Distribution center technology provider, Lucas Systems, announced today its next generation of Dynamic Slotting, a warehouse game changer for providing in-the-moment reslotting decisions, thanks to the powerful use of AI.

With a few button pushes on an easy-to-use interface, Lucas Systems software will intelligently sift through an abundance of warehouse data to serve up optimal slotting recommendations. The results take minutes to generate, whereas traditional slotting analysis often takes months to complete using engineering resources or consultants.

Dynamic Slotting’s recommendations identify product moves that offer the biggest potential payback. Hundreds of parameters are taken into account including demand seasonality, item size, SKU velocity and costs. Its similarity detection prevents placing related items side by side to reduce picking errors.

Lucas Systems, which provides software to workers in more than 400 warehouses across four continents, says its Dynamic Slotting solution replaces what is typically a cumbersome, long and expensive process that is seldom done. Dynamic Slotting gives warehouse operators the ability to reslot every day, keeping warehouse slotting in optimal shape.

“This is a game changer for how the industry operates. Traditional slotting is fraught with challenges,” explains Lucas Systems CTO Scott Mullins. “Dynamic Slotting gives on-floor managers and supervisors the power to optimally reslot on the fly.”

The powerful technology in Lucas Systems’ AI-driven Dynamic Slotting applies machine-learning algorithms to recommend which products should be moved. It also learns the spatial characteristics of a warehouse and predicts task time based on activity-level data. The model then continues to ‘learn’, providing continuous optimization as conditions change.

“It’s the type of slotting that every supervisor or manager can use,” says Mullins. “This ease-of-use means reslotting can be done more often by those on the floor, which is key to overall optimization.”

Rotary Corporation, a global supplier of outdoor power equipment parts, has been partnering with Lucas Systems on its Dynamic Slotting solution.

“The ability to quickly and frequently make optimal slotting decisions is extremely impactful because it contributes to optimal picking efficiencies, cost savings, and meeting our customer promises,” says Rotary Corporation COO Donald Fountain. “If we are making those decisions in an agile way – dynamically – we are gaining the most efficiencies.”

Lucas Systems’ Dynamic Slotting promises 20-40% increase in throughput because it recommends best locations for inventory based on SKU velocity, SKU affinity, product/slot information, pick paths and other data. Specifically, it promises:

• Increase of 5-20% in productivity
• 10-20% labor cost savings
• 1-5% improvement in accuracy