This article addresses several critical components of making sure the layout of your warehouse is efficient and labeled accordingly so your team and processes run smoothly. This article covers:
- Developing a Naming Scheme for Warehouse Locations
- Labeling the Locations on Your Racks and Shelving
- Best Practices for Warehouse Location Labeling
Once you define the areas of your warehouse and develop how you want to name and label your racking systems, you can move on to creating locations in ShipHero and assigning different properties to your locations in the system. By default, new accounts are created with dynamic slotting enabled, please review this article to learn more about Creating Locations in a Dynamic Slotting Account. If you are using static slotting, please reference this article.
Developing a Naming Scheme for Your Warehouse Locations
The most important part about setting up locations in a warehouse is to have a naming scheme that will optimize the path a picker is sent and for it to be consistent throughout the warehouse. The typical naming scheme follows this pattern: Zone-Aisle-Rack-Shelf-Bin.
Zones- A section or area within a warehouse that’s separated from one another based on attributes such as package types, sales velocity, or warehouse activities. For example, Zone 1 may be used for your pallet/overstock and large item locations that may require a forklift or other means to access, whereas Zone 2 is used for smaller bin locations that a person can easily pick during order fulfillment.
Aisles-Parallel rows of products. The space between these rows will depend on many factors, like the type of products you sell, their sizes, or the equipment needed to pick these items.
Racks- The racks, also known as bays, are the individual shelving units within a row. The rack is part of the naming scheme to identify where the picker must stop in the aisle.
Shelves- Shelves are the different levels of a rack. The shelf is the third part of the naming scheme that indicates a bin's level.
Bin- A bin is the position on a shelf or rack where the products are physically stored.
As shown in the example below, if an item is at Location 1-A-03-B-03, it’s in Zone 1, Aisle A, Rack 03, Shelf B, and Bin 03.
Labeling the Locations on Your Racks and Shelving
There are two main types of rack labeling: serpentine and standard. Most experts favor the serpentine system because it is more organized and efficient. With a picklist in order by location, pickers can weave up and down the aisle and collect products for several orders without double backing or skipping around. This means less time spent walking and more time spent picking!
The space available between shelving units will determine if you will have a one-directional walking path or a "two-lane" aisle. If the walking path is large enough for a two-lane aisle, the row of racking units will determine the aisle name instead of the walking path, as shown by the BLUE path in the image below.
If it is a one-way path, the walking path will be used as the indicator of the aisle name instead of the racking units. Using this method, it is recommended to label the racking with odd racks on one side and even racks labeled on the other. This labeling pattern will give the picker a "zig-zag" selection path as they go down the aisle, as shown by the RED path in the image below.
Best Practices for Warehouse Location Labeling
- The shelves should be numbered from the bottom up. If you change the height of your shelves as you grow, you won’t have to re-label them.
- When setting up alphanumeric locations, it is best practice to use a zero in all numbers less than ten (i.e., 01, 02, 03, etc.). This will allow the system to read the locations alphanumerically and accurately and allow room for scaling needs.
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Be consistent. Bin locations should always have a consistent format and length to sort correctly.
- Example: You can use A-1-1 and A-1-2, or you can use A-01-01 and A-01-02. However, it would be best not to mix A-1-1 and A-1-02.