Directed putaway is supposed to take the guesswork out of storage. The WMS tells the operator exactly where each pallet goes, the operator confirms it, and the warehouse runs on clean, optimized data.
The financial case is straightforward, and it’s why so many warehouses adopt it: an operator who knows exactly where to go doesn’t burn time driving up and down aisles hunting for an open slot. Multiply that saved travel time across every pallet in a full container, and directed putaway means faster receiving, fewer forklift hours per inbound load, and a lower labor cost per pallet stored.
That’s the theory. In practice, directed putaway is only as good as the data behind it. When the WMS believes a location is empty and it isn’t — or believes a pallet is somewhere it never arrived — the system starts directing operators into dead ends. And every dead end creates an unrecorded workaround.
This article covers what directed putaway is, why warehouses adopt it, where it breaks down, and how to close the gap between what your WMS directs and what actually happens on the floor.
What is directed putaway?
Directed putaway is a WMS-driven process where the system — not the operator — decides where each incoming pallet or item should be stored. When goods arrive at receiving, the WMS evaluates factors like available space, item velocity, weight, product compatibility, and picking efficiency, then directs the operator to a specific storage location.
Instead of an operator choosing “the first open slot I can find,” the system assigns the optimal one. The operator drives to the assigned location, stores the pallet, and confirms the move — usually with a barcode scan.
Directed putaway is the opposite of operator-directed (or “random”) putaway, where the person on the forklift decides where things go based on experience and whatever looks open.
How does directed putaway work?
A typical directed putaway flow looks like this:
- Goods arrive and are received into the WMS at the dock.
- The WMS assigns a storage location based on its putaway rules — slotting logic, zone restrictions, velocity, cube utilization, FIFO/FEFO requirements.
- The operator receives the direction on an RF device, forklift-mounted terminal, or pick-to-task screen.
- The operator travels to the assigned location and stores the pallet.
- The operator confirms the move by scanning the location label and pallet label.
- The WMS updates inventory records to reflect the pallet at its new location. Every step depends on the previous one being true. That dependency is the strength of directed putaway — and, as we’ll see, its biggest vulnerability.
What are the benefits of directed putaway?
Warehouses adopt directed putaway because it delivers real operational gains:
Faster putaway, lower labor cost per pallet. This is the financial headline. Without direction, an operator picks up a pallet and drives the aisles looking for space — every search is unpaid-for travel time. With directed putaway, the operator knows exactly where to go before the forks lift. Less travel per pallet means a full container gets put away faster, receiving lanes clear sooner, and you handle more inbound volume with the same fleet and the same shift.
Optimized space utilization. The WMS sees the whole warehouse at once. It can fill deep locations, consolidate partial slots, and use cube more efficiently than any operator making one decision at a time.
Faster, smarter picking later. Putaway decides where inventory lives — which means it decides how far your pickers travel. Directed putaway slots fast-moving SKUs near outbound and keeps travel paths short.
Consistency independent of who’s driving. In operator-directed environments, your putaway quality is only as good as your most experienced driver — and it collapses with turnover. Directed putaway encodes the logic in the system, so a new hire follows the same rules as a ten-year veteran.
Compliance built into the process. Weight limits, hazmat segregation, temperature zones, lot and expiry rules (FIFO/FEFO) — the WMS enforces them automatically instead of relying on floor knowledge.
Cleaner inventory data. Every putaway is a recorded system transaction tied to a specific location. When it works, the WMS knows where everything is.
What are the challenges of directed putaway?
The benefits above come with real operational challenges:
Setup complexity. Directed putaway requires accurate location master data, correct slot dimensions, well-designed putaway rules, and labeled rack locations. Getting the rules wrong means the system optimizes for the wrong thing.
Scan discipline. The whole model depends on operators scanning the right pallet into the right location, every time. Under time pressure, scans get skipped, batched, or done from memory at the end of a run.
Rigid directions in a fluid environment. Warehouses are dynamic. A location the WMS assigned two minutes ago might now be blocked by staged pallets, a stuck forklift, or product that was never moved out.
Exception handling. When the assigned location doesn’t work, what does the operator do? Most warehouses have an override process. Few have a reliable way to verify that the override was recorded correctly — or recorded at all.
Trust erosion. Once operators learn that the system’s directions are sometimes wrong, they start second-guessing all of them. Overrides become habit. And every habit-driven override widens the gap between system and reality.
Where does directed putaway fail?
What happens when the direction is wrong? Here’s the failure mode that matters most — and the one least discussed in WMS documentation.
Directed putaway assumes the WMS’s picture of the warehouse is accurate. When it isn’t, the system directs operators to locations that don’t work.
The classic scenario: the WMS directs a pallet to location C-14-3. The operator arrives and finds C-14-3 is already occupied — by a pallet the system thinks is somewhere else, or one that was moved without a scan last Tuesday. The travel-time saving that justified directed putaway in the first place just evaporated: the operator is back to driving the aisles looking for space, exactly the behavior the system was supposed to eliminate. Now they have a pallet on the forks, a queue behind them, and a decision to make:
- Put it somewhere else and update the system — the right move, if the override is scanned correctly.
- Put it somewhere else and update the system later — which often means never, or wrong.
- Put it somewhere else and tell no one — the pallet is now physically in the warehouse and invisible to the WMS.
Every one of these events is a small crack in your inventory record. And they compound:
- Bad directions create unrecorded moves. The workaround pallet is now in an unknown location.
- Unrecorded moves create more bad directions. The WMS now believes two locations are in states they’re not in — so it keeps directing operators into occupied slots and pulling picks from empty ones.
- The gap surfaces downstream, where it’s expensive. Failed picks. Short shipments. Emergency searches. Cycle count variances nobody can explain. A customer calling about a pallet your system swears was shipped.
This is the system-reality gap: your WMS runs on what it was told happened, while your floor runs on what actually happened. Directed putaway doesn’t cause the gap — but it amplifies the cost of it, because the system is actively making decisions based on data that’s drifting away from reality.
The uncomfortable truth: your WMS has no native way to know its own data is wrong. It records intended operations. It trusts the scan. It cannot see the floor.
How do you keep directed putaway accurate?
The traditional answers all have the same weakness — they check the system against reality only occasionally, and they depend on people:
- Cycle counts verify locations one at a time, weeks or months apart, and pull labor off the floor. They tell you the gap exists after it has already caused damage.
- Scan audits and double-checks add labor and friction, and still depend on a human doing a manual step correctly.
- Operator discipline programs help — until a busy shift, a staffing crunch, or turnover resets the clock.
None of these close the gap in real time. They measure the drift; they don’t stop it.
The alternative is continuous visual verification: instead of trusting that every scan happened and happened correctly, verify every pallet movement as it physically occurs.
How does Zimark keep directed putaway working?
Zimark is a Visual Verification System (VVS) — it uses cameras and AI to confirm what actually happened in your warehouse, not what your system assumes happened.
For directed putaway, that verification comes from Forklift Vision: a camera system mounted on the forklift itself. As your forklifts go about normal operations, Forklift Vision reads pallet and rack location labels and verifies every movement against system records — no extra scanning step, no change to how your operators work.
Here’s what that does to each directed putaway failure mode:
Every move is captured — including the workarounds. When an operator finds the assigned location blocked and puts the pallet somewhere else, Forklift Vision sees where it actually went. The “I put it somewhere, I’ll update it later” pallet stops disappearing.
Discrepancies are flagged when they happen, not at the next cycle count. The platform compares real warehouse activity against WMS records and highlights mismatches directly on a visual rack view: missing pallets, wrong locations, status mismatches. You see where operational control is being lost — while you can still do something about it.
The WMS picture stays true — so the directions stay good. Directed putaway is only as smart as the location data feeding it. Continuous verification keeps that data synchronized with physical reality, which means the system keeps directing operators to locations that are actually available.
Every pallet has a visual history. Complete movement timeline, timestamps, locations, forklift reference — with shareable image evidence for every event. When something is disputed, you resolve it with proof, not a search party.
It works with your WMS, not instead of it. Zimark is additive. It sits on top of your existing WMS, scanning, and labels — from manual file comparison up to full two-way WMS integration where discrepancies trigger automated updates. No rip-and-replace, no retraining. Your WMS records what should happen. Zimark records what does.
FAQ: Directed Putaway
What is the difference between directed and random putaway?
In directed putaway, the WMS assigns the storage location based on rules like space, velocity, and compatibility. In random (operator-directed) putaway, the operator chooses the location. Directed putaway is more consistent and space-efficient but depends entirely on accurate system data.
Why does my WMS direct pallets to locations that are already full?
Because the WMS believes those locations are empty. This usually means pallets were moved without a scan, scans were made against the wrong location, or a previous putaway override was never recorded. The WMS has no way to see the floor — it only knows what it was told.
Does directed putaway improve inventory accuracy?
It can — every putaway becomes a recorded transaction tied to a specific location. But directed putaway also depends on inventory accuracy: bad location data produces bad directions, which produce workarounds, which produce more bad data. Without a verification layer, the process can degrade its own inputs over time.
How do you verify putaway without adding scanning steps?
With visual verification. Forklift-mounted cameras read pallet and location labels during normal operation, confirming every movement against WMS records automatically. Operators drive the way they always have; verification happens in the background.
Is Zimark a replacement for a WMS?
No. Zimark is a verification layer that works alongside your WMS. It confirms that what the WMS believes matches what physically happened on the floor — and flags the difference when it doesn’t. It works with or without direct WMS integration.
What do I need to deploy Forklift Vision?
A racked storage environment with barcoded rack location labels, plus space for the forklift-mounted units and coupling stations. Zimark works with your existing forklift fleet and WMS.
Directed putaway is only as good as the data behind it
Directed putaway is one of the highest-leverage processes in a warehouse — when the directions are right. The moment the system’s picture drifts from the floor, the same process starts manufacturing errors at scale. You can’t trust what you can’t see. Zimark gives your directed putaway process eyes — verifying every pallet movement, catching every workaround, and keeping your WMS honest.
If you’re ready to know what’s actually happening in your warehouse — let’s talk. Schedule a discovery call, and if Zimark isn’t the right fit for your operation, we’ll tell you.
