Defining Pick Strategies

Pick strategies define the zones where warehouse operators can pick specific items or orders within warehouses that use bins. They also determine the bin locations NetSuite WMS suggests for outbound orders, work order picking, replenishment, or vendor returns.

When you process released orders in your warehouse, you can apply pick strategies to prioritize the warehouse zones that you want to target to pick specific orders. Without pick strategies, NetSuite WMS uses the bin sorting process alone to select the recommended bin for picking. For more information about bin sorting, see Pick Task Sorting for Released Orders.

On a pick task subrecord of released orders, you can view the list of available bins for an item, each with a zone from the applied strategy. You can view the same list of bins on related mobile pages for the work order picking, vendor return, or replenishment process. The list displays the first bin as the recommended bin.

If you block a bin for an item, it affects the recommended bins list. See Managing Bins Blocked from Order Picking or Setting Up Bin Blocking for Order Picking or Creating Bin Locations or Carts.

To define a strategy, specify the filtering and sorting criteria, and then add the zones in descending order of priority. Zones that you place at the top of the list contain the bins to be selected first for picking. By prioritizing the warehouse zones, you can target those where you want specific orders or items to be picked from. For example, if you have a Rush Order option for the order type, you can define this filter on a pick strategy and add the zones accordingly. This strategy directs warehouse operators to pick rush orders from available bins in the first applicable zone.

To define pick strategies:

Go to Lists > Supply Chain > Pick Strategy > New.
On the Pick Strategy page, fill out the required fields and filters:
- In the Transaction Type field, select one of the following supported transaction types: Replenishment , Sales Order, Transfer Order, Vendor Return, or Work Order.
- In the Name field, enter a unique name for the strategy.
- In the Sequence Number field, enter the sequence number of the strategy.
  
  This number is used to sort multiple pick strategies.
  
  Note:
  A strategy with a lower sequence number takes priority over a strategy with a higher sequence number.
  
  For example, strategy A has a sequence number of 2 and strategy B has a sequence number of 4, and both strategies apply to item X. When you pick item X, NetSuite WMS suggests a bin location in the zone defined in strategy A before a bin location in the zone defined in strategy B.
- In the Transaction Type field, select one of the supported transaction types: Replenishment , Sales Order, Transfer Order, or Work Order.
- In the Location field, select one warehouse location.
(Optional) Set the filter fields in the Item Criteria, Order Criteria, or Recommended Bin Filter sections.

As you set more filters, you refine the items, orders, or both to which this pick strategy can be applied. For more information about these filters, see Bin Sorting with Pick Strategies.
On the Pick Zones subtab, you must add at least one warehouse zone.
1. In the Sequence Number column, enter the sequence number of the zone in relation to other zones in this pick strategy.
2. In the Zone column, select a warehouse zone from the list.
  
  The list displays the warehouse zones from your selected location.
3. Click Add.
Repeat steps a - c to add more zones.
Click Save.

To define pick strategies:

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