Batch Picking and Wave Picking in Odoo: Cutting Warehouse Walking Time

The Hidden Cost: Staff Walking the Floor

When APAA reviews a Hong Kong warehouse that feels "always busy but never caught up," the culprit is usually walking. Order picking is one of the most time-consuming activities on any floor, and industry studies put travel between pickup locations at up to 60% of a picker's time. Without a structured picking method, staff zig-zag across the unit for every single order — slow, costly, and a steady source of mis-picks.

Odoo Inventory gives you two strategies to attack this: batch picking and wave picking. Each trims unnecessary travel, but in a different way, and the right one depends on how your unit is laid out.

Batch Picking vs Wave Picking at a Glance

Before the setup, here is how the two approaches differ:

Neither method is universally better. The right call comes down to your warehouse layout and your typical order pattern.

What You Need First

Both methods rely on multi-step delivery routes. Before you begin:

1. Open Inventory > Configuration > Settings
2. Enable Multi-Step Routes in the warehouse section
3. Save

If you plan to use batch picking, also enable Batch Transfers on the same settings page.

Setting Up Wave Picking

Wave picking in Odoo uses routes and product categories to steer pickers towards specific zones rather than pulling from a single general stock location.

Step 1: Enable Developer Mode

A few route fields — such as sequence and propagation — only appear in developer mode:

1. Go to Settings > Developer Tools
2. Click Activate the developer mode

Step 2: Configure Two-Step Delivery

1. Navigate to Inventory > Configuration > Warehouses
2. Edit your warehouse
3. Change Outgoing Shipments to Send goods in output and then deliver (2 steps)
4. Save

Step 3: Create Category-Specific Routes

For each product zone (for example, Chairs and Drawers):

1. Go to Inventory > Configuration > Routes
2. Open the default two-step delivery route
3. Set the Sequence to 100, then duplicate the route
4. Rename the duplicate (for example, "Chairs")
5. Under applicability, make sure Product Category and your Warehouse are selected
6. Edit the rule:
   • Change the Source Location from general stock to the specific zone (for example, "Chairs Area")
   • Set Propagation to Fixed
   • Assign the matching Picking Type (for example, "Chairs")
7. Change the Sequence to a lower number (for example, 5) so this route takes priority
8. Save, then repeat for each product zone

Step 4: Apply Routes to Product Categories

1. Go to Inventory > Configuration > Product Categories
2. Open each category (for example, "Chairs")
3. Assign the matching route
4. Save

Step 5: Verify Your Products

Check that every product has the correct category assigned on its product form. A single mis-categorised product will pick from the wrong zone.

What It Looks Like in Practice

After you confirm sales orders, head to Inventory > Pickings. You will see separate picking operations grouped by zone:

• Chairs Area — every chair item across all orders
• Drawers Area — every drawer item across all orders

Each picker works one zone, collects everything needed there, and brings it to the output area. Orders are then assembled from the collected products.

Setting Up Batch Picking

Batch picking groups multiple transfer operations so one picker can clear several orders in a single warehouse trip.

Step 1: Enable Batch Transfers

1. Go to Inventory > Configuration > Settings
2. Enable Batch Transfers in the operations section
3. Save

Step 2: Create a Batch Transfer

1. Navigate to Inventory > Operations > Batch Transfers
2. Click New
3. Assign a Responsible person

Step 3: Add Pickings to the Batch

1. Click Add a line to select pickings
2. Use Group By to organise pickings (for example, by source location) — this helps you assign batches logically
3. Select the relevant pickings and confirm

You can review the status of each picking right in the batch view, and remove or cancel individual pickings as needed.

Step 4: Confirm and Print

1. Click Confirm to validate the batch
2. Print the picking list as a PDF for the warehouse team

The printed document lists every item across the grouped orders, arranged for efficient picking.

Choosing the Right Method

Reach for wave picking when:

• Your warehouse has distinct product zones
• Orders typically draw items from multiple zones
• You want pickers specialised by area

Reach for batch picking when:

• Multiple orders share similar products
• You want to cut trips by combining orders
• Your layout has no strict zone separation

You can also run both together — wave picking for zone-based collection, batch picking for grouping similar transfers. Several of our F&B-supply and retail clients end up doing exactly this as volume grows.

Quick Reference

Both methods are straightforward to set up in Odoo and can meaningfully cut walking time on the floor. Our advice to clients is the same every time: start with one approach, measure the result over a couple of weeks, then adjust based on what the team tells you.

If you would like APAA to assess your warehouse layout and configure the right picking strategy in Odoo, get in touch for a working session with our team.