Picklist batches method

When you create a new batch, Picqer automatically selects which picklists should be included. On this page, you'll learn how we do it.

Only unprocessed picklists

We only use unprocessed picklists in batches. Picklists must meet the following criteria in order to be included in a batch:

Status is 'open'
It is not part of another batch
It is not assigned to a user
No products have been 'picked' yet
It is at least 1 minute old (so all rules have been applied)

A product with unlimited stock is marked as picked as soon as the picklist is created. A picklist with such a product therefore doesn't end up in a batch automatically.

Want a picklist in a batch anyway, for example because it's already assigned to someone? Select the picklist under 'Picklists', choose 'Choose action...' and then 'Add to batch...'. Click 'Add' next to an existing batch or click 'Create a new batch'. The picklist has to be open and in the same warehouse as the batch. It then takes on the batch's assignment.

Applying criteria

When creating a batch, you specify which criteria the picklists must meet.

Batch creation criteria

You only add the filters you need; filters you don't use, you leave out. Most filters also have a 'reverse' variant, which lets you exclude instead of include. This is how the different criteria work:

Type

You can choose between 'Normal' or 'Singles'. This refers to the type of batch. In a normal batch, all picklists can be included. In a singles batch, only picklists containing one product are included. For singles batches, we have a separate flow to work faster.

Products

Enter one or more product codes here, separated by commas. With Only for these products, only picklists that contain no other products are included. With the reverse variant, you exclude picklists containing these product codes instead.

Locations

Select one or multiple locations here. With Only within these locations, all products on the picklist must be located in these locations, or in sub-locations. For example: you select aisle A.2. In this case, products located in A.2.15.2 can also be included in the batch.

Additionally, there's an option to specify that only some products from the picklist need to be within these locations. So if one product is within the locations and another is not, the picklist can still be included. With the reverse variant, you exclude locations instead.

Delivery country

Filter on the delivery country of the order or return. You select one or more countries that are allowed (Contains one of) or not allowed (Contains none of) as the delivery country.

Shipping profile

Filter on the suggested shipping profile of the picklist. You select one or more profiles that the picklist is allowed (Contains one of) or not allowed (Contains none of) to have.

Fulfilment customer

This filter is only available for fulfilment companies. Filter on the fulfilment customer the order belongs to. You select one or more fulfilment customers that are allowed (Contains one of) or not allowed (Contains none of) in the batch. This way you can, for example, create a batch with orders from one specific fulfilment customer, or exclude a few fulfilment customers instead.

Sorting picklists

Next, under 'Preview', you can see how many picklists meet the chosen criteria. We will now sort these picklists to ensure that urgent and older picklists are prioritized. Here's how we do it:

Picklists that are marked as urgent are prioritized
Secondly, sorting is based on how long picklists have been open (oldest first)

This sorted selection of picklists is called the candidates.

Minimizing walking

Now that the list of candidates has been made, we will choose which ones will go into the batch. While doing so, we keep your walking route as short as possible:

We start with the first (top) picklist.
Then we check if there is another picklist with the exact same products. If so, we add it to the batch. This is done so that you can pick this additional picklist 'for free', without having to do extra walking.

(At this point, Picqer also looks for other conveniences, such as other products in the same location or products that are very close. We regularly improve this part.)
We repeat step 2 until there are no more picklists with little to no walking distance between them. It's possible that a picklist contains products besides the ones that are also on other picklists in the batch. Because of this, new picklists can become eligible. We include all products that we need to pick anyway in this step.
If there are no more picklists with little to no walking in between, we go back to step 1: we select the next picklist and repeat the process.

This means that if you create a batch of 25 picklists, we might not choose the first 25 picklists. This way you walk less and process as many picklists as possible in a day. However, we always ensure that urgent picklists are included first in the batch. This way, they can be processed as soon as possible.