The Warehouse Pick Assignment feature is an experimental feature. The feature allows you to estimate warehouse picks and see them with Graphical Scheduler. You can configure pick estimates either manually or automatically, depending on whether the customer already knows average pick times.

Limitations

The following are limitations of the Warehouse Pick Assignment feature:

• Internal picks and inventory picks are not supported in this feature.
• Warehouse Employee Setup is a prerequisite to using this feature:
  • You cannot assign to a warehouse employee at a different location than on the pick.
  • If no warehouse employees are defined or a pick is unassigned, picks show up against special ‘Unassigned’ Capacity No.
• The calculation considers only data from picks that were fully registered after the 1.7 update was installed.
• The event to allow for opening of the Pick Card (and similar for other documents) was only introduced in Business Central 16 / 17; prior to that, the list page opened instead.

Configure Pick Estimates

The Warehouse Pick Assignment feature allows supervisors to assign warehouse picks to warehouse employees.

Configure pick estimates either manually or automatically, depending on whether the customer already knows average pick times. Configure pick estimates by completing the following:

1. Navigate to the Pick Assignments page and select Configure Pick Estimates.
2. Create rules for pick times as needed:
   • Type
     • Company Wide
     • Item
     • Bin
     • Location
     • Warehouse Employee (employee’s pick time may vary based on physical limitations)
     • Special Equipment code (e.g., a forklift code).
     • Item Category
   • No.
   • Minimum Time Per Task
   • Average Time Per Unit

Configure Pick Estimates Example

When the system estimates the pick times, the system takes the longest overall time to use for the pick estimate.

You have the following three rules:

1. A companywide rule of a minimum of 1 minute 30 seconds per pick.
2. A per item rule for a bicycle 1000 of minimum 1 minute minimum and 45 seconds per unit.
3. A per bin rule for bin ‘A-1-1’ as 30 seconds minimum and 1 minute per unit.

You have a pick that picks:

• 3 bicycles from A-1-1
• 3 bicycles from B-2-2
• 3 hats from A-1-1
• 3 hats from B-2-2
• 20 hats from B-2-2

The system estimates the following for the pick:

• 3 minutes for the first line of 3 bicycles from A-1-1   (because the rule about the bin would be the item would be the biggest, 3 * 1 minute = 3 minutes).
• 2 minutes and 15 seconds for the second  line of 3 bicycles from B-2-2 ( because the rule per item would be the biggest 3 * 45 seconds = 2 minutes 15 seconds )
• 3 minutes for the third line of 3 hats from A-1-1 (the bin rule would apply, 3 * 1 minute = 3 minutes)
• 1 minute 30 seconds for the fourth line of 3 hats from B-2-2 ( the company wide rule would apply for a minimum of 1 minute 30 seconds per pick).
• 1 minute 30 seconds for the fifth line of 20 hats from B-2-2 ( the company wide rule would apply for a minimum of 1 minute 30 seconds per pick).

That overall pick is estimated at 11 minutes and 15 seconds.

Drag and drop the picks around and across different warehouse employees to create a pick plan, or re-assign picks as needed.

If the company already knows average pick times based on bin location, or item, or employee, or even across the board, fill in that data.

Update Picks

When picks are first created or have their assignment altered, their estimated time is re-calculated. You can re-calculate estimated pick times using Update Picks. This is an experimental feature to automatically create the estimates.

The actual start time is set on the pick line the first time that the Quantity to Handle changes on that warehouse pick line.

Update Picks Example

If you’re using Warehouse Insight or WMS Express and it alters Quantity to Handle, Update Picks uses that time.

If the actual start time is unknown, Update Picks assumes that the printing date and time are the start of the pick if set; if not set, Update Picks assumes the assignment date and time are the start of the pick.

The actual end time is set on the pick line when the quantity outstanding reaches 0. If that does not happen, it is the timestamp that the pick was registered (to handle the scenario of multiple registrations per pick).

Update Picks creates estimates per:

• Item
• Bin
• Assigned user
• Special equipment.
• Location
• Company wide

Create Recommendations

When using Create Recommendations, review the estimated picks. The estimates assume specific processes (e.g., if you use Warehouse Insight or WMS express to process your picks, the estimates are more accurate; if you are doing picks manually, they are going to include all of the back office overhead time as well ).

1. Select Create Recommendations to create the recommendations.