Water spider proactive mode: dispatch board and self-service runs

Two ways to keep carts moving: the dispatcher assigns tasks from a zone cart board, or the water spider picks up work themselves by scanning carts — the system auto-creates a completed task behind the scenes.

Why proactive mode#

In lean manufacturing the water spider (mizusumashi) is supposed to walk the line proactively, not wait to be told. The dispatch board gives both the dispatcher and the water spider the same live picture: which zones are short on empty carts, which have full carts waiting.

Two modes, one task table#

• Dispatch mode: the dispatcher sees a red/yellow alert on the board, clicks Dispatch, and a WSP task is assigned to a water spider.
• Proactive mode: the water spider opens the Board tab on the phone, sees Zone A has 2 full carts, walks over, scans the cart, taps Take, pushes it to consolidation, scans the slot, taps Drop — done. The system auto-creates a completed WSP task in the background (same as Quick Move).

Cart status at a glance#

Each cart has a live status: empty (idle), in use (bound to a pick task), full (waiting to be collected), in transit (being pushed), or at consolidation. The board groups carts by zone and flags problems: red when a zone is short on empty carts, yellow when full carts are waiting.

Docklify features used in this article#

• Water Spider board — desktop WMS → Water Spider: all tasks and their statuses on one board.
• Phone execution — the water spider opens the task, does the run on the execution screen, then goes back to the task home page and closes it by entering the actual number of totes handled; fewer than planned requires picking a reason.
• Zone Picking switch — WMS → Master Data → Zones: per warehouse, off by default; warehouses that do not enable it see zero changes.