Overview
Warehouse Locations are essential for tracking inventory and orders in Neatoscan Books. Utilizing warehouse locations correctly can greatly improve your efficiency and scalability. This article will cover how to access and create warehouse locations in Neatoscan.
Planning Locations and Naming
Before you start creating locations in the software, it's essential to plan how you will name, number, and organize your warehouse locations. Without a clear plan, your system may not be easily scalable as your operation grows in the future. Considerations for planning a warehouse layout are covered below.
Location Naming Scheme
First, figure out what you want to name your shelving. The Neatoscan naming is Aisle > Bay > Shelf. This means that the Aisles are your top-level locations, and your Shelves are your bottom-level locations. If your operation doesn’t have aisles, it may still be worth creating locations with an Aisle included so it’s easier to scale in the future.
Aisle: The walking area between shelving units, or bays.
Bay: The individual shelving units.
Shelf: Each shelf on a shelving unit, or “Bay”. A bay typically has 4-10 shelves.
Picking Order
There are 2 recommended methods to order your bays when picking items from your warehouse. Both are used in many different warehouses across industries. These methods are detailed below.
Method 1: Down and Up
This picking method is great if you don’t have walking space on both sides of your aisle. However, even with sufficient space on both sides, this system can be simpler than using a diagonal picking order.
Pros:
Easy to understand and set up.
Cons:
May require backtracking, which can slow down order picking.
Method 2: Diagonal
This example is ideal if you have walking space on both sides of your aisle. It is faster than the other system because you do not need to backtrack at any point.
Pros:
The most efficient method since there is no backtracking.
Cons:
It can be confusing because even and odd bay numbers are located on opposite sides.
Building Warehouse Locations
To create warehouse locations, first plan how you want to name the location according to your warehouse. Once inventory is listed in your locations, it will be more difficult to change, so planning ahead and figuring out what will work best for you long term is ideal.
Auto Generating Locations
To create locations in bulk, use the Auto Generate feature. This enables you to specify the number of Aisles, Bays, and Shelves to add. To access Auto Generate, go to the Warehouse tab in Pre-Scanning & Receiving, right-click on Warehouse Layout, or on the Aisle or Bay you wish to expand, then select Auto Generate.
Using Auto Generate
Below is a breakdown of each function in the auto generate tool.
Enable/Disable Level: In the Auto Generate pop-up window, you now have the ability to add 3 levels of location structure. Use the Checkboxes to select or unselect the levels you want to add.
Edit Name: Choose the Naming Scheme you would like to use when creating your warehouse layout. Aisle, Bay, Shelf, is the default, but you can change this to suit your operation best. Using short names is recommended due to item ticket and packing slip sizes.
Edit Quantity: Choose the quantity you would like to create for each warehouse location level. For example, if you want to create 1 aisle, with 3 bays, and 4 shelves in each bay, you would fill it out like the image above.
Start Index: Enter a Start Index if you're continuing an existing layout. This lets you begin the shelf numbering with any number you select. For instance, if you are adding bays after bay 6, enter 7 in the Start Index. The numbering will then start at bay 7.
Use Alpha Naming: Rather than Aisle 1, 2, 3… Alpha naming will change it to Aisle A, B, C…
Use Zero Padding: Rather than Aisle 1, 2, 3… Zero padding will change it to Aisle 01, 02, 03…
Change Zero Padding Length: Adjust how many 0s come before the aisle number. When left blank, if Zero Padding is enabled, it will just be 1.
OK/Cancel: Click OK to generate the aisles you’ve entered, otherwise click Cancel to exit this window.
Example Result
If you were to fill in the auto generate tool exactly like in the example above, you would get this result:
Manually Adding Locations
To customize the picking order, and individual naming and numbering, manually adding locations is ideal. To do this, right-click Warehouse Layout or the Aisle or Bay you would like to add to, then click Add.
Using Manual Add
Below is a breakdown of each function in the manual add tool.
Name: Fill in the Name of your location. This can be anything you would like it to be, but it will not automatically be numbered.
Date Added: This date is generated after creating the location.
Next Item Number: By default, a new location will be set to 1, but if you would like item numbers to start higher, you can set it to your choosing.
Items Allowed: If you are creating a shelf-level location, enable this so items can be listed here, otherwise, for a bay or shelf, leave it disabled.
Picking Order: 0 will always be the first in the picking order. To adjust the picking order for this location, click Edit on the shelf you want your location to follow, check the current picking order, and then increase it by 1 digit.
Warehouse Node ID: This is an auto-generated number for the warehouse location. Each location, from aisle to shelf level, has its own unique identifier. You can use these IDs to locate items in Inventory Management as well.
Temporary Location: If you use the shelve later feature, you can create temporary locations, such as a Cart, to temporarily store items and then reshelve them at their actual location.
OK/Cancel: Click OK to generate the aisles you’ve entered, otherwise click Cancel to exit this window.
Modifying Warehouse Locations
If you would like to change the name or order of your warehouse locations, inventory must be fully removed and closed in the system in the selected locations. If there is still inventory in locations being removed or modified, when picking those items for orders, the location will either be incorrect or will not be shown at all.
Right-click on the locations you would like to modify or delete, then click View Items in Location. This will allow you to see if any items are left in the location. Make sure all items are closed and cleared out.
Right-click the location you would like to modify or delete, and either select Edit or Delete.
If you have any questions send us an email to support@neatoscan.com. Our support hours are between 8am-6pm CST, Monday to Friday.