Slotting
warehouse slotting
Deciding where each product lives in the warehouse means putting the fast sellers at waist height near the packing area, heavy items low down, and products that are often ordered together close to each other. A good arrangement shortens every pick walk, and it needs reviewing as what sells changes. This job is called slotting.
The raw material is a ranked list of how often each SKU is picked, the order profile, and the size and weight of each product. A simple start is an ABC split: the few products that account for most picks get the best locations.
Review it when the season turns or a new range arrives, not constantly. Moving goods costs labour, so move the products where a better location saves the most walking, and leave the rest.
In practice
A shop finds that twelve products make up half of all picks, but they sit at the far end of the building. It moves them to the shelves nearest the pack bench. The walk per order gets shorter without any new equipment.
Further reading
Related terms
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Two questions about your own operation
How many of your articles sit in a pick location they empty less than once a month?
Part one: Laying out a warehouse does not start with the racking
After your last integration, how many systems hold a stock quantity for the same item? Name them.