BY VICTORIA KICKHAM, SENIOR EDITOR
FULFILLMENT SYSTEMS
Material Handling
MATERIAL HANDLING SOFTWARE AND SOLUTION PROVIDERS ARE FIELDING
more requests for “waveless” fulfillment solutions as DCs respond to increasing pressure to
get consumer orders out the door faster than ever before. Driven by omnichannel business
trends, “waveless” picking is fast becoming an industry buzzword as organizations seek
productivity-enhancing material handling solutions.
“The growth of e-commerce fulfillment has really pushed for change in the fulfillment
landscape,” says Adam Kline, senior director of product management for supply chain
technology provider Manhattan Associates, which offers its Order Streaming product as a
waveless technology solution.
“Order Streaming, or waveless picking, has its place in a dynamic, flexible world where
DCs must be able to prioritize and reprioritize orders,” he says.
In a nutshell, waveless fulfillment systems provide a continuous flow of orders through
the DC, as opposed to traditional wave-based systems that produce batches of orders
that are released for an entire shift or portion of a shift. When a new order is received in
a waveless environment, the order is automatically inserted into the flow of orders being
processed, instead of being held for inclusion in a later batch.
Go with the flow
Waveless fulfillment
systems create a
continuous flow of
orders through the
distribution center,
answering today’s
call for more nimble
material handling
solutions.
