Bins and labels

Bins tell you where stock lies inside a warehouse: on which shelf, rack and level. Each bin has a code that is also its barcode, so a label on the shelf can be scanned. Zones group bins (picking, overflow, returns…) and set the order a picker walks them in. Open Inventory > Bins. You need the Bins permission under Inventory Management. Manage zones and bins lets you create, change and delete zones and bins and print their labels. Move stock between bins, Count a bin and Reconcile stock let you use those actions on a product’s Bins panel.

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Choose a warehouse

The page opens on your default warehouse. Choose another one from Warehouse at the top. The page has three tabs: Bins, Zones and To check. When an ERP changes the warehouse’s stock (see Warehouses), the page says so: a reconcile there does not change the stock in Omnilinker, it adds a change for someone to enter in the ERP. See Changes for your ERP.

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Zones

On the Zones tab, click Create zone and enter a Code, a Name, a Type (Picking, Overflow, Receiving, Returns, Quarantine or Packing) and a Walk order: zones with a lower walk order are walked first. Two zones of one warehouse can’t share a code. Click Edit to change a zone, or clear Active to stop using it. A zone that has bins can’t be deleted: “The zone … has bins. Deactivate it instead, or move its bins first.”

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Bins

The Bins tab lists the warehouse’s bins grouped by zone, and within a zone by aisle when the zone has more than one: the part of the code before the first - (A in A-01-2). For each bin you see its code, its rack, level and position, whether it is Picked from, whether it is Active, how many products and units it holds, and when it was Last counted (the oldest count of the products in it). Click a bin’s code to see what’s in it. Filter by part of the code, by zone, and by active or inactive bins.

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Create bins

• One bin. Click Create bin and enter the Code (at most 32 characters), and optionally the Zone, the Rack, Level and Position, Walk sequence and Picked from. Leave Walk sequence empty to keep the default: the zone’s walk order, then the code.
• Many bins from a pattern. Click Create from pattern and type a pattern. Each {from..to} is a range of numbers or letters: A-{01..12}-{1..5} makes A-01-1 to A-12-5. As you type, Omnilinker shows every code the pattern makes, crosses out the ones that exist already (they are left out), and says how many new bins it will create, at most 2000 at once. Click Create … bins.

Two bins of one warehouse can’t share a code, compared without regard to case.

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Change, deactivate or delete a bin

Use the ⋯ menu on a bin’s row: Edit, Activate or Deactivate, Print label and Delete. A bin that holds stock can’t be deactivated or deleted: “The bin … holds stock. Move or count it out first.”

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Print labels

A bin label carries the bin’s code as a Code 128 barcode (OL-B- and the code), the code in large type, and the zone, rack, level and position under it. Print them:

• for the bins you tick on the Bins tab: Print labels (…);
• for every bin of a zone: Print labels on the zone’s heading, or on its row on the Zones tab;
• for one bin: Print label in the bin’s ⋯ menu.

When printing is on for your organization and you have the Print permission, the labels go to your station’s label printer, one print job per bin (see Stations: give a printer Bin labels under What prints here). Otherwise the labels download as a ZPL file you can send to a Zebra-compatible label printer. Omnilinker says where the labels went in a note above the list. One print takes at most 2000 labels, the first in walk order: if a zone has more bins, the note says how many got none, and you print the rest by ticking them. If printing fails part way, the note says how many labels went; print the same bins again and only the labels not sent yet are printed. Labels are 50 × 30 mm. If your label rolls are another size, ask Omnilinker to set Bin label width (mm) and Bin label height (mm) for your organization. On a 50 mm label a barcode fits a code of up to 26 characters; a longer code is printed turned along a tall enough label, and if it fits neither way Omnilinker prints nothing and names the bin: shorten its code or use a larger label.

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A product’s bins

On Stock Levels, open a row’s ⋯ menu and choose Bins, or click Bins on a warehouse’s row of a product’s page. The Bins panel shows, for that product in that warehouse: Under the figures, the panel lists the bins the product lies in, the orders it was picked for, and any open changes for the ERP.

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Move, count and reconcile

• Move moves units from a bin, or from Not on a shelf, to another bin or to Not on a shelf. No total changes.
• Count a bin sets this product’s quantity in a bin to what you counted. The difference moves to or from Not on a shelf; no total changes.
• Reconcile books what is Unexplained once you are sure every unit of the product in this warehouse is on the bins listed or picked for an order. Before you confirm, the panel says what it will do:
  • on a warehouse Omnilinker manages: “Books a count adjustment of …” (the stock changes);
  • on a warehouse an ERP manages: “Adds a change for ‹ERP› of … (RW or PW) for someone to enter in ‹ERP›; nothing changes in Omnilinker”. See Changes for your ERP.

If the figures change while you look, the reconcile is refused: “The figures changed while you looked…”. Look again, then reconcile. On a warehouse an ERP manages, a product can’t be reconciled while an earlier change for the ERP is waiting to be entered, or was entered and the ERP’s stock has not been read since.

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To check

The To check tab lists orders that left the books a while ago (24 hours by default) while their units are still on a shelf here: “Order #1042 was realised in ‹ERP› and never picked here: check its shelf”. The units were most likely sent without being picked; check the shelf and count it.