In this video series, we ask our consultants about customer solutions they have implemented that they are proud of. SAP EWM Warehouse Management consultant Jelle Verhagen discusses ‘smarter picking’ in the warehouse in this interview.

Jelle, what was your customer’s challenge?

The customer has a high turnover rate at the picking locations. As a result, the company has to deal with a lot of replenishment tasks. It often happens that there are open replenishment orders when new materials arrive from the supplier. These open orders reserve capacity at the picking location. As a result, inbound pallets often go to the bulk location, when they could have been sent directly to the picking location.

How did you tackle this challenge? What solution did you implement?

In the inbound process, we implemented a process that checks whether there are any open replenishment orders when determining the location. If this is the case, the system cancels these replenishment orders. This frees up capacity at the pick location and allows the inbound pallets to be stored directly in the pick location.

What was the result of your solution/action for the customer?

By cancelling the open replenishment tasks, more pallets can be stored directly in the picking location. This means that fewer replenishment tasks need to be carried out and the number of warehouse movements is reduced. This has resulted in savings of €84,000 for the customer.