A location naming scheme that scales

Your location codes quietly decide how fast your warehouse runs. A good scheme routes pickers efficiently; a messy one slows every pick.

The pattern

Use a fixed, segmented code — most warehouses do well with three parts:

[Aisle]-[Bay]-[Level]
A-03-B   →  Aisle A, Bay 03, Level B

The rules that matter

• Zero-pad numbers — 03, not 3. Otherwise 10 sorts before 2 and pick paths go wrong.
• Be consistent — every location, same number of segments, same separator.
• Keep it human-readable — staff should be able to read A-03-B and walk to it without a scanner.
• Leave room — a scheme that already allows for Aisle Z and Bay 99 won’t need re-doing when you expand.

Why it pays off

Klovio sorts pick lists by location code. With a clean, sortable scheme, “sorted by location” is “sorted by walking order” — pickers move in one efficient sweep instead of doubling back.

Adding location types

Layer a type onto the code if it helps — STG-01 for staging, RCV for the receiving area. See Location types: pick, bulk, staging.

Tip: pick the scheme before you create locations in bulk. Renaming a hundred bins later — and re-printing all their labels — is a job nobody enjoys.