Glossary
Putaway strategy
A putaway strategy is the rule that decides where received goods go: to a pick face that is low, to bulk near their pick face, or to a hold bay because something is wrong with them.
What it is
A putaway strategy answers one question for every pallet that leaves the dock: where does it go. The simplest answer is “any empty bay”. The useful answers consider what the goods are, what condition they are in, where they will be picked from, and how full that place already is.
Why it matters
Putaway is the last moment the goods are in one place with a person and a scanner. A good destination now saves a walk on every pick later; a bad one costs a walk every time. And putaway is where condition gets locked in: a damaged case put on a sellable shelf becomes an overselling incident in a month.
A worked example
A receipt of 60 cases of a hoodie arrives. The pick face for that hoodie holds 2 cases and its minimum is 6. The strategy sends 4 cases to the pick face and 56 to a bulk bay in the same aisle. One case is crushed; it goes to the damaged bay and the damaged bucket. The receipt is closed with three destinations and three ledger rows, and the picker tomorrow finds the pick face full.
How DockingWare does it
DockingWare separates received-on-dock stock from sellable stock, so nothing counts as available until putaway confirms a location. Locations carry a zone, and the zone decides the bucket: pick face to on hand, bulk to storage, damaged and quarantine to their own. Putaway tasks are suggested from the receipt and confirmed on the handheld by scanning the bay, and replenishment min and max levels per pick face decide what moves forward afterwards.
Questions
- What is directed putaway?
- The system proposes the destination and the operator confirms it by scanning the bay. The opposite is operator-chosen putaway, where the person picks any open slot and tells the system afterwards.
- Should received goods go straight to the pick face?
- Only when the pick face is below its minimum. Otherwise they go to bulk and replenishment brings them forward later. Filling a pick face with a full pallet blocks the slot.
- Where do damaged goods go at receiving?
- To a damaged or quarantine location, and to the matching stock bucket, so they are never counted as sellable. The strategy has to know about condition, not only about space.