Wave picking

Instead of sending every order to the pickers the moment it arrives, you release them in timed groups, say at 10:00, 13:00 and 15:30, and each group is picked and packed together so it is ready before a courier collects. Between releases the team finishes one group and prepares the next. This way of working is called wave picking.

The waves are usually planned backwards from a fixed point: the carrier's collection time, minus the time it takes to pick, pack and label. An order that misses a wave joins the next one, which is why a shop's cut-off time and its waves belong together.

The trade-off is rhythm. Waves make the workload predictable and keep each courier deadline in view, but they leave the team idle just before a release and rushed just after. Many small operations combine waves with other methods, so a wave of orders is then picked in batches or by zone.