Cartonization is the process that suggests a container for packing items based on packing constraints such as cubic volume of items and container volume. Cartonization logic is most often invoked prior to picking when the orders are pick released. Typically cartonization is used in this fashion to suggest an appropriate sized box or carton for loose item picks in the forward pick area. Oracle WMS can also generate a UCC-128 shipping label for the suggested carton. Subsequent picking in WMS can be done using "Pick by label" i.e. operator scans the shipping label and applies the label to the suggest container. The picks for that carton are now dispatched to the operator on the hand held device. Some use cases of cartonization are as follows:
Pick eaches into a pregenerated carton LPN: This type of cartonization is frequently used when a warehouse operator picks eaches into an either a tote or a shipping carton. Cartonization should be restricted to warehouse area that stocks loose items. Cartonization should allow item commingling. This cartonization technique is ideal for order pick with "pick and pass" option.
Cartonization with shippable cases: This type of cartonization is typically used when cases or full pallets with standard pack quantity are picked and a pre-generated shipping label is applied at the time of picking. Cartonization should be restricted to
or "Pallet" areas of the warehouse. In addition, cartonization should merely suuggest packing the standard pack quantity of each case or a pallet into the cartonized LPN. This cartonization technique is not suitable for "Pick
and Pass" option. The picked cases should ideally be moved to staging area on a conveyor where they should be consolidated
and palletized.Pick cases into a pregenerated pallet LPN: This type of cartonization is used when a warehouse operator picks cases into a pallet. Cartonization should be restricted to
area of the warehouse. In
addition, item commingling can be allowed such that a mixed pallet can be built during picking. This
cartonization technique is ideal for case picks using order pick or discrete
pick. "Pick and pass" option can also be used with this cartonization
technique.
The biggest benefit of cartonization is the ability to perform one step pick and pack of items directly into a shipping container. If the order to be picked spans a number of warehouse zones, you can use either cluster picking or "Pick and pass" option to decrease the travel time as well. The alternative to cartonization would be a 2 step process where you pick items into a tote followed by a downstream packing operation into the final shipping container. Clearly cartonization saves an additional pack operation. However you will also miss-out on one advantage that the 2 step process offers: additional validation during packing operation. If you plan to pick high value items using cartonization you could possibly have an exception based validation process using a weighing scale interface.
