A modern warehouse management system should provide exact direction for
put away. Goods should be placed in the best locations to facilitate picking (see
profiling/slotting discussion later), and they should be placed in warehouse locations
to minimize the travel distance and time of distribution center personnel.
Best practice distribution centers put away product quickly. Companies should
measure “dock to stock” time to help facilitate this process. Slow put away
negatively affects space, causes congestion, increases transaction errors, and
makes product more susceptible to damage. The most efficient DCs move
product directly from receipt to the final location. Direct put-away programs
require a good warehouse management system that can assign locations from
an advanced shipping notice or upon receipt to the dock.
Best practice companies also use integrated engineering standards in their
warehouse management system (WMS) and pick locations and replenishment
areas so that an optimal put-away route from receiving to storage areas can
be selected. Many WMS programs also support task interleaving so that putaway
and picking operations can be performed in tandem to greatly reduce
nonproductive travel time.