An order builder fills and prepares customer orders for shipment. Restocking warehouses, organizing orders for outgoing transportation, and monitoring safety conditions are all possible job responsibilities. Employers may not have any special education or experience requirements, but having a high school diploma or equivalent can be advantageous. Some jobs may require familiarity with heavy machinery, while others can provide on-the-job training.
When orders arrive at a warehouse, they can be delegated to employees in a variety of ways. An order builder may be given a stack of orders to personally fill in some cases. This employee moves through the warehouse, sometimes with the help of heavy equipment, to pick and package the necessary items. The order builder can submit the order for shipping and move on to the next step after confirming that it is complete.
Other facilities direct their personnel to focus on specific areas of a warehouse, so an order may pass through several order builders before being completed. Each worker inspects the order, which may be grouped by warehouse location for ease of use, pulls the required items, and passes it on to the next. This is common in extremely large warehouse facilities where workers are unable to manually fill orders on their own.
Order builders must also package orders in an organized and functional manner. In the case of a particularly large shipment, this may entail adding insulating materials to prevent damage, breaking up the order into multiple boxes, and placing it on pallets. Order builders may need to organize orders as they pile up for shipment to make it easier to ship them out. They also keep an eye on boxes and pallets to ensure that they don’t fall over, crush nearby orders, or cause any other issues.
This type of warehouse work can entail being on your feet for long periods of time each day, which can be exhausting. Each order builder is given rest breaks throughout the day, and employers may advise employees to wear specialized shoes, back braces, and other protective gear while on the floor. Working with heavy machinery necessitates the use of hearing protection. The employer will provide required safety supplies, while the individual order builder may be responsible for optional tools to make the job easier.