“SKU proliferation is the largest change the industry has seen in the last decade,” says Aaron Corcoran, account executive for Westfalia Technologies Inc., York, Pa. “While beverage growth only averages 1 percent per year, SKUs have increased 100 percent, with warehouses going from 300 to 400 SKUs to 1,200 to 1,500 and growing.”
Although new products can be a benefit for sales, they also pose multiple challenges in managing and storing the inventory, Corcoran notes. “More SKUs must be accounted for in many ways: number of total storage positions needed, inventory levels become more dynamic, manual pick areas grow larger and more complex, replenishment tasks have become a larger burden on warehouse manpower, etc.,” he explains.