Pick Path Calculator

Each additional zone an order touches adds an inter-zone travel leg -- walking between distinct areas of the warehouse -- without adding any picking work to offset that extra time. Since pick efficiency is the share of total trip time spent actually picking rather than walking, more zones for the same number of items per order stretches out travel time relative to pick time and lowers the efficiency figure.

Adding items increases the pure picking time roughly proportionally, but it also increases the average items picked per zone, which this model treats as shortening the average distance between consecutive picks within that zone. That partially offsets the added picking time with a smaller per-item travel penalty, which is why total pick time does not scale in exact lockstep with the number of items.

It approximates a typical warehouse walking pace of about 2.7 mph while carrying a picking device or tote, which is the standard assumption used to convert estimated travel distance into travel time. Actual picker speed varies by individual, aisle congestion, and whether the picker uses equipment like a pallet jack, so this is a planning average rather than a measured speed for any specific facility.

Pick efficiency shows what fraction of a trip is spent on productive picking versus travel, so a higher percentage generally means less wasted motion for the same order profile. Comparing efficiency before and after changes like slotting fast- moving items closer together or reducing the number of zones an average order touches can show whether a layout change actually reduced non-productive travel time.

No -- it uses a single average distance between picks and a fixed walking speed rather than modeling your actual aisle geometry, travel paths, or congestion from other workers and equipment. Real warehouse management systems that generate pick paths account for the physical layout directly; this calculator is meant for quick order-profile planning, not precise route optimization.