Replenish Warehouses Overview

Purpose: This topic provides an overview of the Replenish Warehouses function.

What this function does: You can use the Replenish Warehouses function to move inventory from one warehouse to another to replenish the target warehouse.

For example, you can use this function to restock a retail store from a distribution warehouse, or to restock regional shipping warehouses from a central distribution center.

Warehouse replenishment assumes that you maintain inventory information in CWSerenade for each warehouse you need to replenish. The process evaluates the replenishment requirement of the 'To' warehouse and allocates stock in the 'From' warehouse based on this inventory information. You create, work with, and confirm replenishment requests solely through the Replenish Warehouses function.

Standard Warehouse Replenishment

The standard replenishment process:

• analyzes the inventory level in the warehouse being replenished (the 'To' warehouse) to determine if it requires additional inventory to reach capacity.

• analyzes the inventory levels in pickable locations in the warehouse being used to replenish the warehouse (the 'From' warehouse) to determine the amount of inventory available to transfer.

• allocates the inventory to replenish in the locations in the 'From' warehouse where it should be picked, increasing the Printed quantity and Reserve transfer quantity fields to reflect the allocated quantity.

• processes transfer (T) inventory transactions when you confirm the replenishment request. Inventory in the locations in the 'From' warehouse is decreased; inventory in the auto-restock location in the 'To' warehouse is increased. The printed quantity and reserve transfer quantity fields are decreased, and any resulting postings to the general ledger interface are made at this time as well.

• allows you to use the confirmed Warehouse Replenishment Control table to place the inventory in actual locations in the 'To' warehouse if the Receive restock transfers field for the warehouse is selected.

You determine how and when to replenish items within warehouses by completing fields in the Warehouse table and the Item Warehouse table.

Warehouse table: Complete the following fields for the 'To' warehouse to indicate where to place replenishment transfers initially, and whether you will be using CWSerenade to put the stock away in specific locations.

Auto restock location: This field specifies the location in the 'To' warehouse where the system should place inventory when you confirm a replenishment request. The system transfers the inventory from the location where it was picked in the 'From' warehouse to the auto-restock location in the 'To' warehouse.

Receive restock transfers: Select this field to indicate that the replenishment request should remain on the system after you confirm it. If the request remains on the system, you can select Place stock in the Replenish Warehouses function to place stock, or transfer the stock from the auto-restock location to its ultimate location after confirmation. The system will delete the replenishment request when this placement is complete. If you unselect this field, the system deletes the request after you confirm it; you will need to use an inventory transaction to place the stock.

Item Warehouse table: The following fields in the Item Warehouse table determine which items will be replenished and the replenishment quantity.

Reservation freeze: This field determines whether the item will be evaluated for replenishment. The item must be reservable in both the warehouse being replenished (the 'To' warehouse) and in the warehouse that is being used for the replenishment (the 'From' warehouse) to be evaluated for replenishment.

Min qty, Max qty, Reorder qty: If the item is eligible for replenishment, the system uses these fields to determine the replenishment quantity for the 'To' warehouse.

The Min qty field indicates the minimum number of units that should be kept in the warehouse. When the on-hand quantity of the item in the warehouse falls below this amount, the item is eligible for replenishment. If there is a quantity in the Reorder qty field, the system will attempt to replenish this amount. If you do not specify a reorder quantity, the system will attempt to replenish the difference between the on-hand quantity and the Max qty field.

You should not set up the Min qty and Max qty in your 'From' warehouse if you plan to replenish all warehouses at once.

Protected qty: This field for the 'From' warehouse is used in the replenishment calculation. This setting indicates the number of units that should remain in the 'From' warehouse so that inventory in this warehouse is not depleted in the replenishment process.

Determining the items to replenish: Each reservable item in the 'To' warehouse is evaluated to determine if it requires replenishing. If the Reservation freeze status of an item in either the 'To' warehouse or the 'From' warehouse is selected, the item will not be replenished.

Calculating the quantity required: If the item's on-hand quantity in the warehouse being replenished is less than the minimum amount for the item (from the Min qty field for the Item Warehouse), the following occurs:

• If a quantity is specified in the Reorder field for the Item Warehouse, the system requests this replenishment amount.

• If no reorder quantity is specified, the system calculates the replenishment quantity by subtracting the on-hand quantity from the maximum quantity.

Note: There can be only one replenishment request for each 'To' warehouse. If there is an open replenishment request for the warehouse, the system does not evaluate the items in the warehouse for further replenishment.

Determining where to get the inventory: Once the replenishment quantity required for the 'To' warehouse is calculated, the system evaluates the locations from which the inventory can be picked in the 'From' warehouse, and the quantities available to pick.

For example, there may not be enough inventory in the 'From' warehouse to meet the replenishment requirements for the 'To' warehouse, or the required amount may come from more than one location in the 'From' warehouse.

The system uses the following system control values in determining where to pick the inventory in both standard process and outlet transfer replenishment:

• Pickable Setting for Analyzing Replenishment Locations (G63): This field controls whether to use only pickable locations, only nonpickable locations, or both pickable and nonpickable.

• Type of Location to Search First in Warehouse Replenishment (G64): This field controls whether to search primary, secondary, or bulk locations first.

• Type of Location to Search Second in Warehouse Replenishment (G65): This field controls whether to search primary, secondary, or bulk locations second, if there is no inventory available for an item in the first type of location specified.

• Type of Location to Search Third in Warehouse Replenishment (G66): This field controls whether to search primary, secondary, or bulk locations second, if there is no inventory available for an item in the first two type of location specified.

The system does not consider inventory in temporary locations in warehouse replenishment.

Important: If all of the three "type of location" system control values are blank, the system will never create a replenishment request.

Calculating the quantity to move: The system determines the quantity available for replenishment in a location by subtracting the printed and pending transfer quantities from the on-hand quantity.

The system evaluates all appropriate locations (as specified using the system control values described above) in sequence until the replenishment amount is reached, or until there are no more locations to evaluate. The system attempts to move the inventory from a single location whenever possible. Inventory will be moved from multiple locations only when the full replenishment amount cannot be moved from a single location.

Generating the warehouse replenishment request: As the system evaluates the items to replenish and the locations in the 'From' warehouse from which to pick the inventory, a record for each transfer transaction is added to the replenishment request in an allocated (A) status.

The following system updates occur within the 'From' warehouse as the replenishment request is generated:

• The Printed quantity for each item/location where inventory will be picked increases.

• The Reserve transfer quantity for the item/warehouse increases.

Unallocating items: You have the option of unallocating any items included in a replenishment request that you do not want to fulfill. When you unallocate an item, the status of the requested item changes to U and the Printed quantity and Reserve transfer quantity fields, described above, decrease. In addition, the Requested quantity and Actual quantity for the item within the replenishment request are reset to zero. When you confirm the request, these items will not be transferred.

Confirming the transfer: When you confirm a warehouse replenishment request, the system processes "T" type inventory transactions to transfer the stock. The following system updates occur:

‘From’ Warehouse	‘To’ Warehouse
The On-hand quantity for each Item/Location where inventory was picked decreases	The On-hand quantity of each item increases in the auto-restock location for the warehouse
The Reserve transfer quantity for each Item/Warehouse record decreases
The Printed quantity for each Item/Location record decreases

In addition:

• Inventory Transaction History is written.

• The confirmed replenishment request is either retained (in a C status) or deleted from the system, depending upon how the Receive restock transfers field in the Warehouse table for the 'To' warehouse is set.

• The General Ledger Interface table is updated based on the transfer.