{"id":36084,"date":"2026-11-11T08:31:54","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T08:31:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/claruswms.ai\/storage-process-in-warehouse\/"},"modified":"2026-11-11T14:02:56","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T14:02:56","slug":"storage-process-in-warehouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/claruswms.ai\/nl\/storage-process-in-warehouse\/","title":{"rendered":"Storage Process in a Warehouse: A Step-by-Step Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

The storage process in a warehouse is everything that happens between goods passing their receiving checks and being called forward for picking: putaway, assigning a location, holding the stock in the right conditions and keeping it in rotation so the oldest or shortest-dated units leave first. Get it right and pickers find stock first time, nothing expires at the back of a rack and the system count matches the shelf. Warehouse storage is often treated as the quiet part of the operation, but most picking delays, write-offs and stock discrepancies start here. Equipment suppliers such as Manutan group warehouse storage into shelving, racking, automated systems and specialist storage<\/a>, and choosing between them depends on what you hold, how fast it turns and how much space you have.<\/p>\n

What is the storage process in a warehouse?<\/h2>\n

Warehouse storage is the controlled holding of goods in a known location, in suitable conditions, until they’re needed for an order. The storage process is the set of steps that makes that control real. It sits between the goods-in procedure<\/a> and picking, and it usually runs in five stages:<\/p>\n

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  1. Putaway:<\/strong> moving received stock from the goods-in area to a storage location.<\/li>\n
  2. Location assignment:<\/strong> deciding which location that stock goes to, and recording it.<\/li>\n
  3. Holding in the right conditions:<\/strong> ambient, chilled, frozen, segregated or quarantined as the product needs.<\/li>\n
  4. Rotation and replenishment:<\/strong> keeping stock moving in the right order and topping up pick faces from reserve.<\/li>\n
  5. Checking:<\/strong> counting and inspecting so the records and the racking both stay trustworthy.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Health and safety sits under all five. The HSE’s guide HSG76, Warehousing and storage: a guide to health and safety<\/a>, written with the Warehousing Health and Safety Forum, covers mechanical handling, site transport and working at height, all of which are part of every putaway. Racking choice matters too. SEC Group’s guide to warehouse storage systems<\/a> sets out how wide aisle, very narrow aisle, double deep, drive-in and pallet live racking each trade density against access.<\/p>\n

    The warehouse storage process at a glance<\/h2>\n

    The table below breaks the storage process into its stages, what the system should record at each one and the failure you see most often when it’s skipped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Stage<\/th>\nWhat happens<\/th>\nWhat the WMS should record<\/th>\nCommon failure<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
    Opbergen<\/td>\nStock moves from goods-in to a location<\/td>\nPallet ID, product, quantity, location scanned<\/td>\nPallets left in the dock area for days<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Location assignment<\/td>\nA location is chosen for each pallet or carton<\/td>\nLocation code, zone and any product group rules<\/td>\nStock put “wherever there’s a gap”<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Storage conditions<\/td>\nStock held ambient, chilled, frozen or segregated<\/td>\nZone or group the location belongs to<\/td>\nIncompatible products stored together<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Rotation<\/td>\nOldest or shortest-dated stock is allocated first<\/td>\nReceipt timestamp, batch and expiry dates<\/td>\nOldest pallet buried at the back of a bulk stack<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Replenishment<\/td>\nReserve stock tops up pick faces<\/td>\nTransfer task from reserve to pick face<\/td>\nPickers going up in the air for full pallets<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Checking<\/td>\nCycle counts and racking inspections<\/td>\nCount results and variances by location<\/td>\nSystem stock no longer matches the shelf<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    Read it left to right. If the right-hand column describes your warehouse, the fix is almost always in the third column: the information wasn’t captured at the moment the stock moved.<\/p>\n

    Step 1: Putaway, the start of the storage process in a warehouse<\/h2>\n

    Putaway is the step that turns received stock into available stock. Until a pallet is scanned into a location, it can’t be allocated to an order with confidence, and every hour it sits in the goods-in area blocks the space you need for the next delivery.<\/p>\n

    There are three common putaway methods:<\/p>\n