What is an Orderpicker?

You may have seen an Orderpicker in use at  a hardware store or at another warehouse.  You might be wondering how to use one in your warehouse.  Or you might be trying to figure out what an orderpicker is used for and why.  In this article, we will describe what an orderpicker is used for and why many warehouse managers believe its expense is justified.

Why would you need an Orderpicker?

Many companies understand that the 80-20 rule is not just a theory, but a rule to run their business by.   If you take the rule seriously then you would know that 50% of your SKUs represents 5% of your warehouse’s volume.  So how do you store all those SKUs efficiently?

One way to is to use an orderpicker in a dedicated aisle.  Wire-guide or rail guide it and the storage aisle dimension can be as narrow as 52″.   You would store product on a wire mesh deck and hand load the cases in and out of storage.

The other way to use an orderpicker is to use it to increase your large cube pick slots.  Car parts distributors use orderpickers to pick fenders and car mouldings from large pick slots in the air.

Another use of an orderpicker is to use it for cycle-counting and inventory taking.  Orderpickers take you to the pick slot and make it easier to count and verify inventory levels.