Pick-and-Pack Optimization

Route Optimization in your Warehouse or Yard

Route4Me’s route optimization technology can optimize pick-and-pack routes inside warehouses and yards for robotic and human operators.

Here’s how it works: We create a map of your warehouse or yard, create a road network inside your warehouse, and then our route optimization algorithm uses that mapping data to build highly efficient routes.

All you need to do is describe the item types and number of items that are located in each part of your warehouse/cabinet/bin, and our routing algorithm will route your robotic loader or human operator to the nearest inventory pick location. Our platform makes sure your robots/loading equipment are not overloaded by weight or overwhelmed in any other capacity.

Also, by using technology that’s unique to Route4Me, you’ll get real-time analytics about all the routes inside your warehouse or yard.

Pick-and-Pack Many Small Items and Bring to Loading Dock

Pick-and-Pack Bulky Items One at a Time and Bring to Loading Dock

Multiple Pick-and-Pack Strategies Supported

• Order Mix - for when items on your route have different weight, volume, and center of balance data
• Order Size - our optimization engine consolidates and merges as many items per box/pallet as possible
• Order Lines - our software can mix single-line or multi-line orders while routing to make the orders as efficient as possible
• Product Profile Awareness - you can define an unlimited number of product attributes, such as weight, density, price, fragility, exact dimensions, etc.

Supports Single-Order Picking

Once you receive an order with one or multiple items from your POS or ecommerce system, our software can automatically create an optimized pickup route to retrieve all the items in the order in a single route.

Alternatively, you could have multiple pickers retrieve the single-order items in parallel and bring them to the same location.

Supports Multi-Order Batch Picking

Standing orders, recurring orders, and real-time orders coming from your POS or ecommerce platform are automatically consolidated, with workload distributed as evenly as possible across all available picking resources (human, robot, or blended).

Route4Me creates an optimized pickup route that allows you to quickly and easily retrieve all the items in multiple orders and bring them to a preferred location (i.e. large items straight to a loading dock, multiple small items into a box for packing, etc.).

Supports Order Consolidation

Imagine you have many orders going out to the same customer, or many orders going to a specific geographic region.

Instead of going back and forth in multiple pick/pack operations, our optimization algorithm puts together pick orders into optimally sequenced routes and incorporates all the items into the smallest number of routes.

Each route would enable your picker to visit the necessary part of the warehouse/yard as few times as possible (while respecting equipment constraints, of course).

Supports Waves

You can mix and match single-line and multi-line orders and optimize routes in waves sorted by destination geography, priority, destination facility, preferred carriers, delivery-by times, and other variables.

Supports Zones

Route4Me is one of the only route optimization programs that allows you to create avoidance zones in its route optimization and evaluation stages.

You can apply the same avoidance principals when optimizing routes in a yard/warehouse. For example, you could use this feature to remind your pickers of height restrictions and make sure they don’t cause any costly damage by bashing tall equipment against a low ceiling.

In addition to zone restrictions, optimized routes themselves can be restricted to specific areas within the warehouse. You can set small items to go in one area, medium items to go in another, etc. Our route optimization algorithm directs pickers to the nearest compatible zone.

Fully Optimized Pick Strategies

Traditional warehouse pick strategies like straight line, serpentine line, branch and pick, pick-to-conveyor, and pick-to-light are not always the most efficient way to do things if you have a high-transaction picking warehouse/yard.

Unlike previous generation strategies, Route4Me evaluates all the orders that need to be fulfilled in real-time, then builds optimized routes while respecting time-window constraints, vehicle skills, operator skills, and over 25 other variables.

In other words, pick-and-pack routes are constantly evolving and can turn on a dime when workload patterns change. We make it easy to adapt to such change.

Supports Direct Integration with AS/AR devices

Route4Me is the only route optimization software company that has APIs and SDKs in over 13 languages. As a result, our route optimization engine can be incorporated into almost any automatic storage and retrieval robotic picking device over a WiFi, Bluetooth, or cellular connection.

Supports Real-Time Pick Progress

As automated robotic picking devices travel within your warehouse or yard, our software automatically scans micro-beacons placed at pick locations to keep you up to speed on route progress.

Supports Mobile and Cloud Access

Traditional TMS/WMS systems operate as standalone silos within each warehouse/yard. Because Route4Me's pick-and-pack route optimization is integrated with our cloud platform, all of your teams will be able to monitor real-time performance analytics about the operations inside each of your facilities.