How you fill your Pio grid the first time has an impact on picking efficiency, bin utilization, and the overall daily workflows.
The best practices listed below are recommendations you can take into account when storing products in the grid for the first time.
Low-runners first, high-runners last
Start by storing the low‑volume SKUs. This ensures that high‑runners (the items your grid will retrieve most frequently) are added to the bins in the upper layers in the grid.
Match SKU sales volume within compartments
When possible, SKUs with similar sales volumes should be stored in the same compartment types. This supports smoother bin usage and ensures that heavily picked SKUs don’t block slower ones within shared compartments.
Stage products before storing
To avoid poor bin fill rates, make sure to unpack and stage SKUs of the same size before you begin scanning items into the bins.
This prevents situations where half a compartment is filled with a SKU, only for a new box of the same SKU to appear afterward, fragmenting storage unnecessarily.
Sort by compartment type in advance
Before starting the put‑away, sort the products by the compartment type they require, for example, full bin vs. 2‑compartments.
Store in the same bin layout across ports
Store products in the same compartment type across all ports. This makes it possible for all robots to fetch the same bin layouts and deliver across the different ports, and will enhance the put-away performance.
Use multiple small compartments for popular SKUs
For high‑runners, consider spreading stock across multiple smaller bin compartments to maximize availability and reduce retrieval time. Having the same product available in multiple compartments will also help avoid the same bin being queued for all ports