# Warehouse Pick Labor Requirement Calculator for SAP EWM Sizing > Source: https://netray.co/tools/sap-ewm-pick-labor-requirement-calculator > Publisher: Netray (netray.co), AI and integration engineering for ERP and manufacturing systems. > Section: Free Tools ## Short answer Estimate how many pickers and warehouse orders per shift you need from daily order lines, pick rate, utilisation and absence. ## Category sap ## Erp SAP EWM ## Audience - SAP EWM consultant - Warehouse manager - Operations planner ## Tool **Kind:** calculator **Inputs:** #### Order lines to pick per day **Key:** lines **Type:** number **Default:** 6000 **Min:** 0 **Step:** 100 **Unit:** lines #### Pick rate per picker **Key:** rate **Type:** number **Default:** 80 **Min:** 1 **Step:** 5 **Unit:** lines/hour **Help:** Net rate while picking, from observation or engineered standards. #### Paid shift length **Key:** shift **Type:** number **Default:** 8 **Min:** 1 **Max:** 12 **Step:** 0.5 **Unit:** hours #### Breaks and meetings **Key:** breaks **Type:** number **Default:** 1 **Min:** 0 **Max:** 4 **Step:** 0.25 **Unit:** hours #### Utilisation while on shift **Key:** util **Type:** slider **Default:** 85 **Min:** 50 **Max:** 100 **Step:** 1 **Unit:** % **Help:** Share of working time actually picking, rest is waiting, travel not in rate, or other tasks. #### Absence allowance **Key:** absence **Type:** slider **Default:** 8 **Min:** 0 **Max:** 25 **Step:** 1 **Unit:** % #### Lines per warehouse order **Key:** lines_per_order **Type:** number **Default:** 12 **Min:** 1 **Step:** 1 **Unit:** lines #### Loaded cost per hour **Key:** cost_hr **Type:** number **Default:** 28 **Min:** 0 **Step:** 1 **Outputs:** #### Productive hours per picker **Key:** productive **Expr:** (shift - breaks) * util / 100 **Format:** decimal **Description:** Time per picker actually spent picking. #### Lines per picker per shift **Key:** capacity **Expr:** rate * productive **Format:** integer #### Pickers needed on shift **Key:** pickers_net **Expr:** ceil(lines / capacity) **Format:** integer **Primary:** true #### Roster including absence **Key:** pickers_roster **Expr:** ceil(pickers_net / (1 - absence / 100)) **Format:** integer **Primary:** true **Description:** Headcount to schedule so absence does not cause a shortfall. #### Warehouse orders per day **Key:** orders **Expr:** ceil(lines / lines_per_order) **Format:** integer #### Labor cost per line **Key:** cost_line **Expr:** pickers_roster * shift * cost_hr / lines **Format:** currency **Chart:** #### Pickers needed vs pick rate **Type:** line **X:** rate **From:** 40 **To:** 140 **Steps:** 25 **Series:** - pickers_net **Disclaimer:** Planning estimate only. Real staffing depends on order profile, layout, peaks and equipment. Validate pick rates with time studies. ## Content **Intro:** How many pickers does a shift need? This calculator turns daily order lines and a realistic pick rate into headcount, a roster that allows for absence and the labor cost per line. It supports SAP EWM resource and queue sizing, and works for any warehouse. **Sections:** #### How to use the calculator **Body:** Enter daily order lines, the net pick rate per picker, paid shift length, break time, utilisation and absence allowance. The tool computes productive hours, lines a picker completes per shift and the number of pickers needed. The roster figure rounds up after allowing for absence. Use the slider chart to see how headcount falls as the pick rate improves. **Bullets:** - Use observed rates, not vendor claims - Enter average day and peak day separately - Utilisation is rarely 100 percent - Check results against your current headcount #### The formulas **Body:** Productive hours equal paid hours minus breaks, multiplied by utilisation. Capacity per picker equals the pick rate times productive hours. Pickers needed equal daily lines divided by capacity, rounded up. The roster is pickers needed divided by one minus the absence fraction, rounded up. Orders per day equal lines divided by lines per order and indicate how many warehouse orders EWM must create and dispatch. #### Worked example **Body:** With 6,000 lines a day, 80 lines an hour, an 8-hour shift with 1 hour of breaks and 85 percent utilisation, productive time is about 5.95 hours, giving roughly 476 lines per picker. Pickers needed come to 13, and with 8 percent absence the roster is 15. At 12 lines per order, that is 500 warehouse orders a day, a useful number when tuning order creation rules. #### Common mistakes **Body:** Sizing errors usually come from optimistic inputs. **Bullets:** - Using a peak-hour pick rate for the entire shift - Ignoring replenishment and packing labor - Forgetting seasonal peaks - Not adjusting rate for multi-level or long-travel zones **Cta:** If you want pick rates and order profiles measured from your own EWM history instead of estimated, we can build a read-only analysis that stays on your servers. **Faq:** #### What is a good pick rate? **Answer:** It varies widely by item size, layout and method, from tens of lines per hour in heavy or spread-out zones to well over a hundred in compact piece picking. Measure your own operation before planning. #### Does it include packing and loading? **Answer:** No. It sizes pick labor only. Run the calculation again with the relevant rates for packing, putaway, replenishment and loading, then add the results. #### How does this relate to SAP EWM? **Answer:** EWM resources, queues and warehouse orders distribute work among people. Headcount and order volume from this tool help you size resource groups and test whether order limits produce sensible work packages. #### Why round up pickers? **Answer:** Because you cannot staff a fraction of a person. If rounding adds a lot of cost, look at sharing labor across tasks or changing shift patterns. ## Search terms warehouse labor requirement calculator, picker headcount calculator, order lines per hour calculator, warehouse staffing calculator, sap ewm resource sizing, pick rate calculator, warehouse labor planning, ewm warehouse order sizing --- Talk to an engineer: https://netray.co/contact?intent=erp_ai | Machine catalog: https://netray.co/agent/catalog.json