Pick vs Select

Warehouse and Operations as a Career

Hi all, Marty here with Warehouse and Operations as a Career and it is hot here in Texas! I’m hearing it’s how everywhere! Let’s all remember to drink our water. Not sodas, or energy drinks, but plenty of water. Doing what we do we need to stay hydrated! Speaking about what we do, let’s talk some op’s.

I took a phone call yesterday from a young woman wanting to get “her forklift license”. I asked what type of forklift she was running and what type of product she was working with, and she stated, “I’m not working right now and have never driven one, I just see that forklift jobs pay more so I want a license.” I am hearing the same thing from others seeking employment right now. I explained that it’s not quite that easy. Upon hearing it is not only a class you can take but experience is what you’ll need to secure those wages, well, she was no longer interested. I shared that I had the perfect placement in mind. She could apply and probably start out with this company in the sanitation department, let management know that she wanted to be a lift operator, and that they would work with her on it. I’d bet that she could be an equipment operator in less than 6 or 8 months. Her reply was no, that takes too long. And I’m hearing that more and more often. I haven’t found a shortcut to a better wage yet. I think a 30% increase in wages in under 6 months is a pretty good opportunity! But I do understand. Times are tough, and we’ve all been through a lot in the last 16 or so months. I feel we have to get back to normal. Normal means working and working our way up in a new industry if we have too. And within our industry its possible right now! If a person is coming from the retail environment, fast-food, or the service industry, it is possible to get into warehousing today and start tomorrow. We just have to tell the many recruiters and hiring agents out there looking for help that we are who they need in their organization. If you need help with that send me an email to [e-mail] and I’ll send you a short, free, webinar titled seeking work is hard work. It’ll help you in your search.

Ok, I shared a bit more on that topic than I had intended, but I think it’s worth the time. So today let’s talk about order selecting. I like order selecting! And certain kinds of order selecting can pay us very well!

I wanted to mention what I call order picking first. A little different than what I recognize as order selecting.

I once worked for an American meter company. Their parts department was an array of small bins and we carried probably like two thousand different little springs, valves, O-rings, little rods, and switches along with covers, facings, locks and gas piping parts. I was an order picker. Now it paid well. I was responsible for selecting the proper parts. These orders and kits would be going out in the field to fix broken meters, so they had to be correct. As we’ve learned, more responsibility will equal more money. So, I would walk these 3 aisles with my order slips, pick the parts as the invoice or pick sheet stated, bag them, place the invoice or pick sheets in the plastic bag and then into my tote bin that I carried around. When I had picked all my orders in hand I would take my tote bin over to the roller belt, give it a shove, and off it’d roll to the packing and shipping departments. I’d then grab another stack of orders and a tote bin and start all over again. I loved that job, and I learned a lot. BTW, after working there for about 4 months I was introduced to a counterbalance forklift, was trained on it, and promoted to being a lift driver in about 3 more months. Anyway, so an order picker typically will not be a high productivity position, but one will have a lot of responsibility for accuracy. Another example is cell phones. There are a lot of parts in a cell phone. Parts may be gathered or picked by an order picker. Once all the different components are picked, they will be sent over to the various assembly departments to assemble our cell phones. Another example could be in the auto parts worlds. An order picker may be pulling items to go out to mechanics to fix engines. They must be correct. None of these examples represent a laid-back environment, I do not mean to say that they are easy jobs by no means. But they can be lower volume positions. Accuracy over quantity. Not quite an assembly line of selecting orders.

So, what does an order selector do? We’ll, pretty much the same thing. Only in a much more productivity driven environment. These environments are built for moving high volumes of cube and cases to many different customers or accounts in a predetermined time frame.

When we’re picking orders be them meter parts, phone parts for assembly etc., the end user may be miles away with no deadline as to when the item may be used or purchased.

As an order selector in a larger distribution center productivity can be everything. We could be part of a team selecting 100k cases for 2000k different customers who ordered their products by 5p today and want them out for delivery tomorrow. These facilities will incorporate strong WMS or warehouse management systems that talk to their selection systems which will be communicating with the transportation routing systems to produce batches of orders for us selectors to download to our text to speech headsets or our wrist mounted selection devices that will tell us what slots to go to next. We will then select the item, scan it for accuracy and to deduct it from inventory and document that it has been filled per the order. Then we’ll place in onto one of our pallets, by zone, or in the proper place on the pallet so the delivery driver can locate it by stop. We’ll be using either a double or triple electric rider pallet jack, maybe an end control or center drive unit. The difference being that the center drive will operate more like a personnel carrier. We’ll stand in a compartment behind a drive arm and with the end control we will be standing on the front platform with the control arm out in front of us. I will add a couple of links in today’s show notes to show you the different types.

https://www.raymondcorp.com/forklifts/pallet-trucks/8410-pallet-truck

https://www.raymondcorp.com/forklifts/pallet-trucks/8510-center-rider

A few examples of where these types of operations may be used would be in the wholesale restaurant and industrial broadline foodservice distribution centers, or in the pharmaceutical distribution fields, and then we have the produce distributors and specialty distribution centers like convenience store distributors and those distribution centers delivering to schools and nursing homes each day.

These types of distribution centers can have, depending on their size of course, thousands of deliveries a day to make and a 12-hour shift to get everything selected.

In my experience most order picker positions are paid an hourly rate and sometimes can have an incentive component to them.

An order selector position, more often than not, may be a paid by the piece component built into a base figure. Maybe a cases per hour component or an activity-based pay program even.

Whereas an order picker may be placing products on a conveyor belt, as an order selector we’ll probably be handling or fingerprinting every case and placing them on a pallet.

Order pickers usually work within a department, an area within their facility.

An order selector will usually be traveling every aisle within their warehouse. At lease in the area their assigned too.

Both of these positions are great jobs, but I always tell people to have an exit strategy. The pay is great, and we’ll be good at the job, but it is tough. And it’s hard on our bodies. Sometimes we can get hypnotized by the income. We’re doing an excellent job for our supervisor so he or she is not going to just offer us another position, they need us! All I’m saying is to have a plan and let your management team know that you’re interested in being a receiver, forklift operator, maybe a job in inventory control. Just a way out eventually.

Picker vs selection? I don’t have a favorite, they both can lead to great careers. If you love either, well, your happier than 30% of today’s workforce.

Our times up for the day, I hope I said something that you can relate to today and that you’ll come back and join us again next week here at warehouse and operations as a career.

Be happy, be growing, and be Safe all day everyday.