How to reduce human errors in warehouses

Do you know how your company initially operated its picking process? Did you use paper lists? Excel files? Don’t worry. Most companies start out with operations carried out manually. Warehouse operators are sent into the warehouse to pick items for specific orders. They walk swiftly through the aisles, pick the right products, put them in their cart, and check the boxes on their paper list. Job done. But is this a realistic scenario?

Let’s be honest. This is the happy flow. Even with the best intentions, operators bump into problems during their picking run. Items on their list are out of stock, they can’t find the specific location, they struggle to find the most efficient routing or they cross the same location over and over again in one run. Frustrating for them, but also for your business.

Experience is valuable, but not always available

Experienced operators know how to deal with these issues and know the routes by heart. But sometimes it’s unavoidable to attract new workers or temporary workers. For example when your warehouse is subject to seasonal peaks or when it’s hard to retain experienced workers. New operators need training and are more likely to run into troubles they can’t immediately solve. And let’s be fair, experienced operators are only human. They make mistakes as well. But how do you reduce the number of errors?