Smart Pick Ordering (Warehouse Flow Optimisation on Top of Batch Picking)

Ideas & feature requests
1

Context
Breww already supports batch/cluster picking, which significantly improves efficiency by reducing repeated walking for multiple orders.

However, within these batched picking runs, there is still a clear inefficiency:

  • Products on picking notes are not ordered according to the physical layout of the warehouse

  • Pickers still walk inefficient routes or need to make decisions on the fly

  • Picking speed depends heavily on individual warehouse knowledge

In short: batching reduces how often we walk, but Breww does not yet optimise how we walk.

The Problem
Even with batch picking:

  • Small inefficiencies (10–30 seconds per SKU decision or backtrack) add up quickly

  • This leads to lower throughput (orders per hour) and inconsistent performance between pickers

Proposed Solution (Easy Entry / Quick Win)

Smart Pick Ordering (SKU-based)

  • Add a simple numeric field per product: “Pick Sequence”

  • Picking notes (including batched picks) are automatically sorted based on this value

  • No need for complex setup (no zones, maps, or WMS structure required)

Result:

  • Logical walking route through the warehouse

  • Less backtracking

  • Faster and more consistent picking

  • Immediate impact with minimal development effort

Optional Next Step (Scalable)

Location / Route-Based Sorting

  • Assign products to a warehouse location or route code (e.g. A1 → A2 → B1)

  • Picking lists sorted automatically based on this structure

This would make the system more robust as warehouses grow.

Long-Term Wish (Advanced)

Warehouse Mapping & Dynamic Routing

  • Define warehouse zones/locations

  • Map SKUs to locations

  • Automatically generate optimised pick routes

This would move toward WMS-level optimisation for larger operations.

Why this matters

Most breweries operate with manual picking. After batch picking, the next biggest efficiency gain comes from improving flow within each pick run.

Even small time savings per pick compound quickly into:

  • Higher orders picked per hour

  • Lower labour cost per order

  • More consistent execution across the team

Summary

  • Batch picking = already a big win

  • Smart pick ordering = logical next step (low effort, high impact)

  • Location/routing = scalable future layer

One-liner:
“You’ve already reduced how often we walk — now help us walk it in the right order.”

2

Thanks for the suggestion.

Have you seen the Mobile app picking process? It’s designed to solve exactly this request already. If you’d like changes to this process, please let me know what you’re thinking.

3

Hey Luke, I might be mistaken but both your AI and Matt told me i can’t change or customize the picking order. Breww gives you a picking order (order in which the products printed on the picking slip) but this does not match our warehouse routing. I would at least like to have the opportunity to change the order so it’s in line with our warehouse routing and for further optimization would like to have the warehouse mapped in breww so its changing the routing on our stock allocation. Raymond

4

Thanks, Raymond. You’re right that you cannot customise the order in which PDFs are printed.

However, the mobile app picking process picks in the order you have suggested already - sorted by location name with the specific intention to reduce walk time. You can, in effect, customise this by naming your locations accordingly. A1 → A2 → B1 would be picked in that order already.

5

Please let me know if this request can be closed, or if you still need something else. If you need something else, please let me know what, as the current request covers a few different ideas, but the core of it is already possible.

6

You can close it if you want.

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