Pick-by-Light – advantages and disadvantages
Pick-by-Light (PbL) (or Pick-to-Light) is a non-personal picking system. The parts to be picked are displayed on the shelf itself. Light signals at each storage location indicate which items are to be picked for the respective order, a numerical display indicates the quantity of parts and an acknowledgement button confirms removal.
Advantages and disadvantages of pick-by-light
Theadvantages are that staff do not need any additional equipment and the system is independent of language barriers. This means that new employees can be trained quickly. The visual display makes it easy to find the locations and it is immediately clear whether all items have been processed. This generally leads to a very low error rate.
Adisadvantage is the high installation and maintenance costs, as each storage compartment has to be equipped with electronics. Batch picking is also difficult, as different orders are difficult to differentiate depending on the type of system. This in turn has a negative effect on the possible capacity utilization of the system.
Small parts warehouses with defined picking areas are often controlled using pick-by-light systems.
Further information on paperless picking can be found under Pick-by-Terminal.
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