Order picking or order selection is the process of retrieving individual items (from storage locations) for the purpose of fulfilling an order for a customer. Schemes by which to achieve efficient order picking will vary widely. However, in all cases it involves locating the items in storage; creating a plan for retrieving the items; physically picking the items (either automatically or manually); sorting and/or assembling them into discrete orders; and in the end even packaging the orders for delivery. Although defined as a process, order picking cannot be achieved without the appropriate computer software and mechanical equipment, including the storage medium, such as pallet racks, shelving, AS/RS (including carousels) and flow delivery racks, and a means for transporting items from receiving to storage and from storage to packaging and shipment. A variety of industrial trucks and conveyors will be found in most order picking applications. Order picking may also involve robotic like devices for physically picking discrete items from their storage location. See also Warehouse Management Systems or WMS .

A process used to fill orders for quantities less than a full case thereby requiring ordered items to be picked from a case or some similar container.

A container generally used for order-picking and shipping of items. Usually small in size and easily moved by hand or other lifting devices and designed to be durable and reusable.

Erlanger, KY, USA — June 20, 2023 — Brightpick, a leading provider of warehouse automation solutions for order fulfillment, today announced the successful completion of a nine-month pilot of its robotic solution in the Prague fulfillment center of Rohlik Group, one of the largest e-grocers in Europe. Rohlik now plans to roll out the Brightpick solution across multiple warehouses in 2023 and 2024, starting with Munich in July 2023 and continuing with Frankfurt, Vienna, Prague and other fulfillment centers. The solution includes Brightpick Autopicker and Brightpick Dispatcher autonomous mobile robots and enables Rohlik to fully automate picking, consolidation and dispatch of orders.Grocery orders contain an average of 30* items per order, so item picking is a major operational challenge. In addition, 78%* of grocers state rising workforce costs as one of their top three challenges and 92%* are dissatisfied with online order picking efficiency. A typical grocery fulfillment center also has to contend with various picking zones to handle ambient, fresh, chilled and frozen items. Brightpick offers the only mobile robot solution that automates both picking and order consolidation across these different zones.Rohlik has more than 1.5 million e-grocery customers and 12 million orders per year. Once fully deployed in the Munich warehouse, Brightpick will be able to dispatch over 1,000 order totes (bins) per hour and 5,000 completed orders per day (an order may contain multiple totes).The Brightpick solution contains three technologies that are valuable to grocers that want to automate their fulfillment warehouses: Brightpick Autopicker robots for picking items and consolidating orders in the aisles, Brightpick Dispatcher robots for consolidating orders arriving from different picking zones, and Brightpick Intuition software to orchestrate and optimize the entire Brightpick robotic fleet.Brightpick Autopickers Quickly and Accurately Pick Items Directly in the AislesThe recently announced Brightpick Autopicker robots are like humans with carts that move around the warehouse, retrieve product storage totes from shelving, and robotically pick items from those totes to consolidate orders directly in the aisles. The robots do not need to travel back and forth to centralized picking stations, which results in faster picking.Brightpick Autopickers can reliably pick most groceries with 99.9% accuracy, leading to happier customers and fewer returns. The robots also come with Goods-to-Person capabilities for items that require human dexterity, and are able to autonomously find the nearest human picking station to complete a pick if needed.Brightpick Autopickers are fully patented and powered by proprietary machine vision and AI algorithms. Their advanced AI algorithms have been trained on more than 250 million picks to date and use machine learning to improve with each pick.Brightpick Dispatchers Consolidate and Speed Order DeliveryIn most online grocery fulfillment centers, including Rohlik’s, picked items from each picking zone are sent via totes on conveyor belts to a central location for consolidation. Brightpick Dispatcher robots consolidate items arriving from these various picking zones into completed orders to dispatch for delivery, curbside pickup or in-store pickup.Brightpick Dispatchers also enable companies to pre-pick customer orders in advance by storing them in a temporary staging area until they need to be dispatched. This enables warehouses to smooth out picking volumes throughout the day and increase total daily throughput. Companies can choose to deploy Brightpick Autopickers and Brightpick Dispatchers alone or together.Brightpick Intuition is the Brain that Controls the Robot FleetThe entire Brightpick robot fleet, be it Brightpick Autopickers, Brightpick Dispatchers, or both, is orchestrated and optimized by Brightpick Intuition software. It is the AI-powered “brain” of the solution that guides the robots from picking all the way to dispatch. A typical warehouse will have 15 to 100 Brightpick robots and Brightpick Intuition enables companies to remotely monitor and control all aspects of the fulfillment operations, tracking every robot, order, tote and item in real time.Rohlik Significantly Reduces Labor Costs “Brightpick will enable us to significantly reduce our labor costs across our fulfillment network while increasing accuracy and efficiency,” said Ales Malucha, Chief Engineering Officer of the Rohlik Group. “We greatly value the flexibility and robustness of the Brightpick solution.”Rohlik Group includes well-known brands Rohlik.cz in the Czech Republic, Knuspr.de in Germany, Gurkerl.at in Austria, Kifli.hu in Hungary and Sezamo.ro in Romania.“We are deeply committed to helping grocers increase margins,” said Jan Zizka, CEO and co-founder of Brightpick. “Rohlik’s successful pilot and planned rollout of our Brighpick solution across Europe provides further validation of our solution for grocers. They are tremendously respected in Europe and we look forward to working closely with them in this next phase of deployment.”The fully autonomous, end-to-end Brightpick robotic solution takes less than a month to deploy, enables warehouses to reduce their picking labor by 95%, and cuts costs for order fulfillment by half.About Brightpick:Brightpick offers the world’s most efficient warehouse automation solution for ecommerce and grocery order fulfillment. The company’s end-to-end robotic solution autonomously picks, consolidates and dispatches orders in large, small and micro fulfillment centers. The Brightpick solution takes less than a month to deploy, enables warehouses to reduce their picking labor by 95%, and cuts costs for order fulfillment by half. Brightpick, headquartered near Cincinnati, OH, is part of Photoneo Brightpick Group, which has more than 300 employees and 5000 technology installations across the US, Europe and Asia. Its customers include leading companies such as General Motors, Volkswagen and KUKA.For more information, visit www.brightpick.ai.

• Thanks to artificial intelligence and cognitive robotics, the smart picking robot works autonomously and without human intervention• The PickCenter RovoFlex makes hybrid picking possible: users can switch flexibly between manual and automatic mode• RovoFlex can be integrated into existing systems with minimal effort and expense: a deciding factor for retrofits and modernizations(Marchtrenk, 8 February 2024) TGW Logistics boasts over 50 years of experience in the development of innovative automation systems and solutions. The technology company's experts have channeled that knowledge into a picking robot that raises picking efficiency to a whole new level. RovoFlex stands out due to its high productivity, simple handling, and maximum reliability. The versatile robot therefore offers an answer to challenges such as the growing labor shortage or increasingly rapid changes in product ranges.RovoFlex is a highly automated robot with an intelligent camera system. It is debuting in combination with the PickCenter; together, the PickCenter RovoFlex constitutes a hybrid picking station. With this setup, customers can switch smoothly between manual and automatic mode, easily covering order peaks.Over 1,000 picks per hourThe TGW innovation addresses challenges like the shortage of labor or increasingly rapid changes in product ranges. Even more demanding goods such as frozen products or sharp objects present no problems for handling. With its steady performance and precision, RovoFlex achieves a throughput of over 1,000 items per hour, whether they be groceries, fashion items, or industrial or consumer goods. With a two-shift operation, the investment will pay off within roughly two and a half years.RovoFlex is not limited to use in combination with the PickCenter, however: it can also be implemented with other workstations (1:4, 2:6, …). It efficiently automates processes like sorting, consolidation, or separation of goods. Another advantage is users can integrate the picking robot into their existing systems within just a few days.Artificial intelligence as the key"With the PickCenter RovoFlex, TGW Logistics has developed an innovation that learns with every gripping operation and optimizes itself continuously thanks to artificial intelligence," explains Christoph Wolkerstorfer, Chief Technology Officer at TGW Logistics. "High productivity, the variety of possible applications, and low space requirements make RovoFlex a game changer that will help revitalize intralogistics processes."About TGW LogisticsTGW Logistics is a leading systems integrator of automated warehouse solutions. With over 50 years of experience the automation specialist designs, manufactures, implements, and maintains end-to-end fulfillment solutions for brands such as URBN, the Gap, and TVH.TGW Logistics has subsidiaries in the US, Europe, and China and employs more than 4,400 people worldwide. In the 2022/23 fiscal year, the foundation-owned company generated a revenue of $1 billion US dollars.ContactTGW Systems Inc.616-970-7163tgw@tgw-group.com

Montreal (QC) and Belton (MO), January 29, 2026 – Robotic systems manufacturer, NūMove Robotics & Vision, and supply chain services and automation integrator, KPI Solutions, have joined forces to create an innovative robotic concept that optimizes order preparation for fast-moving SKUs in the beer and beverage industry. Called “RAPTOR”, this high-throughput, dual-robot system tackles the growing demand for efficiency and flexibility in modern warehouse operations while addressing the challenges of mixed palletizing.Requiring only ~2,500 square feet (230 square meters) of space, this vision-guided system simplifies order preparation by depalletizing products into SKU-specific buffer lanes and then repalletizing them into retail-ready mixed-SKU order pallets. RAPTOR handles multiple product types and formats, including closed cases, wrapped products in trays or with bottom pads, cartons in trays, and returnable shells. It also supports various donor and order pallet formats, making it a versatile solution for high-volume distribution environments.“By separating the depalletizing and palletizing functions and adding a temporary buffer, this solution provides a versatile and fully automated solution to prepare order pallets that will maximize the uptime, therefore the throughput.” – Robert Battaglia, Director of Sales and Business Development at NūMove“We find that beverage distributors of all sizes can justify this automation. Companies recognize RAPTOR’s ability to flex and scale, while increasing productivity and worker safety.“ – Roger Counihan, Chief Commercial Officer at KPI SolutionsSeveral beverage wholesalers are currently installing RAPTOR systems in distribution centers across the United States, marking a significant step toward transforming order preparation workflows in the beverage industry.About NūMove Robotics & Vision™NūMove is a robotics and automation system manufacturer who develops flexible and personalized material handling solutions for distributors and manufacturers. With a vast experience in industrial automation and extensive knowledge in design, programming, software integration, and machine vision, NūMove specializes in depalletizing, automated storage, and palletizing technologies.About KPI Solutions™KPI Solutions provides end-to-end supply chain services and automation to transform our clients’ distribution operations. We analyze, design, implement, and support flexible and scalable engineered solutions that optimize order fulfillment, build capacity, and reduce reliance on labor. Our data-driven operations strategy delivers resilient designs and our technology-neutral approach allows a blend of automated technologies for a customized solution. Comprehensive offerings include consulting, network strategy, engineered facility design, material handling systems integration, robotics, intelligent warehouse software, and lifetime services.ContactsAnne JodoinContent Strategist1-514-246-1400ajodoin@numovegroup.comPatti SatterfieldSr. Dir. Marketing & BusinessDevelopment1-330-808-0010patti.satterfield@kpisolutions.com

Order Picking with Conveyor and Sortation Systems

In a typical warehouse operation, the order-picking process consists of retrieving products from storage locations to fulfill customer orders. The process has received a great deal of attention from warehousing practitioners and researchers because it is generally the most labor-consuming operation in a warehouse, accounting for approximately 35% of a warehouse operating cost. From a general point of view, there are two basic order picking systems, namely parts-to-picker, and picker-to-parts. In the former, some sort of automated system is used to bring the products to the picker (i.e., the picking operator), whereas in the latter, the picker travels along the aisles of the warehouse retrieving the required products from the storage locations. Among these two types of systems, it has been well documented that the largest proportion of order picking systems found worldwide belong to the picker-to-parts type, probably because of the lower capital investment required and the flexibility and adaptability of human workers.

Order Staging & Sorting with Conveyor and Sortation Systems

Peak season brings order picking challenges. Learn how to keep your warehouse running smoothly during surges.

Recently published document overviews the different possible applications for conveyors and sortation systems within warehouses and DCs.

Order personalization has become important with buyers wanting to feel "seen" when they open up the packages arriving on their front porch.

Coop, a Switzerland-based retail and wholesale grocery business, chose to centralize three regional DCs, three freezer DCs, and three large bakeries into a single multi-building. Splitex robots depalletize goods from the high-bay and send them to a shuttle warehouse as a picking buffer. From there, mixed case orders are built by AutoStax palletizing robots in an optimized and store-friendly manner on roll cages.

When heavy slabs of meat and other perishable items bogged down pallet pickers at Capital Candy Co., Inc., Operations Manager Jim Thibeault knew exactly who to call: UNEX, the company he has relied on for more than a decade to solve order-picking problems.

Wildkamp is a technical wholesaler located in Coevorden, Netherlands. Wildkamp was looking for a solution that combined saving space, shorter travel times, less personnel, faster order picking and connection to their new ERP system. Due to this growth, an LR 35 Vertical Buffer Module solution was the answer to these needs.

This document describes the operation, application and benefits resulting from the use of this automated storage and retrieval system.

FREE DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE! This document describes the operation, application and benefits resulting from the use of this automated storage and retrieval system.

This is a paid advertisement. Zebra’s FulfillmentEdge is a completely new and smart approach to warehousing that wraps around and modernizes your current WMS — without upgrades, backend changes or disrupting your current operations. FulfillmentEdge allows you to aggregate work orders that enable one worker to complete multiple work orders on one trip through the warehouse, delivering a dramatic increase in workforce productivity, business efficiency, and order fulfillment times.

Pick-it-Easy Robot is the right choice for automated single-item picking. Sophisticated grippers, intelligent object and image recognition enables picking a broad range of items in diverse sectors. Pick-it-Easy learns continuously, informing a cloud-based database, building a neural network and increasing system performance.

With demands continuing to rise in the supply chain, the picking of orders has become a prime target for innovation. Augmented reality solutions are one of the possibilities operators can use to level up their workforce and make these time-intensive tasks more efficient.