Automated pick and pack systems

When Manual Picking Starts Running Out of Room

Automated pick and pack systems become essential when your warehouse hits the limits of what people with carts and clipboards can reasonably do. At first, manual processes feel flexible. Workers know the aisles, memorize the hot SKUs, and hustle to keep up with incoming orders. Then volume rises, the SKU count climbs, and suddenly the floor looks less like a workflow and more like a crowded airport security line. Everyone is moving, but not everyone is making progress. Automation steps in not to replace people, but to make sure their effort creates consistent throughput instead of daily heroics.

Search interest around automation has grown because labor markets are tight, customer expectations are aggressive, and order profiles are increasingly complex. Brands want speed without sacrificing accuracy. Workers want a job that does not feel like a daily endurance test. Automated pick and pack systems sit at the intersection of those needs by organizing movement, reducing errors, and turning chaos into repeatable patterns.

Why Manual Pick and Pack Breaks So Easily

Manual pick and pack looks simple on paper. Someone prints a pick list, walks the floor, pulls product, and hands it off to packing. In reality, manual systems accumulate friction. Pick paths get longer as inventory grows. New workers have no mental map of the layout. Paper lists go missing, get smudged, or fall out of sync as orders change. Every exception requires a supervisor, and every rush order disrupts the rhythm.

Maureen Milligan, Director of Operations and Projects at G10, sees the fallout among brands looking for a more stable setup. She explains that "most of the customers who come to us from another 3PL, their challenges have always been access to their data, order accuracy and efficiency, and meeting the committed requirements." Those cracks usually surface first in picking and packing, where bad data and inconsistent processes collide most dramatically.

Turning Movement Into Measurable Tasks

Automated pick and pack systems do not begin with robots or conveyors. They begin with structured tasks. Orders break into discrete picks. Picks become optimized routes. Routes translate into instructions that workers or machines can follow without guessing. When tasks are structured, the warehouse stops relying on local knowledge and starts relying on a system that anyone can learn.

Connor Perkins, Director of Fulfillment at G10, summarizes the core discipline. "You want everything to be scanned in the warehouse, nothing done on paper." Scanning ties every pick and every pack to data. That data fuels automation and feeds the analytics that show where performance improves or lags.

Robots as Force Multipliers, Not Replacements

When people hear automation, they often picture a future where robots do everything and humans stand around watching. In practical fulfillment operations, the relationship is much simpler. Robots handle repetitive, low value movement, and humans handle judgment, dexterity, and edge cases. Removing miles of walking from a shift is not about replacing workers. It is about making their time count.

G10 deploys Zebra autonomous robots to carry totes and guide pickers through efficient routes. Holly Woods, Director of Operations at G10, sees the impact daily. "The Zebra robots are allowing efficiency with pick paths. They are lowering fatigue on employees." Tired workers make more mistakes. Robots reduce the fatigue so accuracy improves almost as a side effect.

ChannelPoint as the Brain Behind the Movement

Automation needs a brain, not just hardware. G10’s ChannelPoint WMS directs what each worker or robot should do, where inventory should live, and how orders should flow from released to shipped. Instead of relying on printed lists, pickers follow device prompts. Instead of guessing which carton to use, packers lean on rules built from weight, dimensions, and carrier requirements.

Because ChannelPoint integrates with Shopify, marketplaces, and retail programs, all order sources feed the same automation engine. That keeps pick and pack logic aligned even when the front end of the business grows more complex.

Reducing Errors Before They Reach the Customer

Automated pick and pack systems do their best work in the background by preventing mistakes. Scan validation ensures the right SKU lands in the tote. Location checks make sure picks come from the correct bin. Packing verification confirms order contents before the label prints. Each of these steps catches errors while they are still cheap to fix.

Connor notes that G10 clients "can see their daily orders, they can see KPIs, and they can see historical transactions." That visibility helps teams measure error rates by workstation or process, then refine automation rules without guesswork.

How Automation Changes Labor Planning

Warehouse managers often treat labor as the only real lever they can pull. When volumes spike, they add more people. When volumes drop, they trim shifts. Automated pick and pack systems introduce new options. With robots carrying more load and systems optimizing routes, each worker’s productivity rises. Peaks become easier to manage because the baseline operation is already more efficient.

Holly explains how G10 approaches seasonal planning. "We start planning peak times months ahead of time. We run forecast models, staffing models, and we audit inventory." Automation extends the reach of those plans by making sure each incremental worker produces more output than they would in a fully manual environment.

Slotting Optimization as Automation’s Best Friend

Automated pick and pack systems operate best when slotting supports them. High velocity SKUs should live near pack stations or robot transfer points. Frequently paired items should sit close together. Heavy goods should sit in ergonomically safe positions. Automation amplifies good slotting and struggles with poor layouts.

G10 uses velocity and order composition data to refine slotting over time inside ChannelPoint. As product mixes change, the system helps operations teams reposition SKUs so automation continues to pay dividends instead of bumping into outdated layouts.

Supporting Kitting, Bundles, and Complex Orders

Modern D2C programs often rely on kits, bundles, and subscription configurations rather than simple one-SKU orders. Automated pick and pack systems shine here because they can convert bundled logic into discrete actions that workers follow without memorizing every rule.

For example, a subscription box might require a fixed core set of items and one rotating surprise. ChannelPoint tells the picker exactly which version to pull for that month, reducing the mental overhead that usually drags complex programs down.

Bringing Returns Back Into the System Correctly

Automation does not stop at outbound. Returned products deserve the same structured treatment. Without clear workflows, returns become a side pile of maybes that slowly pollute inventory accuracy. Automated return intake assigns reasons, conditions, and dispositions in a consistent way.

Joel Malmquist, VP of Customer Experience at G10, explains the classification approach. "It looks good, we are going to restock this, or it looks damaged, we are going to either dispose of it or put it in a quarantine area." Those rules feed directly into ChannelPoint so inventory availability stays honest.

Measuring the Impact of Automation

It is easy to buy automation. It is harder to prove its value. Automated pick and pack systems earn their keep when cycle times shrink, error rates fall, and worker satisfaction improves. That requires measuring before and after states, not just admiring the hardware.

G10 tracks picks per hour, lines per order, error percentages, and overtime usage to quantify automation’s impact. Over time, patterns emerge that show which workflows deserve more automation and which ones are better left to flexible human handling.

Building an Automated System That Still Feels Human

Automation should not make your operation feel cold or inflexible. The best automated pick and pack systems protect the human strengths on your floor. Workers spend more time solving real problems and less time wandering aisles or deciphering unclear paperwork. Customers receive more consistent service without knowing anything about the machinery that made it possible.

Mark Becker, CEO and founder of G10, frames automation inside a larger promise. "We are going to grow with them." Automated pick and pack systems are one of the ways G10 gives brands room to grow without outgrowing their fulfillment capabilities.

When You Are Ready for a Warehouse That Works Smarter

If your current pick and pack process depends on a handful of expert workers, late nights, and constant improvisation, you may be ready for automation. The goal is not to replace the people who built your operation. It is to give them better tools so their effort turns into consistently excellent execution.

When your team is ready to trade chaos and clipboard math for structured, reliable automation, G10 can help you design an automated pick and pack system that fits your products, your channels, and your growth plans.