Pick to Light

The Pick to Light system is a “man-to-goods” picking solution that guarantees high productivity (up to 500 – 600 picks per hour). The system consists of spots connected to the warehouse management system via a network that allows real-time two-way communication. A series of warning lights are placed on the shelving, indicating where to pick the goods and the exact quantity. The operator moves along the shelving (dynamic and with multiple-depth storage) and picks the quantity of materials required for a whole batch of orders following signals appearing on monitors.

The picker, in practice, immediately divides the materials into several cartons, each of which is associated with a picking list that is being completed. At the end of the task, the operator can confirm the result through a button that causes the display to switch off and immediate exchange of information with the warehouse management system.

The system can move empty cartons towards the operators and transfer the boxes to other operator areas or to end-of-line as they are filled. Matching a progressive number to each box guarantees the traceability required by activities downline (weighing, packing list, label printing, final destination, etc.).

Pick-to-light is used where picking speed and a very small margin of permitted error are crucial aspects. Among automated picking systems, pick-to-light has a greater degree of flexibility to cope with the high performance variations required by high variability of orders to be processed: this results in more agile processes, a lower margin of error and significant cost savings.