Why are fast-moving products so difficult to automate in a warehouse?

Fast-moving products appear in a large share of orders and often leave the warehouse almost as quickly as they arrive. Traditional automated storage systems usually require workers to remove these products from cases or pallets and decant them into storage totes before they can be picked. For very high-velocity products, this extra handling can require nearly as much labor as picking directly from the original packaging.

What are examples of fast-moving products in warehouse fulfillment?

Fast-moving products vary by industry. Examples include bananas in grocery fulfillment, samples in cosmetics, promotional gifts in e-commerce, and products that are temporarily on sale. What they have in common is that they appear in many orders and need to be picked frequently.

Why do automated warehouses decant products into totes?

Most conventional automated storage and Goods-to-Person systems are designed to store and present individual products inside totes. Because inventory usually arrives in cases or on pallets, workers must first remove the individual units from their original packaging and place them into storage totes before the products can enter the automated system.

Why is decanting inefficient for high-velocity SKUs?

High-velocity SKUs may leave the fulfillment system shortly after they are replenished. Workers can therefore spend significant time removing products from cases, placing them into totes, and feeding them into automation, only for those same products to be picked almost immediately. Instead of eliminating labor, the system may simply add an extra handling step.

How do fast-moving products affect AS/RS capacity?

Fast-moving products generate frequent movements into, through, and out of an automated storage system. This additional traffic consumes robot, workstation, and storage capacity. Supporting it may require more robots, picking stations, and infrastructure, which increases the cost of the overall automation solution.

Why do some automated warehouses still pick their fastest-moving products manually?

Many warehouses keep their fastest-moving products in a separate pallet or case-picking area because picking them directly from their original packaging can be more efficient than repeatedly decanting and moving them through automated storage. Slower-moving products remain inside the automated system, while workers manually pick the highest-velocity products.

Should fast-moving products be stored inside an automated storage system?

Not always. Storing a fast-moving product inside automation only makes sense when the benefits outweigh the labor and capacity required to decant, store, retrieve, and return it. For products that move through the warehouse extremely quickly, direct case or pallet picking may be more efficient.

Do assisted picking robots solve the fast-mover problem?

Assisted picking robots can reduce the amount of walking required, but they still depend heavily on human labor. They also often operate as a separate process alongside the main automated storage system, which means orders containing both fast- and slow-moving products may need to be consolidated later.

Are A-frame systems effective for fast-moving products?

A-frame systems can dispense suitable products very quickly, but workers typically need to replenish them one unit at a time. This can shift labor from order picking to system replenishment rather than eliminating it. A-frames are also suitable only for products that can be reliably dispensed by the system.

Why is downstream order consolidation a problem?

When fast-moving and slow-moving products are picked in separate systems, the different parts of an order must be combined before shipping. This adds another workflow, along with more handling, software coordination, floor space, equipment, and cost. It can also create another potential bottleneck in the fulfillment process.

What options do traditional automated warehouses have for handling fast movers?

Traditional automation generally leaves operators with two imperfect options. They can handle fast movers inside the automated system, where the products consume significant labor and capacity, or they can pick them manually outside the system, which preserves efficiency but retains labor and creates a separate order flow.

How does Brightpick automate fast-moving products?

Brightpick combines robotic picking, Goods-to-Person picking, and assisted picking within one fulfillment system. At Fast Lane stations, high-velocity products can be picked directly from cases or pallets into the same order tote that already contains the other products in the order.

What is a Fast Lane station in the Brightpick system?

A Fast Lane station is a picking area for products that would be inefficient to decant and store inside an automated storage system. Workers can pick those products directly from cases or pallets into the order tote used by the rest of the Brightpick system, keeping all items within one unified order flow.

Can fast- and slow-moving products be picked into the same order tote?

Yes. Brightpick Fast Lane stations allow fast-moving products to be picked directly from cases or pallets into the same order tote as products picked through robotic or Goods-to-Person workflows. This removes the need to merge separate parts of the order in a downstream consolidation process.

Can one warehouse automation system handle both slow movers and A++ SKUs?

Yes. Brightpick is designed as a unified fulfillment system that combines several picking modes. Slower-moving products can be handled through automated storage and robotic picking, while A++ and other fast-moving products can be picked directly from cases or pallets through Fast Lane stations.

August 3, 2026

Get the latest news
in your inbox

By clicking the subscribe button you agree to our terms of use and have read and understood our privacy policy.

Why the fastest-moving products are the hardest to automate

Q: Can an AS/RS store full cases instead of individual products?

Some automated storage systems can store full cases, but this does not eliminate the underlying efficiency problem. Each case must still enter storage, travel to a picking station whenever products are needed, and return to storage afterward. This repeated movement consumes time and system capacity.

Why conventional AS/RS and goods-to-person systems struggle with the highest-velocity SKUs

Fast-moving products consume the most picking volume in a fulfillment center, yet paradoxically they are often the hardest to automate.

By definition, fast movers appear in a large share of orders and need to be picked frequently and quickly. Examples include bananas in grocery fulfillment, samples in cosmetics, promotional gifts in e-commerce, and products on sale.

Like other inventory, these products typically arrive at the warehouse in cases or on pallets. This creates an immediate challenge for most automated fulfillment systems.

Traditional automated storage and Goods-to-Person systems are designed to store and pick individual products from totes. Before fast-moving products can enter the system, workers must therefore remove them from their original packaging and decant them into storage totes.

The problem is that fast movers often leave the system almost as quickly as they enter it. Workers may spend nearly as much time decanting these products as they would picking them directly from the original case. Instead of eliminating labor, the automation simply adds another handling step.

Some automated systems can store full cases, but this does not fully solve the problem. Each case must still enter storage, travel to a picking station whenever products from it are needed, and then return to storage afterward.

All of this movement takes time and consumes system capacity. Handling the additional traffic may require more robots, picking stations, and supporting infrastructure, increasing the cost of the overall solution.

For this reason, many automated warehouses keep their fastest-moving products in a separate pallet or case-picking area. Slower-moving B and C products are stored inside the automated system, while workers pick fast movers manually from their original packaging.

This approach still requires labor, but it is often more efficient than repeatedly moving high-velocity inventory into, through, and out of an automated storage system.

Other technologies can help, but they introduce their own limitations. Assisted picking robots reduce the amount of walking required, but they still require lots of labor and operate as a separate system alongside the main automated storage solution.

A-frames can dispense suitable products extremely quickly. However, workers must replenish the system one unit at a time. In practice, this can shift labor from picking to replenishment rather than eliminating it.

In both cases, orders containing both fast- and slow-moving products must then be consolidated downstream. This adds another process, along with more handling, software complexity, floor space, and cost.

Traditional warehouse automation therefore leaves operators with two imperfect options: handle fast movers inefficiently inside the automated system, or pick them efficiently but manually outside it.

Either choice increases labor, consumes valuable system capacity, or requires a separate downstream consolidation process.

Brightpick takes a different approach. Our Autopicker solution combines robotic picking, Goods-to-Person picking, and assisted picking all within one system.

Through our Fast Lane stations, fast-moving products can be picked directly from cases or pallets into the same order tote as the rest of the picked items. Fast Lane can therefore handle products that would be inefficient to decant and store, without creating a separate order flow or requiring downstream consolidation.

The result is one unified fulfillment system that can efficiently handle the full range of SKU velocities, from the slowest-moving products to A++ SKUs and fast-moving products.

About Brightpick

Brightpick is a leader in AI-powered robotic solutions for warehouses. The company’s multi-purpose AI robots enable warehouses of any size to fully automate order picking, buffering, consolidation, dispatch, and stock replenishment. The award-winning Brightpick solution takes just weeks to deploy and allows companies to keep their warehouse labor to a minimum. With offices in the US and Europe, Brightpick has more than 250 employees and hundreds of AI robots deployed with customers.

Get started with Brightpick

Why the fastest-moving products are the hardest to automate

Other resources

Why we build simple robots

Our multimodal AI picking stack

How reliable is robotic picking in real warehouse operations?