Warehouses, Locations and Labels
With Full WMS you tell QrX where your stock lies: in which warehouse and on which location (bin). QrX then knows where to pick, where to put new goods away and which route to walk. This article explains warehouses, bins, the bulk bin generator, the walk order, labels and barcodes. Warehouse stock is part of QrX WMS.
Who It Is For
Merchants on Full WMS with the module Bins and locations, and optionally Multiple warehouses.
Team leads who set up racks, bins, labels and warehouse access.
Anyone who prints barcode labels for products (this also works with Simple stock).
With Simple stock QrX keeps one stock count per product and you never see locations. See the article "Turn On Stock in 2 Minutes" to choose a level.
Where to Find It
Settings > Warehouse > Warehouses: your warehouses, their bins, which sales channels ship from them and who works in them. Shown with Full WMS only, to users with View stock and Manage stock settings.
Settings > Warehouse > Location types: kinds of bins such as Pallet or Shelf, and Recompute ABC. Shown with Full WMS and bins, to users with View stock.
Warehouse > Stock: open a stock item for its barcodes, pack units and labels. Barcodes and pack units are on its General tab.
Warehouses
Your first warehouse is created when stock is set up. With the module Multiple warehouses you can add more with New warehouse. Open a warehouse with the pencil icon. A warehouse has:
Code: a short code on labels and lists (letters, digits, dash).
Name, for example "Main warehouse Amsterdam".
Time zone: sets the day for the dashboard and when expiry dates pass in this warehouse.
Allow negative stock: every item in this warehouse may go below zero instead of refusing a move or an adjustment.
Default warehouse: orders of channels without their own warehouse ship from here.
Dynamic locations (off by default): see "Dynamic Locations" below.
Auto-complete idle receipts: closes open receipts without activity after the time you choose. See the article "Receiving, Put-Away and Write-Offs".
Channels: choose which warehouse ships the orders of each sales channel. Channels without one use the default warehouse.
Who works here: limit users to certain warehouses. Users switched on here only see the warehouses they are switched on for, everywhere in the stock screens. Users without any warehouse see every warehouse.
Only an empty warehouse without open reservations or channels can be deleted, and never the default warehouse. Its history is kept. Every warehouse automatically gets system locations such as receiving, packing and quarantine. You cannot delete them; only their barcode and map position can change.
A warehouse also holds its address, contact, receiving instructions, loading docks, GLN, receiving and dispatch hours and closures. See "Warehouse Details, Opening Hours and Staff Skills".
Locations (Bins)
In the warehouse editor, the locations table lists your bins in walk order. Add one bin at a time, or many at once. A location has:
Code, for example A-01-2, and an optional Barcode (without one, the label uses the code).
Zone and Aisle, used for sorting, count plans and the walk order.
Walk order: the position on the picking route.
Role: Pick (the shelf you pick from), Bulk (reserve stock) or No role.
Capacity and One item only: used as preferences when QrX suggests a bin for put-away. They never block a booking.
Active, and optional Map X and Map Y for the map preview.
Location type: optional, for example Pallet. Put-away prefers empty bins of the type an item prefers.
Only an empty location can be deleted. Its history is kept.
Bins can belong to a zone, carry a bay, level and position, a size, a maximum weight, volume and units, and can be blocked with a reason. See "Zones, Bin Capacity and Storage Rules".
Create Bins in Bulk
In the warehouse editor, click Bulk create (or Generate bins while the warehouse has no bins yet).
Fill in an optional Prefix, Aisle from and Aisle to (one letter A to Z, or a number from 1 to 99), Rack from and Rack to, and optionally Level from and Level to. Choose a role if all bins share one.
Click Preview codes. Codes are built as prefix, aisle, rack and level, joined by a dash, for example A-01-2. The preview shows the new codes and the codes that already exist.
Click Create ... bins (the button shows the number). Existing codes are skipped.
At most 2,000 codes are created at once. You can also import your bins from a CSV file: see "Turn On Stock in 2 Minutes", import mode Locations, or let a stock import create missing locations.
Walk Order
The walk order is the order in which bins are visited. QrX uses it for the pick route of a pick list, for which bin a shipped unit is taken from, and for count lists. Set it per bin, or use Automatic walk order:
Click Preview walk order. QrX numbers every bin in a snake route: by zone and aisle, racks up in odd aisles and down in even aisles, then by level, in steps of 10.
Check the preview and click Apply walk order.
The Map preview shows bins that have map X and Y (0 to 10000) with the walk path between them. It is a preview only.
Pick Faces
A pick face is an item that is picked from a certain bin, with a minimum and a maximum. Open Pick faces on a bin and add the item with its Min and Max. When the stock in that bin drops below the minimum, a replenish task appears in Warehouse > Tasks > Replenish to fill it up to the maximum from bulk. A bin with One item only has at most one pick face. See the article "Receiving, Put-Away and Write-Offs". The minimum of a pick face only creates a replenish task for that bin. To be warned when the total available stock of an item runs low, set a low stock alert: see "Low Stock Alerts".
Location Types
Location types group your bins by kind, for example Standard, Large, Pallet or Cold. QrX uses them to give better put-away advice.
Go to Settings > Warehouse > Location types and click New type. Enter a name and, if you like, a Sort order (a whole number from 0 to 9999) for the order in the lists.
In the warehouse editor, give bins their Location type. The bin picker can filter on it.
On the General tab of a stock item, set its Preferred location type, for example Pallet for bulky goods.
When QrX suggests a bin for put-away or receiving, empty bins of the item's preferred type come before other empty bins. Bins that already hold the item still come first. It is advice only and never blocks a booking. A type can only be deleted when no location and no stock item uses it.
ABC Velocity Classes
Every night QrX sorts your stock items per warehouse by the units shipped in the last 90 days (Full WMS):
A: the fast movers that together make up the first 80% of the units shipped.
B: the next 15%.
C: the slow movers, including items with stock but no shipments.
The class shows as a badge on the stock list (column ABC), on the stock item, on the receipt lines and in put-away. Hover over the badge to see the units shipped. Put-away suggestions place A items early in the walk route, close to the start, and C items later. To compute the classes right away, for example after you switch on Full WMS, click Recompute ABC on the Location types screen (at most once every 10 minutes). You can also set the ABC class of an item by hand on its Storage and dangerous goods tab. Put-away, counts and purchase advice then use your class.
Dynamic Locations
Normally an item is linked to its bins. With Dynamic locations switched on for a warehouse (Settings > Warehouse > Warehouses, open the warehouse; off by default), items have no fixed bin: a bin is linked to an item while it holds it and unlinked as soon as it is empty, so any free bin can take any item. Pick faces you set up with a minimum and maximum stay linked. Put-away suggestions work the same way.
Labels
Bin labels (Full WMS): select bins in the locations table and click Labels (the button shows how many are selected). Every label has a barcode with the bin's barcode or code, plus the code and the zone.
Item labels: on the stock list use the row action Print labels, or print from the stock item. Choose the Number of labels (1 to 500). The barcode is the EAN, else the internal barcode, else the SKU.
For both, choose the Label size (50 x 25 mm or 100 x 50 mm), then:
Print: sends the labels through PrintNode to the chosen Printer (or your default label printer). See the article "Printing Labels with PrintNode and the ZPL Label Designer".
Open PDF: works without a printer.
Barcodes on a Stock Item
Open a stock item from Warehouse > Stock (Open item). On the General tab, in the details and Barcodes cards, you find:
EAN: the product barcode.
Internal barcode: for items without an EAN. Click Create an internal barcode and QrX creates one for you, or type your own code.
Extra barcodes: click Add a barcode to add codes from a supplier or an old label (up to 20 per item). Scanning any of them finds the item. You can also add them with the barcodes column of a stock import.
Pack units (Full WMS): a box or case with its own barcode, for example "Box of 12" with 12 pieces. Scanning the box barcode counts as the number of pieces inside.
The EAN, the internal barcode and the SKU are always scannable. A barcode is unique in your account: it cannot belong to two items, pack units or locations. When you scan in the stock screens (receiving, counting, dialogs), QrX looks in this order: EAN, extra barcode, internal barcode, pack-unit barcode, SKU.
Permissions
View stock and Manage stock settings: open Settings > Warehouse > Warehouses and change warehouses, channels, warehouse access, locations, pick faces and the walk order, and print bin labels.
Manage stock settings: change stock items, barcodes and pack units.
View stock: see stock items and print item labels.
View stock: see location types and ABC classes. Manage stock settings: create, change and delete location types, Recompute ABC, set Dynamic locations and Auto-complete idle receipts.
Limits
Settings > Warehouse > Warehouses is shown with Full WMS only. More than one warehouse needs the module Multiple warehouses.
Bulk create: at most 2,000 codes at once. Labels: at most 500 per print.
Up to 20 extra barcodes per item.
Only empty locations and warehouses can be deleted; system locations never.
Location types: at most 50, names of 1 to 60 characters. Recompute ABC: at most once every 10 minutes. ABC classes and location types need Full WMS with bins.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do I not see Settings > Warehouse > Warehouses?
It is shown with Full WMS only, to users with both View stock and Manage stock settings. With Simple stock QrX keeps all stock on one hidden location.
Can I rename a bin after stock is on it?
Yes. Edit the location and change its code. The stock and the history stay with the location.
Does the pack station recognise extra barcodes?
The pack station matches the SKU or EAN of the order line. Extra barcodes and pack-unit barcodes are used in the stock screens, such as receiving and counting.
What happens when two items have the same barcode?
QrX does not allow it. Saving shows that the barcode is already used by another item, pack unit or location.
Why does an item have no ABC badge?
The classes are computed every night for Full WMS. A new item, or an item without stock and without shipments in the last 90 days, has no class yet. Click Recompute ABC on Settings > Warehouse > Location types to compute them now.
When to Contact Our Support Team
Contact QrX support when you need more warehouses or modules than your plan includes, when labels keep failing although PrintNode shows the printer online, or when a warehouse cannot be deleted although it looks empty. Include the warehouse code and a screenshot of the message.