Labor is the single largest operating expense in a warehouse, consuming 50% to 70% of the total warehousing budget. Yet, much of this cost doesn’t directly translate into productivity. Idle time—those moments when workers are waiting for tasks, searching for inventory, or stuck between waves—adds up quickly and quietly drains resources.
The key to solving this problem is smarter task allocation that ensures that workers stay productive and orders move efficiently through the warehouse. This article explores how waveless fulfillment minimizes idle time and keeps fulfillment running at peak efficiency.
The Hidden Cost of Idle Time in Warehouses
Efficiency in the warehouse is all about how quickly orders move from receiving to shipping. Ensuring workers are always on the right task is key to efficient fulfillment. Yet, a distribution center processing thousands of orders daily might employ 100–300 workers. Without a dynamic system in place, allocating tasks and managing their time is challenging.
Idle time can happen in many ways. When an associate runs into a problem—like an empty bin or a missing SKU—they need a supervisor’s help. But in a large warehouse, tracking a supervisor down can take 10 minutes or more, leaving workers standing around waiting instead of moving on to the next task. In wave-based fulfillment, employees often have to wait for the next wave to be ready before continuing work. Even within a busy warehouse, work isn’t always evenly distributed. Pickers might be overwhelmed while packers are left waiting for orders to arrive at their station. Unoptimized travel paths are also a major source of inefficiency. Workers often spend more time moving between locations than actually picking, packing, or replenishing inventory.
Traditional Approaches to Reducing Idle Time
To minimize idle time, warehouses have traditionally relied on structured processes and manual oversight. The most common approach has been wave-based fulfillment, where tasks are grouped into batches and assigned at scheduled intervals. While this method helps coordinate operations, it also creates unavoidable downtime between waves.
In some cases, companies have also tried to reduce idle time by adjusting shift schedules or staggering break times to keep operations running continuously. However, this approach only addresses scheduling gaps, not the underlying inefficiencies in task allocation.
While these traditional methods offer some improvements, they all share the same fundamental limitation: they rely on fixed schedules and reactive adjustments rather than real-time decision-making. That’s where waveless fulfillment changes the game.
The Smarter Solution: How Waveless Fulfillment Works
In wave-based systems, once a wave is set, adjusting for rush orders, inventory shortages, or disruptions in packing and shipping becomes difficult. This rigidity leads to downtime between tasks, unbalanced workloads, and missed opportunities to meet customer expectations.
Waveless fulfillment, on the other hand, keeps work moving continuously. Instead of processing orders in fixed waves, tasks are prioritized, assigned and re-assigned dynamically based on real-time conditions in the warehouse. Whether it’s receiving, putaway, picking, packing, or shipping, every step of fulfillment is optimized to minimize idle time and keep orders flowing.
This level of intelligent orchestration is achieved thanks to the AI-powered Warehouse Execution System (WES) software – inVia Logic.
Here’s how inVia Logic WES powers waveless fulfillment:
- Processes Warehouse Data in Real Time: inVia Logic WES continuously gathers data from the Warehouse Management System (WMS), including order profiles, SLA rules, inventory updates, and worker availability. It also collects thousands of data points per user each day—tracking walking distance, speed, job response time, item handling time, and more. By constantly learning warehouse patterns, it adapts in real time to fluctuations in order volume, ensuring maximum efficiency.
- Keeps Work Moving with Smart Task Assignments: Unlike wave-based systems that rely on rigid schedules, inVia Logic WES assigns tasks on the fly, ensuring that no worker or station is left waiting. If a rush order comes in or an issue arises—like a shortpick or missing SKU—the system immediately re-allocates tasks to maintain efficiency.
- Keeps Every Step of Fulfillment in Sync: Waveless fulfillment isn’t just about picking; it ensures that every stage of fulfillment, from receiving to shipping, operates in sync. When one part of the operation slows down, inVia Logic WES automatically adjusts workflows, balancing workloads across all fulfillment functions.
- Continuously Optimizing Workflows: inVia’s WES seamlessly coordinates robots and workers to maintain a steady flow of operations. Its real power lies in its ability to continuously monitor, analyze, and fine-tune workflows. Instead of just reacting to problems, it anticipates them—adjusting task assignments in real time to keep every order moving efficiently. This ongoing cycle of optimization helps warehouses run smarter, faster, and with more flexibility than wave-based systems ever could.
The true power of waveless fulfillment lies in its ability to anticipate inefficiencies before they happen. Rather than reacting to delays, inVia Logic WES continuously optimizes workflows, keeping fulfillment running at peak efficiency. By eliminating idle time across the entire process, waveless fulfillment allows warehouses to handle more orders, faster, without disruptions.