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Question answered in Quora - What is the efficient Layout, Process & Put away/Picking Strategy i

The best way to do this is classify your SKUs by velocity, otherwise called as SKU Velocity. The SKUs that sell fast and a lot in quantity will be your high SKU Velocity SKUs, which let us call A, then comes B, they sell less fast than A Velocity SKUs and then comes C, the slowest selling SKUs. Classify all your SKUs into SKU Velocity A SKUs, SKU Velocity B SKUs and SKU Velocity C SKUs. And typically a best of the breed WMS has this ability to automatically record SKU Velocity based on the quantity sold. If you don't have this data then you need to go back to the sales history for the past one year or so.

Then for picking purposes group your locations based on proximity to your shipping dock, meaning the pickers will have to walk less distance to do these picks. They will be the locations holding the Fast Moving SKUs, so in an aggregate the pickers are walking the least to make these picks, let us call them locations X, then comes locations that are Y, they are Medium moving Locations, then come locations that are Z, they are the Slow Moving Locations, you want these locations far off from the shipping dock in the deep inside of the Warehouse/Distribution Center. So now locate all your Fast Moving SKUs with SKU Velocity A into X locations, then SKU Velocity B SKUs into Y Locations and SKU Velocity C SKUs into Z locations.

Do the same thing for Putaway as well.

Also there may be changing business scenarios and seasonal SKUs, you need to account for that. For Seasonals that are fast moving typically you cordon off a corner of the warehouse, locate everything there and then pick everything from there, you probably have to do this for a few months, let us say 2 to 3 months, then empty that space and use it for something else.

Also check out my book Puga Sankara's Supply Chain Blog - that is a must read before spending Hundreds & Thousands of $$$ on your MBA or Masters Degree to get the best ROI or before starting your Entrepreneurial journey.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Puga Sankara is the CEO and Founder of Smart Gladiator. Smart Gladiator is an ATDC Georgia Tech company, Smart Gladiator's award-winning product LoadProof (https://feature.loadproof.com/loadproof) is an Enterprise Photo Documentation System that is enjoying tremendous traction in the Supply Chain Community. LoadProof (https://feature.loadproof.com/loadproof) is a patent pending Centralized Cloud based Enterprise Photo Documentation System for Supply Chain. It is built on the premise that photos and videos are vital documentation serving as compelling proof of important operations performed in the supply chain within and across organizations. These operations may be related to fulfilling customer orders, meeting contractual obligations, or transferring merchandise across different parties taking part in the Supply Chain operations. LoadProof is as important for your organization as an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) which is an enterprise system of record for critical documents such as Purchase Orders, Sales Orders, Contracts between parties etc. that have tremendous legal ramifications, or a WMS (Warehouse Management System), that holds indispensable information related to orders shipment/fulfilment data. Just like Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat have evolved into platforms that enable individuals to showcase how pretty they or their clothes are, LoadProof is a similar Enterprise system of record that holds photos, not so much for show off, but to serve as compelling, unequivocal, thoroughly documented proof, even in the court of law when there is a dispute between organizations while they perform many facets of their functions/operations, as well as for increased visibility and transparency within the Supply Chain. The capabilities of LoadProof are discussed in detail in the next sections of the document below. LoadProof is live in 460+ Sites, 250+ corporates, 13 Countries.There are more testimonials in this link here also https://www.g2.com/products/loadproof/reviews. Learn more here on our YouTube channel,  https://youtube.com/@smartgladiatorloadproof  & also here in LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/smartgladiator/

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