Goods-to-person
G2P
Instead of the picker walking to the stock, the stock is brought to the picker, who stays at a fixed station. A machine, such as a shuttle, a robot or a lift, fetches the bin, shelf or pallet, presents it, and takes it away again when the pick is done. The walking, usually the largest part of a picker's day, disappears; this way of working is called goods-to-person.
The machine can be many things: a carousel or lift module, a shuttle or mini-load that brings bins, robots that carry whole shelves, or robots that climb a rack. What they share is that the picker works at a station with a screen and perhaps a light, and is kept busy by a steady supply of bins.
The opposite is person-to-goods, where the picker walks the aisles with a trolley or a handheld. Many sites run both: goods-to-person for the fast, small items and person-to-goods for the rest.
When it pays off
It pays off when walking and searching take most of the picking time, as with many order lines of small items in e-commerce, spare parts and pharmacy. It needs enough volume to keep the stations busy, a range that suits a bin or a shelf, and a budget for the fixed installation or the robots. It pays off less with few order lines a day, with bulky goods, or when orders are mostly full pallets, where a truck is simpler. A sound stock record and a clear pick process matter more than the machine.
What the warehouse system does with it
The warehouse system plans the work and the machine delivers it. Typically the WMS releases a wave or a stream of orders to the stations, and the machine's controller decides which bin or shelf goes to which station and when. For each pick the WMS sends the station screen the article, the quantity and the order container; the picker confirms, and the WMS records the pick and the stock left in the bin. Replenishment works the other way round, with the WMS telling the system which bin to present for putaway.
Who makes it
Brightpick, Geek+, Hai Robotics, Knapp, Quicktron, Scallog
In alphabetical order. Not a ranking or a recommendation.
In practice
A mail-order seller of cosmetics packs several thousand small orders a day from a range of tens of thousands of items. Its pickers used to walk long aisles with trolleys. Now robots carry shelves to six stations, where the screen shows what to pick for which order, and each picker spends the shift picking instead of walking.
Further reading
Ready to see BizBloqs on your own process?
Book a demo and we will walk your warehouse and order flow end to end — inbound, storage, picking, shipping, returns — and tell you honestly what BizBloqs would change.
Two questions about your own operation
How many of your articles sit in a pick location they empty less than once a month?
Part one: Laying out a warehouse does not start with the racking
After your last integration, how many systems hold a stock quantity for the same item? Name them.