in the end the customer didn't get the product.

Four statuses for every order

Today every order reaches the system at once and moves through a simple sequence:

1. Unsorted - the order has come in and is still waiting to be handled.
2. In progress - a work sheet was printed from the system, and the warehouse started locating and picking the products.
3. Check - picking is done and what was collected is checked against the order. This step can't be skipped.
4. Ready or Partly ready - everything was picked, or what's missing is clearly marked.

The value of the statuses isn't in their names. They give the next person in the process an answer to one question: what has already been done, and what still needs to happen.

On the picking screen on the phone, every product has a photo, which reduces picking mistakes. When the order is ready, the customer immediately gets a WhatsApp message and an email saying they can come and collect it, or that the delivery will go out to them soon. If they don't have WhatsApp, the message is sent by SMS.

What happens when a product is missing

A shortage shouldn't be buried in a note. The order stays in the Partly ready status, and at that moment a purchase request linked to the order is created and the customer gets an email update. That way the shortage becomes a task you can track.

This doesn't replace an employee's check. They still need to confirm what was found and what wasn't, but everything else happens behind the scenes. Even when you come back to an order a few days later, you don't need to remember anything: it's all recorded, including the order's status, what was picked and what is missing.

An example from a real system

The system I developed runs at Kol-Bo Lebinyan Amrusi Ltd. The home page has full screenshots of it, with demo data. See the screenshots. It also has tools for handling shortages, alerts, notes and an ongoing warehouse overview.

A short checklist

• Do all orders arrive in one place, rather than on sheets that get scattered?
• Can everyone on the team see which stage each order is at?
• When a product is missing, who orders it, and how does the customer find out?
• How many times a week do customers call just to ask whether the order is ready?

When you don't need custom development

If there are few orders, a small warehouse and a fixed way to update status, you can start with a well-organized spreadsheet or an existing tool. Custom development starts to make sense when orders get stuck again and again at the same points - between people, against stock or on shortages - and you can say exactly where.

Frequently asked questions

Does the system work with SAP Business One?

Yes. The system I built is connected to the existing data in SAP Business One. If you use different software, the first step is to check what kind of integration it allows.

What do I need to know before building a process like this?

Which stages an order goes through today, who updates each stage and where stock is kept. With that information you can check what to connect to the existing system and what to build from scratch.

You can also read about goods receiving. And if your orders get stuck at a particular stage, you can tell me about it in a short conversation.