Act Now to Beat Seasonal Order Picking Peaks: Your Complete Guide to Warehouse Success
Peak season arrives with predictable timing but unpredictable challenges. Orders flood in faster than usual, operators scramble to maintain pace, and warehouse managers wonder if their operations will survive another surge without major disruptions.
The stakes continue to rise as ecommerce growth accelerates, and customer expectations increase. Distribution centers face mounting pressure to perform flawlessly during critical periods when volumes can spike 200% or more above normal levels.
However, forward-thinking warehouse managers are implementing strategies and technologies that don’t just survive peak season — they maintain consistent performance throughout demand fluctuations.
Understanding Peak Season Realities
Defining Peak Season Impact
“A peak season is when throughout the course of a year, warehouse activities are at higher levels than they are on an average day,” explains Ed Romaine, VP of Marketing and Business Development for ISD and a 35-year veteran of the automation industry.
Peak seasons vary significantly across industries. Retail operations typically experience surges from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day. Outdoor gear companies see spikes before ski season in late fall or mountain bike season in spring. Food distributors handle seasonal produce rushes, while clothing retailers manage back-to-school periods and fashion show cycles.
Many operations face multiple peaks throughout the year, creating ongoing challenges for capacity planning and resource allocation.
The Labor Challenge
Current labor market conditions compound peak season difficulties. Recent surveys show that while 80% of Americans believe the country benefits from more manufacturing jobs, only 25% think they would personally benefit from factory work. Even fewer — less than 15% — would actually accept manufacturing positions.
“Labor, labor, labor,” says Romaine when discussing peak season pain points. “For the last decade or so, the toughest thing is to get people to work in a warehouse.”
This shortage affects more than just headcount. Companies that find sufficient workers still face training costs, turnover concerns, and the reality that seasonal employees don’t consistently return year after year.
Hidden Costs of Peak Season Struggles
Training and Turnover Expenses
Each new hire represents significant investment in training, safety equipment, and administrative overhead. When seasonal workers leave after several weeks, that investment disappears. The recruitment-training-turnover cycle creates substantial hidden costs that many operations don’t fully calculate.
Performance Variability
Human performance fluctuates throughout shifts, between individuals, and across different days. Workers experience fatigue, distraction, illness, and injury. These natural variations create unpredictable bottlenecks that can severely impact operations when consistency matters most.
Physical Space Constraints
Simply adding more workers doesn’t always solve capacity problems. If only four employees can safely work in an aisle or two at a workstation, additional staff members provide no benefit. Physical limitations often prevent scaling up during peak periods.
Strategic Planning Foundations
Data-Driven Forecasting
“It starts off with the numbers and knowing the data, your forecast, and demand,” Romaine emphasizes. “You need to have accurate numbers.”
Effective peak season planning requires detailed analysis of SKU counts, inventory levels, and order profiles. Historical data from previous peak periods provides baseline information, but managers must also monitor emerging trends and market conditions that could affect demand patterns.
Inventory Optimization
Smart inventory management during peak season involves positioning fastest-moving items in easily accessible locations, implementing real-time tracking systems, and developing contingency plans for unexpected demand spikes.
ABC analysis helps categorize inventory based on movement patterns, allowing managers to optimize storage strategies and picking sequences for maximum efficiency.
Technology Solutions for Consistent Performance
Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems
ASRS technology addresses many peak season challenges by providing consistent performance regardless of volume fluctuations. These systems handle storage, retrieval, and order fulfillment tasks with reduced human intervention.
“ASRS will eliminate up to two-thirds of your labor,” says Romaine. This reduction eliminates or drastically reduces your recruitment, training, and turnover costs while maintaining steady performance levels.
Accuracy and Speed Benefits
ASRS systems maintain velocity and accuracy rates that human workers cannot match consistently. Systems can achieve 99.97% accuracy levels that don’t fluctuate based on operator performance or external factors.
“The system can also be dialed up or down to meet peak and non-peak requirements,” Romaine explains. This scalability allows precise capacity matching to demand levels, optimizing both efficiency and cost.
Flexible Operations Management
Scalable Pick Station Configurations
Successful peak season strategies incorporate operational flexibility. “There are systems you can flex with peak activity,” Romaine notes. “It might be using all of the pick stations that you have set up. It might be setting up temporary pick stations for peak time and then taking them down and utilizing that floor space for more value-added activities.”
This approach enables scaling up during peak periods without permanent changes that may not provide year-round value.
Temporary Solutions
Short-term investments in additional pick stations, storage areas, or leased equipment provide necessary flexibility for handling peak volumes without long-term commitments. These solutions can be particularly cost-effective for operations with dramatic seasonal swings.
Returns Processing Considerations
Post-Peak Volume Management
Returns processing represents a often-overlooked peak period challenge. For many retail operations, the first three weeks of January generate return volumes comparable to pre-Christmas order volumes.
“Many ASRS systems can be designed to operate for returns in addition to order fulfillment,” Romaine points out. This dual capability extends the value of peak season investments beyond initial order processing.
Automated Returns Handling
Returns processing can be as labor-intensive as order fulfillment, requiring inspection, categorization, and inventory reintegration for each item. Automation can streamline these processes, reducing time and labor requirements for efficient returns management.
Implementation Strategies
Phased Automation Approach
Companies don’t need to automate everything simultaneously. Starting with the highest-volume processes and biggest pain points allows organizations to see immediate benefits while building toward comprehensive automation strategies.
Leasing Options
“Depending on the technology, warehouses can lease automated equipment for peak periods and return that equipment when the peak is over,” Romaine notes. This flexibility can be particularly valuable for businesses experiencing dramatic seasonal variations.
Leasing approaches allow companies to access advanced technology for peak season challenges without permanent infrastructure investments that may not provide year-round value.
Performance Predictability
Consistent Output
Unlike human workers whose performance varies under pressure, automated systems maintain accuracy rates regardless of volume. This consistency proves invaluable during peak season when every mistake costs time and money through returns, re-shipments, and customer service issues.
Operational Analysis
“As a systems integrator, we know the data,” Romaine explains. “We know how fast it can move. We know how many SKUs it can hold. We know all the little details that go into ASRS and to be able to plan.”
This detailed performance knowledge enables managers to use warehouse management system or enterprise resource planning data to analyze peaks, valleys, and averages, providing better preparation for future seasonal challenges.
Workforce Integration
Training Programs
Operations still relying heavily on human workers should focus on cross-training employees for multiple roles, reducing vulnerability to call-outs or turnover. Effective training programs emphasize retention and practical skills development.
Did You Learn From Last Peak Season?
Peak season success requires more than working harder — it demands working smarter through strategic planning, appropriate technology implementation, and proven operational processes.
“An ASRS system will dramatically reduce an operations reliance on labor and create a far more predictable performance,” Romaine concludes. This predictability separates successful peak season operations from those that struggle to maintain service levels during demand spikes.
The companies that thrive during peak season invest in appropriate technologies, implement proven processes, and plan well in advance of seasonal surges. They understand that peak season preparation is an ongoing process, not a last-minute scramble.
Don’t wait until the next peak season begins to start planning. The time to evaluate your current capabilities, identify improvement opportunities, and implement necessary changes is now.
For more information about the AS/RS group: mhi.org/as-rs
For further articles from the Automated Storage/Retrieval Systems (AS/RS):
Adding Robots to the Cold Chain
March 4 MHI Tech Talk Explores Integrating Racks With Automation
Is a VLM Right for Your Operations?
Understanding ASRS Software Integration
ASRS Is Perfect For Social Distancing
Podcast: How Does An ASRS Solution Differ And Complement AMRs/AGVs?
