Description

A rigorous, practice-oriented guide to classification, interpretation, and structural decision-making in warehouse logistics.

Everyone is familiar with ABC analysis, but few truly understand how to interpret it in detail, recognize its limitations, or know how it can be manipulated. Additionally, most are unaware of the complementary analyses that provide deeper insights. As a result, ABC analysis is often applied superficially, leaving its full potential untapped – or even leading to entirely wrong conclusions. This book fills those knowledge gaps and offers a practical guide to effectively using ABC analysis for warehouse planning and optimization, specifically tailored to the needs of modern logistics professionals.

Ideal for logisticians, warehouse planners, and decision-makers who want to go beyond the basics and dive deeper into the world of warehouse optimization.

THE PROBLEM

ABC analysis is frequently reduced to:

• An 80/20 slide

• A basic Excel chart

• Arbitrary class boundaries

• A superficial reporting tool

But there is so much more to know about it, and it is exceedingly rare that people actually know what they are talking about.

WHAT THIS GUIDE DOES DIFFERENTLY

This guide focuses on interpretation, not just classification. Classification is easy, interpretation is not.

You will learn how to:

• Evaluate slope steepness properly

• Construct marker tables

• Use the Gini coefficient for structural assessment

• Identify when concentration justifies zoning — and when it does not

The guide embeds ABC in the full warehouse context and discusses the analysis in relation to:

• Inventory optimization

• Manual order picking and ABC zoning

• Heat map derivation

• Picking error analysis

• Automated systems (AS/RS, goods-to-person)

• AutoStore planning implications

• Supplier and consignment decisions

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Prof. Dr. Jakob E. Beer is Professor of Logistics and an independent consultant in warehouse engineering and optimization. His academic work and industry projects focus on the structural design of warehouse systems, the management of bottlenecks, and data-driven decision-making in intralogistics.

In his role as a consultant, he advises companies on warehouse layout design, automation strategy, inventory structures, and performance analysis. Through his consulting work, he has repeatedly observed that tools such as ABC analysis are widely applied — but often without sufficient methodological rigor or interpretation depth. This book emerged from the need to close that gap.