Locations & Bins
Split each warehouse into the shelves, zones and bins where stock actually sits, give each one a storage role and a pick order, and set a capacity so an overfull bin is flagged before it becomes a search.
Open Inventory → Warehouses, open a warehouse and choose Add Location, or use New Location from the Inventory quick actions. The full list of locations, with a warehouse filter, opens from the same quick actions. Every location belongs to exactly one warehouse.
Adding A Location
- Choose the warehouse and give the location a name. Leave the code blank to have one generated (for example, LOC-001).
- Pick its storage role: pick face, bulk storage, reserve storage, staging, receiving, shipping, quarantine, or general bin.
- Optionally map it: zone, aisle, bay, shelf and bin. These build the placement code shown in the list.
- Optionally set a pick sequence — the order pickers walk the floor.
- Optionally set a capacity, in stock units. Leave it blank for no limit.
Capacity
Capacity is a count of stock units — the same units on-hand quantities are held in. The location list shows each location’s stock against its capacity and how full it is as a percentage, and highlights any location over capacity.
Capacity warns; it never blocks a receipt. Goods that have physically arrived must go somewhere, and a hard block would only push people to record them against the wrong shelf. Going over capacity instead:
- shows a warning when you save a location that already holds more than its new capacity, and
- raises a Locations over capacity alert in Smart Alerts for the Operations Center, listing the fullest locations first.
The Default Location
Each workspace has a default warehouse with a system default location, marked System default. It is where stock lands when no bin is chosen, so it is managed by the system and cannot be edited or deleted.
Location Always Matches Warehouse
On forms that ask for both, the location list offers only the chosen warehouse’s locations. Behind the form, a location from a different warehouse is never recorded against the one you chose — whether it comes from the web, the mobile app or the API. Where you picked both, the pair is refused; on stock postings, the warehouse you chose is kept and its default location is used instead. A receipt into the Nairobi warehouse never lands on a Mombasa shelf, and never silently moves to Mombasa either.
Permissions
- View locations, add locations, edit locations and delete locations are separate permissions, so a warehouse team can be allowed to add bins without being allowed to delete them.
Common Mistakes
- Deleting a location that is in use. A location that holds stock, or is linked to users, POS counters, adjustments or transfers, cannot be deleted. Move the stock and reassign those records first.
- Setting capacity in cartons when stock is counted in pieces. Capacity uses the item’s stock unit.
- One giant location per warehouse. Counts, traceability and picking are only as precise as your bins. Start with the shelves people already name out loud.
Related
- Warehouses — the branches locations belong to.
- Stock Counts — counting by location.
- Stock Transfers — moving stock between locations and warehouses.
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