Outbound Operations in a Warehouse: Shipping – An Overview

Shipping:

Shipping is the process of picking appropriate material from the warehouse, loading and dispatching the same using a trailer in order to satisfy a customer order. Shipping involves several sub processes.

 

Order punching and Shipment planning:

Customer orders are either punched in the WMS system or received via an interface from the host system or customer system. The orders are then planned and shipments are created for shipping of goods.

Allocation:

Once the shipments are created the goods are allocated from appropriate storage location for shipping. Allocation can be based on various allocation rules defined in the system, for example strategies like First in First Out, First expiry First Out can be used.

Pick release:

Upon allocation the pick works are released to the warehouse personnel. In some cases a pick list is printed and handed over to pickers for picking the items from appropriate storage location. In other cases, the picking is performed using RF terminals.

Pick and Pack Goods:

The inventory is picked from appropriate storage location and are then packed into cartons and pallets as per shipping needs.

Staging:

The picked goods are then staged into staging lanes before being loaded into the trailers. The staged goods are tallied and cross verified for shipping.

Carrier Move:

Usually the trailers are parked in the parking yard before being docked into the dock doors. A carrier move is generated to move the carrier from parking yard to shipping docks.

Load stop:

In case where the shipments is to be shipped for multiple stops (destination locations), the goods are sequenced as per the stop. The goods meant for the last stop are first loaded and the stop is closed. The remaining stops are loaded one by one in the reverse sequence. The stops are then closed.

Close and dispatch trailer:

Once all the stops are loaded the trailer is closed and is ready for dispatch. A seal is often made on the close of a trailer. The close trailer is then dispatched out of the warehouse.

Outbound workflows:

Many WMS systems provide exit points for custom workflow to be built into the outbound activities. For example printing and pasting shipping labels can be a workflow in the outbound activity.

Exception Handling:

While picking goods it might be a case that the allocated item is not physically available or in damaged status. In such cases a pick cancellation is performed.