The tile-matching video game Tetris challenged adolescents in the 1980s and beyond in a race against the clock to position various geometric shapes in order to eliminate rows of tiles before the game screen fills up. Although beverage warehouses don’t have products falling from the sky, personnel still are tasked with positioning and retrieving a vast inventory for an industry that continues to see a growing number of SKUs.
“SKU proliferation has made warehouse operations much more complex,” says Mark Wheeler, warehouse vertical practice lead for Zebra Technologies, Lincolnshire, Ill. “This trend is having a massive impact on warehouses working with the beverage industry. Think about all of the traditional soda labels and then add in diet, flavored and classic varieties. Now, add to that all of the various juices and varieties of water including flavored and sparkling as well as niche beverages like energy drinks and what used to be a simple set of SKUs a decade ago is now an entire category managed by an account manager.”