User:Danperryy/sandbox

Waveless Order Fulfillment is a methodology used in distribution centers for fulfilling orders (Order picking). Waveless picking is a form of "batch picking" where items for multiple orders are collected (picked) together at the same time to be separated into separate orders at a later time in the process. The collection of items is called a "batch". Historically the terms (Wave picking) and batch picking have been synonymous. Batch picking, both wave and waveless, is particularly advantageous where required items for orders are stored in locations that span great distances, travel to the items is required, and where individual orders are comprised of just a few units. In such circumstances the work, effort and time in traveling to the required locations is reduced by having a travel path that collects items from the required locations. The efficiency gained by picking the batch is offset by the effort to separate the gathered items into orders. This profile is common in direct to consumer (e-commerce) operations. Some operations may utilize an (Automated storage and retrieval system) that allows material to be delivered to complete orders however, these too are often benefited by batching items for multiple orders.

Batch Creation

The distinction in wave and waveless fulfillment is the means in which the batch is created. In both cases the batch represents a collection of items required for a set of orders. In a wave based system the collection of orders for a batch is determined (called selected) and then the individual items required for the set of orders are identified and included in the batch. The size of the batch is limited to insure that the batch may be sorted. In including the order items in the batch, the collection of items may be grouped into multiple task lists. Each task list is optimized to minimize the required travel to collect the items. The entire batch is called a wave and the wave is complete when all the required items have been obtained.

In both a wave and a waveless operation the size of the batch is limited by the downstream sorting processes' ability to sort out the items. Items arriving at the sorting process may come in an undefined sequence and thus the sorting system must be able to hold an early arriving item until the latest required item arrives for the order. If newly arriving items do not have a place to hold them while awaiting the later arriving items they must be set aside until a consolidation space becomes available.

In a waveless system the "batch" of orders is ever evolving, new orders may be added to the batch as existing orders have been completed. The batch size is specified by This is called a revolving batch. The flow of items to the sortation system is sort-able because new orders are not added until existing order are complete.