Golden zone

The golden zone is the part of a rack that a picker can reach without bending down or stretching up: roughly the band between waist and shoulder height, at the front of the pick face. Storing the articles that are picked most often there means less bending, less reaching and a quicker, safer pick. Articles that are picked rarely, or that are heavy or awkward, go lower or higher. That easy-reach band is called the golden zone.

The golden zone is one of the decisions slotting makes. Besides how close an article sits to dispatch, slotting settles at what height it sits: the fastest movers earn the easy-reach band, heavy items belong low where they can be lifted without a stretch, and light articles that are rarely picked can go high.

The band is not a fixed number of centimetres. It depends on the people picking, on the equipment, and on whether they pick from the floor or from a platform. To find it in your own warehouse, watch where pickers reach without changing posture, and start there.