3. Can these suggestions be implemented to any other industry? Explain with examples.

Order picking (OP) is one of the most important activities in a warehouse. It may contribute approximately 60% in the warehouse operating costs. The efficiency of OP depends on the product demand, the ware- house layout, the location of the items, the picking method in combination with the routing methods. The study is concerned with OP in a timber goods production and trading company. Warehouse Policies There are various policies, principles and/or techniques developed to improve the effectiveness of the overall OP procedure. The main aspects of such policies are the picking of the product items, the routing of the pickers in the warehouse and the storage schemes for the products in the warehouse. Picking policies In the case of the picking policies, OP can be divided into strict, batch and zone picking options. In strict picking, a single order is assigned during a picking tour. It leads to lower service times and higher customer satisfaction. It is applicable when the group of the picking products is quite small and easy to be found. The demerits of the policy are increase in the overall transportation time and a cost penalty. Batch picking policy assigns to a picker more than one order during a picking tour. It may bring significant reduction in the total picking time, but there can be chances of additional cost for monitoring and separating the orders at a later stage. Zone picking assigns a picker to a designated picking zone. It decreases the chances for destruc- tions and mistakes, but may lead to delay. Routing policies Routing policies indicate the route for a picking tour and also the picking sequence of the items on the pick list. Mathematical programming tools can be used to find the optimal routing for reducing the travel time. Heuristic routing technique can also be used for minimizing the distance travelled by the picker. In certain cases, warehouses use the traversal policy, where the picker must pass through the entire aisle and in order to collect the items.