Why locations matter
The products in your warehouse are stored on shelves, these are the physical locations. The number of locations varies depending on the warehouse. A small warehouse might have 100 locations, while a larger one could have up to 10,000.
You can streamline your warehouse process even more by using locations in Picqer. Locations show you realtime where a product is located. You can use Picqer without locations, but we recommend to use the feature. No warehouse is too small for this feature. Even in the mini-warehouse at our office, we use locations to always keep things organized.
Why use locations in Picqer?
You get real-time insight into your warehouse space and all your products without the need to step inside.
- See at a glance where products are, whether a location is free or occupied, and the history of products in each spot.
- Quickly search for specific product locations on shelves or racks, as well as deeper levels like bins or trays.
- If you run a fulfilment company, you can see how each customer is using locations. This can be useful for billing storage use.
Everyone can pick orders on their own without having to search or memorize where products are. The software tells pickers exactly where to go and ensures they grab the right items from the shelves.
- New employees can start quickly without lengthy training.
- Experienced staff can stay efficient even during busy periods.
- Picking is almost error-free, because products are taken based on location numbers, not appearance.
Because of location-numbers, picklists are arranged in the right order to automatically calculate optimal walking routes.
- Pickers only walk the distance they need to, without backtracking or crossing the warehouse unnecessarily, saving valuable time.
- You can even create routes for part of your warehouse. Picqer creates batches for picklists with products that are located close to each other in the warehouse.
Your warehouse stays flexible, because physical locations are the foundation of your warehouse processes. You no longer need to organize your warehouse by supplier or product type to find items.
- If your assortment changes seasonally, you can easily move products around, even during operations. Since the software knows where everything is, you don’t need to inform your staff of the changes.
- By default, a product stays linked to a location until you unlink it. For temporary locations, the product and location are automatically unlinked when stock reaches zero.
- You can change categories, grow your business, and maintain quality, all without hassle.
When you streamline your warehouse with locations, the process becomes easy to understand for everyone. A good example is IKEA’s self-service warehouse. Even if you’ve never been there, the setup, labels, and step-by-step instructions make it simple to grab the right products from the shelves yourself.
How long does it take to set up locations?
Setting up location management for the first time takes some work. Most warehouses spend at least a day on it. If you also need to number all the physical locations, plan for about a week. You don’t need to stop your workflow: keep products in their original spots, number the locations, then link everything in Picqer. It’s definitely worth taking the time, because you’ll see the benefits every day.
