A pick list access path or pick path is an access path used to guide the gathering of items for orders in a warehouse. Recall that this process of gathering items to be shipped to customers is referred to as picking inventory.

Warehouse personnel use pick lists when picking items. A pick list gives organized picking instructions for each order that must be filled and shipped to a customer. A separate pick list is generated for each incoming order at the warehouse. A pick path sequence represents the order in which warehouse personnel should access the warehouse areas on a pick path when gathering items for an order. In other words, a pick path sequence defines the order of warehouse areas on the pick list. The warehouse personnel begin by picking the items in the warehouse area listed first on the pick list. All of the inventory items in this warehouse area that must be picked for the order are listed on the pick list. These items are listed numerically by item number. In addition, the quantity of each item that must be picked for the order is provided on the pick list. Warehouse personnel then pick the items in the next warehouse area listed on the pick list and so on.

For example, consider a warehouse with three storage areas, A, B, and C. Each of these storage areas occupies a third of the warehouse, with area B located between areas A and C. Area C is also the area nearest to your staging area. When picking items, it would be inefficient to move from area A to area C and then return to area B. With the aid of a pick path sequence, you can arrange the items on the pick list so that items from area A appear first, then items from area B, and finally items from area C. Your warehouse personnel can now move efficiently from one area to the next. In addition, putting area C at the end of the sequence allows the picker to be close to the staging area to which the items must go after picking. From this staging area, the items are shipped to the customer.

When establishing a pick path on the Access Path Entry (APE) screen, the warehouse manager must designate a pick staging area. Items picked for orders are stored in the pick staging area until they are shipped to customers. Pick staging areas are the same as regular staging areas defined on the Warehouse Area Entry (WHAE) screen. They are referred to as pick staging areas simply to denote that they are necessary for pick paths. Pick staging areas are not designated for cycle count access paths.

The NCAS sorts pick lists by pick staging area. A single pick list may consist of multiple pages; each page corresponds to a separate pick staging area. For example, an order from a customer includes different types of items such as food, clothes, and medical supplies. These items are stored in different storage areas but are brought to the same staging area before they are shipped. The pick list for this order is not divided by storage area but by pick staging area. Therefore, all of these items appear on the same page of the pick list.