Overview
When an operator puts stock away, Logiwa IO suggests where it should go. The suggestion comes from the warehouse's putaway algorithm: a list of rules you define. Knowing how those rules are evaluated explains almost every suggestion you'll see, and every case where nothing is suggested. The same logic is used by Dynamic Replenishment to choose target locations.
When this matters
Read this article when:
You're designing or changing a putaway algorithm.
A suggestion isn't what you expected, or no location is suggested.
You want to know why a quantity was split across several locations.
How a suggestion is made
Rules are tried from the top of the list down. The rule at the top has the highest priority.
Conditions decide whether a rule applies. They're checked against the stock being put away: for example its product group, client, LP type, lot or the location it's coming from. A rule with no conditions applies to everything. If a condition doesn't match, the next rule is tried.
Actions decide which locations qualify. All the rule's actions apply together: for example Check Location Capacity, Suggest a location that has the same SKU or Suggest a location with the selected location zone. A location must satisfy every action in the rule.
Order by ranks the qualifying locations, for example by Walking Path Priority or Location Empty Volume. Only the top 20 are considered. For volumetric rules, if none of the 20 fits, one more batch of 20 is checked.
The first rule that finds a location with room wins. Lower-priority rules aren't checked at all. If no rule finds one, no location is suggested.
Example:
Rule 1 — Condition: Product Group = Frozen. Actions: Suggest a location with the selected location zone = Freezer, Suggest a location that has the same SKU. Order by: Walking Path Priority.
Rule 2 — No conditions. Action: Suggest an empty location.
A frozen product already stored in F-02 and F-07 goes to whichever ranks first by walking path priority. A frozen product that isn't stored anywhere yet finds nothing in Rule 1, so Rule 2 sends it to any empty location, including outside the freezer zone. To keep it in the freezer, add a rule between them: Condition Product Group = Frozen; Actions: Suggest a location with the selected location zone = Freezer, Suggest an empty location.
Empty or occupied locations
Every rule looks at either empty locations or occupied ones, never both:
Without Suggest an empty location: only locations that already hold some inventory (of any product) are considered. Empty locations are never suggested by this rule, whatever its other actions are.
With Suggest an empty location: only locations with no inventory are considered.
Example: A rule has only Check Location Capacity. Location P-05 is empty and has an LP capacity for the incoming LP type. P-05 isn't suggested, because the rule has no Suggest an empty location action. Add a second rule with Suggest an empty location + Check Location Capacity to cover empty locations.
💡 Actions in one rule work together, not as a fallback. To say "same SKU location, otherwise an empty one", use two rules.
Rules that only apply in certain flows
A rule with the condition Is Receiving Process only applies to putaway straight after receiving.
A rule with the condition Parent LP Based Transfer never applies to product putaway.
A rule with volumetric actions is skipped, and the next rule is tried, if the stock being put away is missing the dimensions or volume it needs. A location that's missing them is simply left out.
Locations that are never suggested
Whatever your rules say, these locations are left out:
Locked locations.
Mobile carts, and locations assigned to a mobile cart.
The location the stock is coming from.
Packing area locations, unless a rule filters by area type.
Locations whose prevent multi-client, multi-SKU, multi-lot, multi-expiry, multi-production date or multi-LP settings would be broken by this stock.
Locations already tried, when the operator uses Suggest Another.
How much goes where
Product putaway
A product quantity can be split across several locations:
A location without a product capacity has no quantity limit, so the first location in order takes the whole quantity.
A location's product capacity (Max Qty) limits it only when the rule uses Check Location Capacity. Then locations are filled in order, each up to its remaining room.
Example: 25 units are put away. The rule uses Check Location Capacity. A-01 has room for 10, A-02 for 20. Suggestion: 10 to A-01, 15 to A-02. If the rule doesn't use Check Location Capacity, all 25 go to A-01.
LP putaway
An LP is never split. It always gets one location: the first location in order that has room. When the rule uses Check Location Capacity, room is measured against the location's LP capacity for that LP type (Max number of LPs). To limit a location by the units or packs inside it instead, use Check Location Capacity Type.
Example: An LP is put away and the rule uses Check Location Capacity. A-01 has LP capacity 2 and already holds 2 LPs; A-02 has LP capacity 3 and holds 2. A-01 is full, so the LP goes to A-02.
What reduces a location's room
A location's room is reduced by the stock already in it and by active putaway sessions: locations recently suggested to other operators who haven't finished putting away yet. This stops two operators being sent to the same space. Putaway doesn't count open replenishment tasks. See Understanding Soft Allocation in Putaway.
When no location is suggested
If no rule finds a location with room, the operator gets no suggestion. Whether they can still choose a location themselves depends on Force Suggested Location. See Enforcing Suggested Locations During Putaway. For the causes, see Why Wasn't a Putaway Location Suggested?.
Common questions
Why was a lower-priority rule never used? A higher-priority rule already found a location with room. Rules are only tried until one succeeds.
Why did a product go to a full-looking location? The location has no product capacity, or the rule doesn't use Check Location Capacity, so the algorithm sees it as having unlimited room. Add a capacity and the action, or use volumetric actions.
Does this apply to replenishment too? Yes. Dynamic Replenishment uses the putaway algorithm marked Use this algorithm as dynamic replenishment algorithm in the same way. It only limits suggestions to Target locations if the rule includes Suggest a location with the selected replenishment type = Target. See Setting Up Dynamic Replenishment.