Warehouse Insight directly supports tote picking on the handheld device, allowing items from a source document to be picked into designated totes used for packing and shipping. Wave picking and batch picking are supported as well, but the generation and scheduling of those pick documents happens in Business Central, most commonly through the Order Fulfillment Worksheet, with the resulting pick then executed on the handheld device the same way any other pick is handled.
Tote picking on the handheld device
Tote picking is used when the picking step is separate from packing and shipping. Instead of picking items directly into a box that immediately ships, items are picked into a designated tote, which is a special purpose license plate flagged specifically for this purpose. Totes are typically reused between picks rather than shipped out themselves, which fits environments where a packing station handles the final packaging step after picking is complete. This process is fully supported on the handheld device as part of a standard pick, and once tote picking is enabled on a pick, that logic applies to the pick as a whole.
Wave picking and batch picking
Wave picking and batch picking are closely related concepts, both generally referring to grouping multiple orders or pick lines together so they can be picked more efficiently as a set rather than one order at a time. Warehouse Insight itself does not generate these grouped pick documents. Instead, the pick documents are created in Business Central, typically using the Pick Worksheet or, for more advanced planning and scheduling of what needs to go out, the Order Fulfillment Worksheet, which helps organize and automate the fulfillment process before it ever reaches the handheld device.
Once a wave or batch pick document has been generated in Business Central, it behaves like any other pick on the handheld device. A warehouse associate opens the pick, scans bins and items as usual, and Warehouse Insight records the activity in real time. The distinction is upstream of the handheld device, in how the pick document itself gets built and organized, rather than in how it gets executed on the floor.
Assigning picks to specific users
Once pick documents exist, whether generated through waves, batches, or a standard pick, they can optionally be pre assigned to specific users or teams before they reach the handheld device. This allows a company to organize work by area, by picker, or by any other criteria that fits their warehouse layout, without changing how the actual scanning process works once a picker opens their assigned pick.
Choosing the right approach
For companies planning to run wave or batch picking regularly, working with the Order Fulfillment Worksheet to organize and schedule pick generation is the recommended approach, since it is purpose built for planning what needs to leave the warehouse and when. Tote picking, by contrast, is more of an execution detail on the handheld device itself and can be layered onto a wave, a batch, or a standard single order pick as needed.
Relevant Tools
Warehouse Insight executes tote picking directly on the handheld device and processes any pick document generated in Business Central, regardless of how that document was created. Order Fulfillment Worksheet handles the planning and scheduling side of wave and batch picking, generating the grouped pick documents that Warehouse Insight then executes on the floor.
Between these two tools, a warehouse can plan grouped picks upstream and then execute them, including tote based packing workflows, on the handheld device without any gap between planning and execution.