Pick-to-light technology is widely accepted as a means of improving the speed and accuracy of order fulfillment. With a pick-to-light strategy, light modules with numerical displays are placed adjacent to product locations. Picking areas are typically divided into zones, and a picker is assigned to handle all picking tasks within a zone. Zones operate like independent work cells on an assembly line.

When a tote representing a customer order arrives in a picking zone—often on a conveyor—the picker scans a barcode on the tote to signal that the tote has arrived. At this point, numerical displays in the zone show the quantities of the various products that should be picked and placed into the tote.

After completing a pick, the picker confirms the pick with a “touchless” proximity switch by waving his hand near a flashing light on the light module. This “touchless” proximity switch eliminates problems caused by mechanical buttons that wear out.

• Uses a light-sensitive proximity switch to confirm picks rather than a mechanical button
• Optionally supports displays of text and graphics on a monitor within each zone

A put wall is a collection of compartments into which products can be places as an intermediate step in order fulfillment. When used for e-commerce order fulfillment, for example, each compartment contains a customer order. For store replenishment, put wall compartments contain orders for particular stores. Put walls often employ one side for putting products into compartments and the other side for packing completed orders.

Put wall technology employs lights on each of the individual put-side compartments to support the light-directed putting tasks. Likewise, lights are optionally used on the pack side to highlight completed orders. To fulfill a collection of orders, the required products are first gathered in bulk and transported to the put wall. The individual items are then scanned which causes one or more lights on compartments in the put wall to display the quantity needed for an individual order.

When all of the products for a given order have been placing into the proper compartments, lights on the pack side of the put wall are activated to indicate that the order is ready to pack. Variations in this strategy can be employed to allow multiple workers to complete putting and packing tasks concurrently at the same put wall.

• Employs barcode scanning to identify a particular product and light-directed putting to place the product into the correct compartment
• Items can be picked in bulk for multiple put walls
• Can dynamically allocated compartments to orders
• Supports multiple workers working simultaneously on both the put and pack sides
• Can process waves with more orders than put wall compartments by reusing compartment that have been packed