The Sweet Slot: What Your Kitchen Can Teach You About Warehouse Productivity

stevehopper5
Jan 22
5 min read

Issue #004 – January 21, 2026

In This Issue (tl;dr):

Your warehouse probably leaks productivity for the same reason your dinner would take forever if you kept your spoons in your garage: stuff isn’t where it should be. This issue explains “sweet slotting” (putting fast movers in the easiest-to-pick locations); why it’s usually one of the lowest-risk, fastest-payback improvements; and how to start with a simple, data-driven slotting refresh.

Chances are, I’ve probably never been in your kitchen.

And chances are, I probably never will be.

But I’m willing to bet your kitchen is arranged in a way that makes basic tasks easier:

Glasses are near the fridge.
Pots and pans are near the stove.
Paper towels are within arm’s reach of the sink.
Spices are close to where the seasoning happens.

Am I getting warm?

Let’s continue:

The fondue pot, ice-cream maker, and turkey roaster are somewhere else in your house, or at least on the top shelf.

Your kitchen didn’t get this way because you hired a consultant or launched a six-month project.

It probably happened because you got annoyed enough times to move the things that slowed you down.

In supply chain terms, that’s warehouse efficiency.

Inviscid Man calls it “the sweet slot.” (He also calls his cape “PPE,” but I digress.)

Your Kitchen is a Mini Warehouse

Think about what happens in your kitchen on a normal day:

You receive inventory (groceries).
You put away inventory (pantry, fridge, freezer).
You pick for an order (dinner).
You assemble the order (cook).
You “ship” to the customer (your family).

Congratulations. You’re running a warehouse.

Now imagine a few minor tweaks:

Your plates are in the attic.
Your silverware is on the top shelf.
Your spices are in the garage.
Your can opener is “somewhere in overflow” (AKA the hall closet).

Could you still make dinner? Sure.

Would it take twice as long and make everyone cranky? You bet.

Yet many warehouses and DCs operate exactly this way:

Fast movers are parked far away.
High-touch items are on top levels.
Prime pick slots are filled with dust collectors.
Stock-keeping unit (SKU) placement is based on habit (“that’s where we’ve always put it”) or complacency (“just put it wherever you find an open spot”).

And volume spikes like the pre-holidays receiving tsunami just aggravate the disorder.

In a kitchen, inefficiency is immediate and personal. You feel it at every meal.

In a warehouse or DC, inefficiency hides inside overtime, congestion, extra touches, and late shipments. It shows up on reports, but it rarely gets blamed on where SKUs live.

(Nobody blames the gadget drawer either, even when finding the pizza cutter becomes a freaking treasure hunt.)

The Sweet Slot

In kitchen terms, the sweet slot is the drawer where you reach for a fork and actually find a fork. Without looking.

In warehousing terms, the sweet slot is the best picking location for an item based on:

Velocity (how often it’s picked)
Product attributes (dimensions, weight, handling characteristics)
Commonality with other items
Order patterns
Replenishment practicality
Congestion risk

The problem is, in many warehouses and DCs, slotting decisions are frozen in time. They’re set once and rarely revisited, even as demand shifts, customer expectations change, and yesterday’s slow mover becomes today’s bestseller.

(Ask us about Lady Gaga's sunglasses.)

The result? More walking, backtracking, and congestion. It’s a slow leak in your labor productivity, one unnecessary step or delayed order at a time.

Why Warehouses Don’t “Just Fix It”

If sweet slotting is embraced in a kitchen, then why is it often ignored in a warehouse or DC? Here are three reasons:

Scale – Kitchens might have hundreds of different items. But warehouses usually have thousands (or tens of thousands).
Complexity – Warehouses often have multiple pick methods, storage types, replenishment rules, cartonization constraints, automation interfaces, and labor realities.
Mindset (the biggest reason…or excuse) – Teams assume slotting optimization is a big project that requires costly system changes or a full re-layout.

So warehouses tolerate the mess.

Workarounds become normal. And “that’s good enough” becomes policy.

(“That’s good enough” is also how garages become storage units.)

Sweet Slotting Isn’t Just Rearranging

Done well, sweet slotting does more than reduce travel. It brings:

Better pick accuracy (fewer “where’s that SKU?” moments)
Less congestion (less aisle traffic and “excuse me” ballet)
Less fatigue (fewer miles walked; less lifting and reaching)
More stable productivity (consistently more stuff done in less time)
Easier training (more sensible arrangement for new hires)

It’s like keeping coffee mugs near the coffee machine, instead of in the bathroom medicine cabinet.

(Yes, you actually could store them there. No, you actually shouldn’t.)

The 7 Deadly Sins of Slotting (A Simple Self-Test)

If your labor cost per unit (CPU) has been creeping up, it’s time for confession. Are you guilty of any of these transgressions?

Fast movers in the cheap seats (“because that’s where they fit”)
Slow movers on the front row (the best seats in the house)
Ignoring relationships (when items often ordered together live far apart)
Slots too small (making replenishers constantly backfill them)
Slots too big (making pickers walk farther than necessary between picks)
Congestion magnets (too many fast movers in the same tight area)
Set-it-and-forget-it slotting (because surely SKU demand doesn’t change…right?)

If you’re guilty of one of these deadly sins, congratulations. You’re normal.

And if you confessed “yes” to three or more, you’ve created a new employee perk: a daily cardio workout program for pickers.

A Simple “Sweet Slot” Action Plan (Approved by Inviscid Man)

High-performing warehouses and DCs do exactly what you do at home:

Observe how work actually happens (not how it was designed).
Put what’s needed most where it can be found the fastest.
Keep what’s rarely used away from prime space.
Move stuff whenever needs change.

Here’s a practical, “poor man’s” slotting plan to get you started:

Pull at least 12 weeks of SKU and order history.
Rank SKUs by pick frequency, if available (or by units shipped if not).
Identify your “A” items (top ~70% of picks).
Identify your “A friends” (picked with “A” items 50+% of the time).
Put “A” items and “A friends” in your easiest pick facings, closest to packing and shipping.
Identify your “B” items (next ~20% of picks).
Identify your “B friends.”
Put “B” items and “B friends” in your next-easiest pick facings.
Right-size pick facings so replenishment is needed ~3 days (before your “sweet slots” become empty slots).
Repeat on a sensible cadence (semi-annually for stable items; monthly/quarterly for more variable items).

Sweet slotting isn’t a one-time project. It’s a habit.

Like Inviscid Man washing his tights.

Or like you cleaning your kitchen.

(Yes, we all hate hearing that. Yes, it’s still true.)

Final Thought: The Sweet Slot Is Already in Your Head

Here’s good news:

The instincts required to improve your warehouse productivity already exist.

You’ve organized your kitchen. Same for your garage, your workshop, your desk, and your toolbox. So you intuitively understand sweet slotting.

Now, make Inviscid Man proud: Translate that intuition into a disciplined, data-driven sweet-slotting program. (Shameless plug: Inviscid can help you do this.)

Because if your kitchen worked like many warehouses and DCs do, you’d fix it by this weekend.

Doesn’t your warehouse deserve the same attention?

Until our next episode...thanks again for joining us.

Chris Barnes

Client Engagement Director

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