Information processing in a mail order filling company. Case study 1

Filling mail order picking tickets requires the picker to determine if the item on the ticket is in the picker's bay, reading the bin address and picking the item. A order picking ticket was investigated to determine if ergonomic improvements would result in improved productivity and accuracy. Color, position, and highlighting cues were systematically varied in a computer simulated version of the picking task. It was concluded that color and position significantly influence the processing time, while highlighting had no effect on processing time. Expert pickers were slower, but more accurate than the novice pickers. Recommendations for improving the order picking ticket were made and implemented with very encouraging results.