Goetschalckx and McGinnis highlighted order picking as a key function within warehouse operations. They divided order picking into three main activities: batching, sequencing and routing, and sorting. All of these are considered operational tasks, rather than higher-level planning activities.
What Goetschalckx & McGinnis Say
They break order picking down into three buckets — all operational, not planning:
Group multiple customer orders and pick them together.
Instead of sending a picker 10 times for 10 different juice orders, combine them into one batch run. Saves travel time, reduces congestion.
One trip, many wins.
Decide the best order and path for picking items.
In a cold store with aisles for frozen meat, dairy, and bakery, sequencing ensures the picker goes dairy → bakery → frozen (so frozen stays cold longest). Routing chooses whether to follow a serpentine path or shortcut through a cross-aisle.
Smarter path = fewer steps + faster picks.
Once items are picked in bulk, sort them back into individual customer orders.
A picker brings 50 mixed items for 8 orders back to the packing station. Sorting is done by scanning barcodes and placing them into the right order bins
Pick fast, sort later.
Why this matters: All three are on-the-ground tactics, not boardroom planning. Done right, they cut time, reduce errors, and keep inventory flowing — exactly where operations win or lose.