Putaway & Storage

Decide where received stock goes so it is fast to find, safe to store, and easy to pick.

4 lessons 35 min 5-question assessment 70% to pass

What you’ll learn

Explain what putaway is and why it matters

Organise locations, aisles, and bins

Slot stock by how fast it moves

Record locations so stock is findable

Lesson 1 of 4 Reading 8 min

What putaway is

Putaway is the step after receiving: deciding where each received item physically goes and moving it there. It is the bridge between "stock arrived" and "stock is shelved and findable".

It matters because received stock that is dumped anywhere becomes invisible — on the books but lost in practice. Good putaway is what makes the next pick fast instead of a treasure hunt.

When a 500-unit delivery lands at your dock, putaway is the discipline of taking each SKU to its assigned home rather than stacking it in the receiving bay. Skip it and a picker later spends 10 minutes hunting for stock that is technically "in stock" — a hidden cost on every order.

Key takeaways

Putaway is moving received stock to its storage home.
It bridges receiving and findable, shelved stock.
Dumped stock is on the books but lost in practice.
Example: a 500-unit delivery must reach assigned homes, not the dock.

Lesson 2 of 4 Practice 9 min

Locations, aisles, and bins

A storage system gives every place a name — aisle, rack, shelf, bin — so a location like "A-03-B2" points to one exact spot. Stock is then stored to a location, not just to a building.

Named locations matter because "it is in the warehouse" is useless to a picker, while "A-03-B2" is a 10-second walk. Granular locations turn a big space into a quick lookup.

If your warehouse uses aisles A–F, racks 01–10, and bins A1–C3, then SKU TSH-BLU-L living at "B-04-A1" can be found instantly by anyone, even a new hire. Without that, staff rely on memory, and the moment a regular is off sick the stock effectively vanishes.

Key takeaways

Every place gets a name: aisle, rack, shelf, bin.
Stock is stored to a specific location, not just a building.
Granular locations turn space into a quick lookup.
Example: "B-04-A1" pinpoints one bin for any picker.

Lesson 3 of 4 Reading 9 min

Slotting by velocity

Slotting is choosing which stock goes where based on how fast it moves. Fast movers belong near the pick face and dispatch; slow movers can sit in far or high locations.

It matters because pickers walk most for fast movers, so placing those closest cuts total walking time dramatically. Velocity-based slotting is one of the cheapest ways to speed a warehouse.

If 20% of SKUs make 80% of picks (your A items), putting them in the front aisles near dispatch saves a few seconds on every single order. Across 300 orders a day those seconds become hours of saved labour, while the rarely-picked C items sit happily in the back where their distance barely matters.

Key takeaways

Slotting places stock by how fast it moves.
Fast movers go near the pick face and dispatch.
Pickers walk most for fast movers, so proximity saves time.
Example: front-slotting A items saves hours across 300 daily orders.

Lesson 4 of 4 Reading 9 min

Recording locations

The whole system only works if the location is recorded against the stock, so the system knows not just how many you have but exactly where. Putaway should update the location, every time.

Recording matters because an unrecorded move recreates the treasure hunt — stock that physically moved but whose location is stale is as lost as never having put it away. The record is the map.

If you move SKU TSH-BLU-L from "B-04-A1" to "C-02-A3" during a re-slot but never update the record, every future pick is sent to an empty bin while the stock sits elsewhere. Updating the location at putaway and at every move keeps the map true, so "60 units at C-02-A3" is a fact a picker can trust.

Key takeaways

Record the location against the stock, not just the quantity.
Putaway should update the location every time.
An unrecorded move makes stock effectively lost.
Example: a re-slot without an update sends pickers to an empty bin.

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Putaway & Storage

What you’ll learn

Course content

What putaway is

Locations, aisles, and bins

Slotting by velocity

Recording locations

Finished the material?

More in this path

Inventory Foundations

Warehouse & Locations

Units of Measure & Conversions

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