Pick Pack Ship

Behind the scenes of any company that sells items, pick, pack, and ship is the vital process that gets goods to the customers. The process itself is quite simple, but putting it into practice can become more complicated. Although the consumer does not consider the pick, pack, and ship process, companies are always changing the way they carry out this process. Pick, Pack, and Ship is carried out in fulfillment centers run by each company that utilizes this method.

Pick

Picking is the first step in the process and simply involves getting the items ordered by customers together in the fulfillment center. Carried out by groups of workers, this step is fairly simple. However, human error comes into play here too because a worker could pick out the wrong item. For the picking step in the process, companies stock their fulfillment centers with all items that are ordered by customers. These items are placed in groups and many companies put the more popular items together.

Pack

The second step in the process, packing is exactly what it sounds like. During this step, the items that were picked - the items that customers have ordered - are placed into boxes and other shipping materials to be sent off to the customers. Packing, like all steps in the process, is fairly straightforward. Human error can be made if items aren't packed properly. Like picking, packing is carried out in the fulfillment center too.

Ship

Finally, the items that were previously picked and packed are shipped out to the customers. Just like picking and packing, the process of shipping is very straightforward. The packed items are sent away to their destination and arrive at the customer's home or office a few days later - just like when one person sends something to a relative or friend through the post office. Many companies use FedEx or UPS to ship their items and the error in this step comes in the form of a) mislabeled materials or b) error from the shipping service.

The Issue

Pick, Pack, and Ship is only functional when there are plenty of quality control mechanisms in place to avoid mistakes. When mistakes are avoided, the process runs fluidly and a company will not lose money from errors. The process itself has plenty of opportunities for error, but quality controls ensure that most mistake will be avoided because there are extra levels of protection in place. Mistakes cost a company a lot of money, so they strive to improve the process all the time and adapt to problems as they arise.

Companies have been refining the process for many years and have made progress in limiting mistakes and costly errors. There are plenty of different styles of the Pick, Pack, and Ship process. Some companies use production line-like methods and others use more freely-run methods. If the process is carried out efficiently, companies are able to lower their costs and provide better service to customers by charging less for items and shipping, which makes customers use the companies more often.