From Chaos to Control: How Smarter Storage Systems Improve Picking Speed and Accuracy

Messy storage doesn’t just look bad, but it also costs you money every day. When inventory is scattered, labels are unclear, and aisles turn into obstacle courses, picking slows down, mistakes go up, and your team gets frustrated. Then the real damage hits, including late orders, returns, and customers who don’t come back.

That’s why picking speed and accuracy matter more than almost anything in a warehouse. If you can pick fast and pick right, everything downstream gets easier. In this post, we’ll break down the storage fixes that make that happen. These include simple layout changes, smarter slotting, clearer locations, and system upgrades that turn chaos into a repeatable, reliable flow.

Start With the Storage Foundation

If picking feels slow, messy, or error-prone, the issue usually starts long before someone reaches for a product. It starts with storage. When storage design is unclear or inconsistent, pickers spend their time walking, searching, second-guessing, and backtracking.

That’s why storage is the root cause of most picking problems. It controls your flow, your visibility, and how many decisions a person has to make just to complete one order.

This is where Steelspan Storage Systems fits naturally. A structured, scalable storage setup creates clear pick paths, consistent locations, and a layout that still works when your SKU count grows. Instead of constantly “making room” or shifting stock around, you get a system that supports repeatable work. As a result, speed and accuracy improve without burning out your team.

You can usually tell when the foundation is broken. Pickers start zigzagging across the floor to finish a single order. Similar SKUs end up stored too close together, which is a recipe for mis-picks.

Overflow inventory creeps into aisles, turning walkways into obstacles. And worst of all, the warehouse starts running on tribal knowledge, where only a few people know where things really are. Fix the storage foundation first, and everything else gets easier.

Speed vs Accuracy: Why You Can’t Fix One Without the Other

Trying to “speed up picking” without maintaining accuracy is how warehouses end up with more returns and more rework. When you push for faster picks in a messy system, people start guessing. They grab similar SKUs, skip checks, and rush labels.

Speed may improve briefly, but errors increase fast. Research on picker-to-parts warehouses shows travel time alone can account for around 50% of picking time, so the real fix is usually the system, not the pace.

The goal is simple: build a repeatable workflow that reduces decisions at the shelf. Clear locations, logical slotting, and a clean pick path all help make the right pick the easy pick.

To keep both speed and accuracy in check, measure:

●         Picks per hour (productivity)

●         Pick error rate (quality)

●         Travel time per order/distance traveled (efficiency driver)

●         Re-picks and returns caused by wrong items (real cost of errors)

The Layout Fix: Reduce Travel Time First

If your warehouse feels busy but output still isn’t great, travel time is usually the silent culprit. In most picker-to-parts setups, walking and searching eat up a huge chunk of the shift. Often, it’s the largest portion of order-picking time. Reducing travel is the fastest way to boost productivity without pushing people harder.

Start with layout basics. Create clear pick aisles and, if your space allows, a simple one-way flow so pickers aren’t weaving around each other. Then move your fast movers closer to the packing and shipping area. Slotting your highest-volume SKUs in the golden zone near dispatch cuts steps on every order.

Next, eliminate friction: avoid dead ends, fix narrow choke points, and keep walkways clean. Those small bottlenecks cause big delays when multiple pickers are working. If you can, separate replenishment routes from picking routes. Mixing forklifts, restocking, and picking in the same lanes slows everyone down and increases safety risk.

Slotting Strategy: Put the Right Products in the Right Places

Slotting is basically putting products where they make the most sense, and it’s one of the fastest ways to improve picking without changing your team.

A simple starting point is the ABC analysis: A-items are your fast movers, B-items move steadily, and C-items are slow movers. The goal is to place A-items where they’re easiest to reach, so pickers aren’t walking past slow stock all day.

Poor slotting also creates mistakes. When look-alike SKUs sit side by side, or items are mixed in bins, people start guessing, especially during busy shifts. Confusing locations and inconsistent bin sizes make it worse because pickers can’t rely on muscle memory.

Better slotting is straightforward, but it takes discipline. Group items that are often ordered together, separate similar packaging so it’s harder to grab the wrong thing, and standardize bin sizes with dividers to keep products from mixing. Finally, reserve the golden zone (waist-to-shoulder height) for fast movers so the highest-volume picks are also the easiest.

Storage System Upgrades That Make Picking Easier

Picking gets easier when your storage matches what you’re actually picking. Shelving usually beats pallet racking for small items, split cases, and hand-picks because everything is visible and reachable. Pallet racking makes more sense when you’re storing full pallets, heavy loads, or reserve stock that needs forklift access. The mistake is forcing one system to do every job.

Once the right base is in place, small upgrades create big gains. Bin systems and dividers prevent product mix-ups, reducing mis-picks and hunt time. Adjustable bays help when SKU sizes change, so you’re not constantly rearranging or wasting space. Clear labeling of rails and location IDs reduces guesswork and speeds up staff training.

If you’re running out of room, look up before you move out. Mezzanines and vertical storage let you make use of your building’s height, increasing capacity without expanding your footprint. In many cases, expanding storage density is cheaper and faster than expanding the building.

Fix the System, Not the Pace

Picking gets faster and cleaner when storage does the heavy lifting. Clear paths, smart slotting, and consistent locations reduce walking, guessing, and rework. Don’t chase speed by pushing people harder. Build a setup that makes the right pick the easy pick. That’s how chaos turns into control.