AS/RS supports SKU proliferation in alcohol markets

AS/RS supports SKU proliferation in alcohol markets

By: Aaron Corcoran, Account Executive

Consumer trends, such as disposable income, an interest in premium beverages and health-conscious drink choices, are driving alcohol companies to develop new brands to keep up with demand. This creates a challenge for beverage distributors as they now have a greater number of SKUs to manage.

Aaron Corcoran, account executive, Westfalia Technologies, Inc., wrote an article published by Beverage Industry outlining the benefits of automated technology on SKU proliferation for beverage distributors. In the article, Corcoran describes the following scenario many beverage distributors face.

Situation:

• A distributor has 1,000 SKUs
• 200 of the 1,000 SKUs account for more than 80% of the volume that move out the door frequently
• 800 of the 1,000 SKUs account for slow-moving product sitting in the warehouse

Problem:

• What to do with the remaining slow-moving 800 SKUs taking up valuable space in the warehouse

Solution:

• Implement automation
• An automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) will target those top 200 SKUs while better managing the slow-moving SKUs and optimize that increases overall margins

With automation, distributors will be able to keep up with consumer demands, improve their inventory management and fulfill orders not matter the number of SKUs.

To read the full article and learn more about AS/RS supporting SKU proliferation, click here