Picking the lorry load

A distributor that supplies grocery shops on credit lives by its morning lorry. If it leaves late, the round runs into the afternoon and the last shops get their rice when their own customers have already gone elsewhere. If it leaves with the wrong goods, the rep spends the next day apologising. This tour follows the warehouse lead at six in the morning, working through yesterday's five shop orders, one pick wave each, to make one load for Lorry 2.

Step by step

1. Open the first pick wave. On the warehouse phone, each of the five orders going on Lorry 2 has its own pick wave. The list shows which are waiting to pick, which are being picked and who has them, and each wave shows how many of its items are picked. With 25kg rice bags and 50kg sugar sacks, planning the trolley before you start saves a back.

2. Read where to go and how many. Each line tells the picker the aisle and bay, the product and the quantity in the unit the store actually uses: bags of rice, cartons of milk powder, cases of coconut oil. Heavy goods that sit on the floor are marked that way, so the picker knows to bring the trolley, not a basket.

3. Pick the first line and scan it. Six bags of samba rice from Aisle 1, Bay A. The picker scans or types the barcode and the line moves to Picked. Scanning is what tells a 25kg bag of samba from a 25kg bag of a different rice that looks the same from the side.

4. Find the line the shelf cannot fill. The order wants three cartons of milk powder from Aisle 4, Bay C. Only one is on the shelf. The picker takes the one and records one picked. The line stays part-picked, 1 of 3, and the wave will not complete while it is.

5. Let the office know before the lorry goes. The picker rings or tells the office straight away, and they can see the part-picked line on the wave before seven. They can call the shop owner, offer another brand, or promise the two cartons on tomorrow's lorry. The shop hears it from the office, politely, instead of discovering it when the bags are unloaded at the door.

6. Finish the rest of the wave. Two cases of coconut oil from the floor in Aisle 6 and one bag of sugar from Aisle 2, Bay D. Each line changes to Picked as it is scanned. The rest-of-wave list shows anything still waiting, so nothing is walked past.

7. Complete the wave. Once every line is fully picked, including the milk powder line after the office has changed the order to one carton, one button at the bottom closes it and the order moves to packed. Then the picker opens the next shop's wave.

8. Load the lorry for the round. Stage each shop's goods together and load the last shop's first, deepest in the lorry, so the first shop's bags come off without moving anyone else's.

The wave in the tour

Why one unfilled line deserves attention

Milk powder is one of the dearest items on a grocery distributor's list. In the sample, a carton of 24 is Rs 26,400 on the dealer price list, so the two missing cartons are worth Rs 52,800. That is more than a whole line of rice. If the shop is invoiced for three and receives one, it will pay for one and argue about the rest, and the argument lands on the rep's next visit.

Raising the line at six in the morning turns that into a simple phone call. The office corrects the order so the invoice says one carton, and the two missing cartons go on a new order for the next lorry. Because the wave cannot be completed until the order and the trolley match, the paper and the lorry agree.

Picking when the store is busy

Mornings in a distributor's store are rarely quiet. Mill lorries arrive, shop owners call in to collect, and the same people who pick are often asked to load a customer's car. A pick wave on the phone helps here because it remembers where you were. If the picker is pulled away after the rice line, the next line is waiting when he comes back, with the part-picked line still showing 1 of 3. A paper list on a clipboard does not tell anyone which lines were done before the interruption.

Tips for the store

• Keep the bay labels right. If milk powder moves from Bay C to Bay D, change it in the system the same day, or tomorrow's picker walks to the wrong place.
• Pick heavy bags first. Rice and sugar go on the trolley base; cartons and cases on top.
• Scan cartons, not just bags. A carton of 24 and a carton of 12 of the same product often share a shelf.
• Stage by shop near the loading bay. Then loading the lorry in round order is carrying, not sorting.

Common mistakes

Picking from habit. The warehouse lead who has worked there for years is the one most likely to grab the 400g when the order says 1kg. Scan every line.

Sending one carton without saying so. The shop gets a short delivery and an invoice for the full order. Record what you picked and tell the office, so they change the order.

Leaving the wave open. A wave that is never completed leaves the order short of packed and the office unsure what actually went on the lorry. Sort out the open line, then complete it.

Loading in pick order. The store is arranged by aisle; the round is arranged by road. Load to the round.

How the pick connects to the rest of the day

The orders in these waves came from the rep's round of shops the day before, priced on each shop's dealer price list and checked against its credit. Later, the driver works through the same shops on his phone while the office marks each delivery done. If milk powder keeps running out at the pick, the buyer will see it on the low-stock list, and goods in will check the mill's next lorry against the purchase order.

What to do next

For how to plan a round of shops that pays for its fuel and time, read van sales and route orders. If the system and the shelves keep disagreeing, stock control explains where the gaps come from, and how to do a stocktake shows how to count without closing for a day.