Warehouse Putaway Guide
To avoid inventory management disasters and ensure great efficiency and accuracy in inbound and outbound logistics, consider investing in warehouse putaway. By intelligently moving inventory to an optimal warehouse location, you unlock leaner warehouse management.
In this article, we’ll shed light on everything warehouse putaway – from the different putaway strategies, their benefits, and how a 3PL can help improve warehouse inventory management.
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What is warehouse putaway?
Putaway in warehouse is a crucial aspect of warehouse management, which involves several processes starting with warehouse receiving and ending with ensuring that inventory is stored in the right warehouse locations. But, it is much more than just moving the inventory from point A to point B.
With a strategic warehouse putaway system in place, it becomes so much more efficient and straightforward to store inventory without misplacing any SKUs. This process also improves warehouse tidiness and makes it easier for pickers to find the right SKU quickly.
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Types of warehouse putaway
It may seem like a simple process, but warehouse putaway (from dock to stock) needs to be well-thought-out as it is a crucial aspect of warehousing.
Depending on the type, volume, and variety of physical inventory and other unique features of your business, you could choose from these three different types of warehouse putaway:
Dynamic putaway
Do you have a homogenous product mix? Are they similar in size, weight, and other physical characteristics? Then, choose a dynamic putaway to make the stock retrieval and storage easy. It involves making decisions in real-time about where to store incoming inventory while prioritizing demand management.
As goods enter the warehouse, depending on their sales volumes, they must be stored in the most convenient locations for fast pickup.
On the flip side, since the goods are stored in different locations every time, it is more difficult to keep track of them without a robust tech-powered ERP like warehouse management software.
Direct putaway
The moment goods reach your warehouse, with direct putaway the goal is to ready it for dispatch/transportation to its final location within the warehouse, without spending time in temporary storage locations. This reduces unnecessary movement and handling of the goods.
Here too, it is essential to have a real-time use of a warehouse management system to help identify the products which should be putaway and their destination.
Note: The logistical procedure of cross docking completely circumvents putaway and warehouse picking processes. Goods are received and immediately transferred to the outgoing trucks.
Fixed-location putaway
This process is ideal for retailers who have many varieties of goods that need to be stocked in the warehouse, and want them to be retrieved easily.
Each category of goods is assigned a specific warehouse space that is conducive to storing them.
For example, frozen food will always be stored in a temperature-controlled storage area. And heavier goods will be placed in the lower warehouse racks, while the lighter goods can be stored on the higher shelves.
Benefits of warehouse putaway
When done right, warehouse putaway will help you improve different aspects of SKU managementfrom inventory tracking to storage, and picking. On that note, let’s deep-dive into the different benefits of warehouse putaway.
Reduces the chance of lost or misplaced items
If you have a stringent process in place to put away the restocked inventory it becomes easier to stay on top of where each SKU is located. Knowing the inventory position not only improves inventory accuracy but also helps you avoid instances of misplaced or pilferaged SKUs.
Since the putaway process encourages the warehouse workers to account for each SKU, you can also track the source of any inventory discrepancies.
It can speed up the picking process
If your top-selling items are stocked in locations that are easy for the picker to access, it will speed up the picking process. It also helps to know exactly where each SKU is located. This, in turn, shortens the order cycle time and with faster deliveries, customer delight is guaranteed.
Effective use of storage space
Do you constantly struggle with storage availability? An organised putaway strategy will help you decide the best ways to use your warehouse setup to save space and reduce inventory carry costs. It also helps you maintain a clean and organised warehouse.
Efficient putaway and slotting also bolster warehouse safety and integrity of the stock by ensuring that goods get stored in appropriate locations.
Warehouse putaway best practices
If you don’t have a putaway process yet, it’s time to include it into your inventory strategy. Here are some best practices that will help you improve the overall efficiency and warehouse operations.
Create a timeline
Warehouses tend to be beehives of activity. The moment goods are replenished, they need to be speedily putaway to enable friction-free customer order fulfilment.
Clear directions and timelines need to be shared with every employee on the putaway process so that there is no warehouse floor congestion, delayed shipments, or inefficient use of warehouse capacity.
Track all items
It is foolhardy to expect warehouse staff to manually track the location of each SKU in their brains. This is why you need an inventory scanner and digital warehousing technologies that support SKU tracking.
As and when inventory is received, barcode scanned and putaway, you will get real time inventory updates of the SKU count, condition and location. This makes it easy and quick to find and dispatch the right items, whenever an order is placed by customers.
Reduce travelling time
Minimise the distance from the receiving dock to the final warehouse storage location. Doing so will optimise the put away process. So, every time new goods are received it will reach your storage quickly and this will mean that they are also ready for order picking immediately.
How ShipBob can help you improve your warehouse putaway process
ShipBob helps ecommerce retailers improve their putaway and other warehousing processes with tech-enabled solutions.
Thanks to our warehouse and distribution services, it becomes really easy to track warehouse KPIs and fast-track the putaway process. This improves the inventory optimisation capabilities of your business.
Our clients also get access to our network of fully-operational distribution centres, with manpower, forklifts, pallets, etc.
This combination of technology, support, and a growing fulfilment distribution network helps retail companies scale. We also offer the option of in-house order fulfilment with ShipBob WMS, our very own warehouse management solution.
Get started with ShipBob WMS
If you’re interested in using our robust warehouse management solution in your warehouse, connect with our team to learn more about implementing the ShipBob WMS.
Warehouse putaway FAQs
What is warehouse putaway?
In ecommerce warehousing, putaway is the process of transporting the goods and storing them efficiently once they are received.
What is warehouse replenishment?
Even before your warehouse stock runs out, you want to be prepared to reorder inventory. To know what quantities to mention in your PO to the supplier, you may use the Reorder quantity formula.
Inventory replenishment is more frequently performed by retailers whose turnover rate is high.
What is the difference between putaway and storage?
Putaway includes all the processes between warehouse receiving, transportation, and ensuring that inventory is stored in the right locations. Storage is only the last step in the putaway process.
What is a putaway plan?
A putaway plan helps you optimise warehouse space, resources and product quality. To know how much resources, and space will be required for the putaway, you need to take into account expected receiving and current backlog using an inventory storage system.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of warehouse putaway?
Warehouse putaway reduces the need for warehouse audit and improves stock availability. It also speeds up the picking process, reduces instances of stock discrepancies, and optimises warehouse space.
On the downside, putaway can be time and effort consuming if executed manually. This is why most growing retailers rely on smart warehousing technologies.
How does warehouse putaway help the warehouse manager?
Efficient putaway reduces the need for regular warehouse inspection. And it also improves the warehouse safety and fulfilment speeds.
What are the steps in warehouse putaway?
During putaway, here are some of the most common steps followed by warehouse staff:
- Accept the transfer order
- Identify and conduct a quality check on the article
- Transport the article to the relevant storage space
- Label and store it in the relevant rack
Meredith Flora
Meredith is a Content Marketing Specialist at ShipBob, where she writes articles, eGuides, and other resources to help growing ecommerce businesses master their logistics and fulfilment.
Read all posts written by Meredith Flora
