Warehouse Slotting Worksheet
Slotting decides where each item lives, and it quietly drives pick rate, travel and replenishment workload. This worksheet sizes the slot each SKU needs from its velocity, cube and days of supply so you can compare against the location sizes you actually have.
| SKU | Assigned zone | Picks per day | Avg units per pick | Cube per unit (cu ft) | Days of supply in slot | Units per day | Cube per day | Slot cube needed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
360 | 18 | 36 | |||||||
380 | 45.6 | 136.8 | |||||||
40 | 32 | 128 | |||||||
66 | 26.4 | 132 | |||||||
4 | 26 | 260 | |||||||
3 | 27 | 378 |
Rank rows by picks per day, then assign the highest-velocity items to the most ergonomic, closest locations. Re-run slotting at least quarterly or after a major product mix change.
Get slotting suggestions from your history
Optional: discuss producing a slotting recommendation from ERP or WMS pick history.
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How to use it
List your SKUs with the average picks per day, average units per pick, cube per unit and the days of supply you want to hold in the pick face. The sheet computes units per day, cube per day and the cube the slot must hold. Then sort or review by picks per day, and assign the busiest items to the golden zone, usually waist to shoulder height near the pack or dock end, and slower items to higher or deeper locations.
- Use at least 8 to 12 weeks of pick history
- Treat seasonal items separately
- Use net cube including packaging
- Keep heavy and fragile rules in mind
The slotting logic
Velocity slotting ranks items by pick frequency so the items with the most touches have the shortest walks. Cube-per-order index and pick-density approaches refine this by also considering size. Days of supply controls replenishment: a slot holding two days of demand is replenished often but keeps the pick face compact, while ten days reduces replenishment but uses more premium space. Slot cube needed equals daily cube times days of supply, plus an allowance because slots are never filled perfectly.
Reading the result
Compare slot cube needed with the available cube of the candidate location, such as a carton flow lane, shelf bay or pallet face. Items whose need exceeds the slot will starve the picker; items far below it waste space. Total slot cube against your forward pick capacity shows how much of your demand can really sit in the fast area. If most picks come from a few SKUs, protect those locations and consider replenishment triggers by min and max quantity.
Common mistakes
Slotting once and never revisiting is the usual issue; assortments and seasons change. Another is optimising for picking alone and forgetting replenishment, which can double-handle fast items. Co-pick affinity also matters: parts ordered together should often be near each other. In SAP EWM, Oracle WMS, Infor and Epicor warehouses, storage type and bin definitions limit what you can assign, so check configuration capacity before moving stock. Move in waves, off peak, with counts to confirm.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is warehouse slotting?
Slotting is the process of assigning each product to a storage location based on velocity, size, weight and handling rules, so the most frequently picked items are the easiest to reach and replenishment stays efficient.
What is the golden zone?
The golden zone is the set of pick locations between roughly knee and shoulder height that are easiest and fastest to reach, usually close to the pack or dock area. Fast movers belong here.
How often should I re-slot?
Review quarterly for most operations and more often with strong seasonality or frequent new products. Smaller adjustments can be made weekly based on velocity changes, but each move has a labor cost.
How much days of supply should a pick face hold?
Enough to avoid replenishment during a pick wave, usually one to five days for fast movers, balanced against slot size. Slow movers can hold more because they take little space per pick.
If velocity data already exists in your ERP transaction history, Netray can help turn it into a repeatable slotting recommendation your team reviews before any move.
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