Storage Location optimization
Assign the most popular items to the most easily accessed locations in the warehouse.
A minority of the fast movers) in a warehouse generate a items(the A's or majority of the picking activity. We prefer that most of the picking activity take place in the picking locations that are easiest to pick from and yield the highest picking productivity(the golden zones). Hence, to maximize ing productivity and to minimize picking costs, the A items should be assigned to locations in the golden zone.
The location of the golden zone for a particular warehouse depends on many factors, including the location of shipping docks, order profiles, and the design of picking tours. For a pallet storage/retrieval system, the golden zone is often comprised of the 20 percent of the storage locations nearest the floor and near the shipping dock. For an item picking system with long pick- ing tours, the golden zone is often comprised of the 20 percent of the stor- age locations nearest the waist level of the operator(see Figure 8-30).