Here are some strategies for better control of your warehouse inventory. Improving inventory management will enhance your warehouse efficiency by>
- Reducing the time spent searching for products in the warehouse
- Accurate inventory helps reduce excess stock and makes management easier
- Increasing inventory turns
- Optimizing warehouse capacity
Do You Have a Locator System?
Using an inventory locator system simplifies finding products, which leads to happier customers since you can confirm order fulfillment with greater accuracy. Tracking when an item was ordered, received, stored, picked, and shipped will greatly enhance your inventory management abilities.
Memory-Based Inventory Control
Many warehouses initially rely on memory to store and track products. It’s a common practice at home, so why not in the warehouse?
Pros:
- Flexible storage system
- Minimal capital investment
Cons:
- If the person with the inventory memory is unavailable, colleagues will spend valuable time searching for items.
- As the number of SKUs grows, it becomes humanly impossible to track everything.
Fixed Location Inventory
In a fixed location system, every product is assigned a specific spot, making inventory tracking more straightforward. Like in a kitchen where spices have a designated place, each product has a “home.”
Pros:
- Products are easier to locate due to an organized system.
- Training employees to find products is simplified.
- Efficient storage by grouping similar products.
Cons:
- Space inefficiency – empty locations waste space when products are out of stock.
- Restocking can be slow due to FIFO management and fixed locations.
Zoned Putaway
Zoned putaway blends fixed and memory location strategies. Products are assigned to a general area, and material handlers find an available slot within that zone.
Pros:
- Flexibility similar to the memory system but easier to locate products using logic and memory.
- Material handlers can deduce where items are stored.
Cons:
- Still partly reliant on memory.
- Searching for empty slots or misplaced items can be time-consuming.
Random Putaway (Locator)
Random putaway is similar to the memory system, but software tracks item locations instead.
Pros:
- Maximizes warehouse space.
- Reduces time spent searching for products.
- Facilitates easier inventory management.
Cons:
- Requires data entry for tracking product locations.
- Location data can lag behind real-time movement.
Implementing barcoding systems can improve real-time tracking, but this requires investment in hardware and software. We’ll explore the pros and cons of barcode scanners in another post.
Tracking Products in Your Warehouse (Picking Address)
When managing product locations, your system should track several elements within the warehouse:
- Assign numbers to rows of racks: 1, 2, 3…
- Even numbers on the right side of the aisle, odd numbers on the left.
- This works well for conveyor systems where crossing the aisle is undesirable.
- Assign numbers to aisles, allowing for cross-aisle picking with order pickers to improve efficiency.
- Label bays with even and odd numbers to differentiate sides of the aisle.
- Use numbers for rack levels, starting from 1 on the ground level and increasing as you go up.
- Identify left and right sides of the beams (e.g., 1 for the left, 2 for the right).
An example of a pick address might look like this: 1.1.1.1.1
- Rack Row
- Aisle
- Bay
- Section of the rack
- Level
- Side of the bay (left or right)
Have we missed anything in this discussion? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.