Direct Pack is an alternative fulfillment method in ShipHero that lets you pick and pack an order simultaneously from inventory locations right at your packing station. It's designed for fast, accurate, and efficient order processing. Your use case will determine the best approach in setting up your Direct Pack Station.
In this article we will cover different use cases, how to set up your Direct Pack station for each and the process to follow when completing customers' orders.
Alternative to Multi-Item Batch (MIB) Picking for Small Warehouses
Smaller warehouses with a limited number of SKUs and a single pickable location for each.
Streamlines picking/packing when MIB is too complex.
Alternative to MIB for Similar Orders
Handling orders with similar items which makes users return to the same locations while picking MIB batches.
Saves Steps and prevents the need to return to the same locations in MIB picking.
Alternative to Bulk Ship for Core Products
Larger warehouses with a core group of SKUs frequently sold together.
Provides efficiency when there aren't enough identical orders to make Bulk Ship efficient.
DirectPack Requirements
The hardware and software requirements for setting up the Basic and Advanced DirectPack station are the same. We highly recommend using a scanner wherever possible to reduce error and speed up processing times.
Below are the Required and Recommended items when setting up your DirectPack Station.
Packing App:Latest version installed at the packing station. (Download the latest versionHERE)
General hardware: Barcode scanner, printers, scales, etc. (More information onRecommended Hardware for your packing station.)
Barcoded products:(Required when using a scanner at your pack stations.)
The Basic DirectPack setup is the simplest setup for customers that want to work one order at a time, have a smaller warehouse footprint, with each product (SKU) assigned to a single pickable location located at/around the packing station.
Step 1: Define and Stock Locations
Action: Create your warehouse locations and assign inventory.
Key Rules for Basic Setup:
Mark only the location(s) at the packing station as "pickable."
Mark all inventory locations outside the packing station as "non-pickable."
CRITICAL INVENTORY WARNING (Basic Setup): If the same SKU is present in multiple pickable locations, the system will randomly select one of those locations to deduct inventory from. This will lead to inventory discrepancies across the locations in your warehouse.
Ensure you have all of the required hardware and supplies set up at your packing station. As a best practice, we recommend using Command Barcodes with a scanner or gamifying the packing experience with an Adaptive Packing set up.
Command Barcode
Function
Notes
Get Next Order
Requests the next order that can be shipped to open automatically.
Essential for continuous processing.
Print Invoice and Labels / Print Labels
Triggers the printing of shipping documents.
Use the command appropriate for your operation.
Okay/Confirm and Cancel
Acts as a mouse click for on-screen prompts (e.g., packing notes).
Reduces reliance on the mouse.
Get Weight
Triggers the scale to get the package weight and enter it into the weight field.
Requires an integrated scale.
Send to Hospital
Designates an order for further review or correction.
Prints barcodes to label your packaging material slots.
Recommended Optimization.
Add New Package
Allows a packer to move to a second box for multi-package shipments.
Used for multi-package orders (see Note).
Optional Optimizations:
At ShipHero we believe the less clicks the better! Here are some ways to optimize your operations even further.
Order tags and/or statuses can be used to filter which orders are processed at the Direct Pack station. If using custom statuses and tags, they must be assigned to the user processing the orders.
Use Automation Rules to streamline repetitive tasks and reduce errors at the packing station. We recommend the following:
Advanced DirectPack Station Overview (Using Forced Location Allocation)
IMPORTANT NOTE: Direct Pack must be enabled by our ShipHero's support team before starting this setup process. This setup is also required when utilizing ShipHero's Pack2Light solution.
The advanced configuration allows users to assign a group of Direct Pack locations to each packing station. This ensures that only orders with all of the items available in the specified Direct Pack locations pull up in the order queue.
Other key benefits of using the Advanced DirectPack setup include:
Ability to have multiple Direct Pack stations with the same products.
Multiple Pickable locations: Assign inventory to DirectPack stations and throughout the picking areas of your warehouse to allow less common product combinations to be processed in the MIB flows.
Easier to process lot controlled items for customers that do not have strict FEFO/FIFO requirements.
Advanced DirectPack Setup
The process of setting up an Advanced DirectPack station is almost identical to the Basic DirectPack station setup; with the main difference being how you create the locations and assign them to the Packing App before processing orders.
Step 1: Create Locations for an Advanced DirectPack station
These locations are the backbone for the AdvancedDirectPack station to properly function with the Packing App. Please carefully review the requirements below:
A unique location prefix must be used for each DirectPack station. Example: “DIR-PACK-01”, “DIR-PACK-02”, etc.
DirectPack locations must be pickable.
If the DirectPack station is the only place you will be processing orders for specific SKUs, then mark all other inventory locations for the SKUs as non-pickable.
If you want to have SKUs available for Direct Pack Stations and MIB you can have the items in other pickable locations. Use order tags and statuses to manage which orders are processed at the Direct Pack station and MIB flows.
Helpful Tip:Use this program to generate locations for your Direct PackStation. Simply enter the number of packstations you are creating locations for, the Station Prefix and the number of locations at each. Then, click Generate Packing Stations.
A new window will open with a visual of your packing station locations, Printable QR Codes for your DirectPack Command barcode (explained in next section) and a prefilled, downloadable CSV you can use to upload your new locations into ShipHero.
Enter information, (number of stations, Location Prefix and number of locations)
2. Download the prefilled Location Template and Print your DirectPack Command Barcode
Step 2: Create a Command Barcode to Assign Locations to the Packing App
Create a command barcode to assign the Direct Pack location to the Packing App. Here are teh key principles to follow:
Every time the Packing App is opened you MUST assign the Direct Pack station by scanning your the station's unique command barcode.
The command barcode must be in the following format: shp2l_ + [location prefix of the location].
Example: If your location prefix is DIR-PACK-01, the command barcode is: shp2l_DIR-PACK-01
Helpful Tip:Use this program to generate the custom Command barcode for your Direct PackStation.
Step 3: General Configuration and Optional Optimizations
For the general information and best practices for setting up your packing station please reference the section above Configure Packing Station.
How to Ship with a DirectPack Station
Stocking Your Stations:
Before being able to ship from a DirectPack Station you must ensure that the orders have inventory in pickable locations. Otherwise, orders will show as "Not Pickable," and you will not be able to process them.
Basic DirectPack Setup: We recommend using our Mobile Replenishment tool to restock your pickable locations.
Advanced DirectPack Setup: Monitor the inventory levels by using the Search by Locations report and filtering on the location type or SKUs. Using this report combined with mobile inventory transfers is recommended over replenishment mobile for SKUs stocked in multiple pickable locations.
Processing an Order
Open the Packing App and navigate to ‘Shipping’ > ‘Single Orders’.
For the Advanced DirectPack Setup Only; for the Basic DirectPack Setup continue to Step 3.
Scan the DirectPack Location Prefix Barcode (e.g., shp2l_DIR-PACK-01) to assign the locations to that packing station.
Slide the toggle "is mega station?" to "Off". This setting is for customers using ShipHero's Pack2Light Attainable Automation only.
Select an order or scan any product barcode to begin.
If not set by automation rules, scan box to use.
Scan remaining items on the order to pack. (Please see note below for Multi-Package shipments)
Once all items are packed, scan or select “Print Invoice and Labels”/“Print Label”.
Scan “Get Next Order” to automatically pull up the next order or scan or select the the "Complete Order" button to be brought back to the order list.
Note for Multi-Package Shipments: If you frequently have orders that use more than one box print out a command barcode to Add New Package. Otherwise you will need to manually select the next box on the screen. Follow the instructions below before moving onto the completion steps.
After you finish scanning/packing items into the first box:
Scan the Add New Package barcode or click the Add Package button on the screen.
Same type of box or different?
Same type of box: Continue to step 3.
Different type of box: Scan/select the box barcode to update the dimensions for this package then continue to the next step.
Scan the products you will be packing into that box.
If using a scale be sure to get the weight for each package separately.
Repeat as necessary and move onto steps 5 and 6 above.