A fixed position when storing goods or materials means that each item has a fixed place in the warehouse. The advantage of this strategy is that the warehouse looks clean and organized, does not require high management demands, simplifies the fulfillment of internal health and safety guidelines and makes the work easier for more experienced warehouse workers who already know the positions of the goods "by heart". On the other hand, with this strategy, you do not use the full capacity of your warehouse, because many positions remain unoccupied due to reservations.
What is a fixed position?
When using a fixed position strategy, each type of item in the warehouse has its own fixed location . This means that once a product or material arrives at the receiving station, warehouse workers have only one option (or a few options) where to store it. Furthermore, the location is always available because it is permanently blocked for that type of item.
This strategy is particularly suitable for companies
- with a relatively stable and low-turnover assortment,
- rather with a lower number of items of goods,
- with a more or less constant stock for each item,
- which goods are most often removed manually (but can also be removed using handling equipment),
- selling goods that require special storage conditions (food, medicines, temperature-controlled foods, etc.).
- storing items that require special treatment (flammables, explosives, chemicals, etc.)
On the other hand, the strategy is not very suitable for companies and e-shops with fast-moving goods.
Advantages of a fixed position strategy
The fixed position strategy significantly reduces the demands on warehouse management . The warehouse manager or logistics manager initially only designs an optimal inventory distribution system and then uses this system over the long term. More experienced warehouse workers know exactly where to store which goods, and there is not much room for human error because the system constantly checks the prescribed positions.
Furthermore, this strategy facilitates the picking of goods, as a more experienced warehouse worker can practically "blindly" find the goods that he picks up most often and whose position he already knows well.
A fixed position also allows targeted storage of goods by weight so that heavy items are placed on lower shelves, while light items are placed in higher positions (= simplifies the application of internal health and safety regulations), or so that the best-selling goods are stored closer to the checkout.
In addition, a warehouse using a fixed position strategy looks cleaner and more organized than, for example, chaotic storage.
Disadvantages of the fixed position strategy
The fixed position strategy leads to lower efficiency of warehouse utilization . Warehouse workers cannot store goods that currently have all of their “positions” filled, even if there is otherwise enough free space in the warehouse. This is because it is blocked for goods that are not in stock and may not be in stock for a long time. When planning fixed positions, it is also necessary to allocate as much space for each type of goods as corresponds to the full stock level – even if the full stock level is rather exceptional.
When designing a fixed position strategy, warehouse managers usually design organized warehouses, where typologically similar goods are close to each other . In practice, the warehouse can be seen in long shelves, for example with refrigerators, always sorted by type, size, color, etc. This method of storage leads to the fact that the warehouse worker has to find the right one among a number of similar products, which tends to result in a higher error rate .
The fixed position strategy also makes it difficult and lengthy to train new warehouse workers, who have to learn for several months before they can navigate the warehouse and walk confidently. Until then, they are “mushrooming”, walk unnecessary extra kilometers and are not as efficient . However, this problem can be solved by implementing a warehouse management system (WMS).
Interested in other warehousing strategies? Download our whitepaper , where we describe and discuss them all.
Are you dealing with invoice approval?
30 minutes, no obligation. We will show you how iNVOiCE FLOW fits into your ERP.
