An effective supply chain is when a business spends less time fixing mistakes and having correct shipping procedures in place, doing it first time correct and saving the importer / export allot of shipping cost. Picking and packaging, is a very important part of a business which falls under the warehouse function. Mistakes often occur during the picking and packaging phase which becomes costly to the business thus reducing profit margins.  Here are some guidelines when trying to have an effective supply chain:                                                  

 1) Improve on Process - Every year or once a problem has incurred one should look at a corrective action or try to improve current procedures in place. Managers should spend some time in the warehouse to identify problematic areas which needs improvement and listen to the staff of the problems they encounter daily. An improvement on the technology side maybe an area that continously needs improvement.

  2) Less Handling - Rather packing into a bin with multiple customer's orders the packing should be done direct into the customers shipping boxes. This will avoid packing incorrect orders & this will improve on efficiency levels. 

  3) Labels  - Digital printing enables you to do all of that with a couple of keystrokes, printing the customer’s address, your return address, and even your logo or other design right onto the shipping box. Redesigning of your warehouse to accommodate the digital printing would definitely increase the efficiency of your picking and packing. 

  4) Identify mistakes and Process flow -  A business should identify the bottelnecks in your supply chain proccess e.g. Moving of products between stations, when automated systems are used . Identifying these areas can increase productivity and efficiency.  Mistakes should be able to be identified prior to reaching the shipping station so the correct orders get shipped which is likely to happen when picking and packing. One of the ways are to have a quality check in place. 

   5) Warehousing   -- One should have an inventory in an alphabetical order & numbered for the slow moving items which must be placed in the furthest part of the warehouse. Fast moving items can be placed near the packing station as this will allow goods to be packed quickly and also save on the diesel cost.  Fast moving items must also have an inventory in alphabetical order and numbered. The above process is to increase productivity, efficiency, increase profitability and to decrease your mistakes.