1. SCM (Supply Chain Management)
  2. Warehouse Management
  3. NetSuite WMS Setup
  4. Warehouse Management Records and Templates
  5. Configuring Records for Locations With Bins

Configuring Records for Locations With Bins

When you create locations that use bins, you can associate them with zones and bin records. You can also create strategies to specify zone priority and bin sorting for item putaway and order picking.

To create zones and bins, see the following topics:

To configure strategies, see Warehouse Management Strategies.

Creating Zones

Zones are areas in your warehouse that contain items with similar qualities or requirements. Some examples of warehouse zones might include an electronics zone, a special handling zone, or a refrigerated items zone.

In addition to helping you organize your warehouse, you can use zones in the definition of pick and putaway strategies.

When you create bin locations, you can assign them to zones. You may notice a performance impact if a zone has more than 4000 associated bins. You should create at least one zone record for each batch of 4000 bins in your warehouse. For information about bins, see Creating Bin Locations or Carts.

To create a zone:

  1. Go to Lists > Supply Chain > Zone > New.

  2. In the Name field, enter a name for your warehouse zone.

  3. In the Location field, select the warehouse location to which the zone belongs to.

    Note:

    This field displays only locations that use Warehouse Management. For more information, see Creating Warehouse Locations.

  4. Click Save.

Creating Bin Locations or Carts

Bin records define physical bin locations within your warehouse. To track on-hand inventory quantity in each bin, you can associate bin records with items. When you process orders for these items, NetSuite WMS displays the bin quantities on the receiving and fulfillment transactions.

For each warehouse and zone, you can create of the following bin types:

  • None – Default bin type

  • Inbound Staging – To stage received items, you can transfer them into this bin before you put them away

    You can set an Inbound Staging bin record as a cart and use it for processing cart moves through a mobile device.

  • Storage – Stores items after they are put away, but before they are picked, transferred, or moved

  • WIP – Stores assembly item components for work orders temporarily after they are picked, but before they are assembled

    If you use Manufacturing Mobile with Warehouse Management, you can enable Use Bin in Manufacturing Mobile for WIP bin types. This setting enables Manufacturing Mobile to access the WIP bin and specific capabilities on the NetSuite WMS app. For more information, see Creating a WIP Bin for Manufacturing Mobile.

  • Vendor Returns – Contains items that you want to return to vendors for picking

  • Picking – Stores items that can be processed for fulfillment and shipping

  • Outbound Staging – To stage picked items for sales or transfer orders, you must transfer picked items into this bin before you ship them out. Using this bin, you can also stage items picked for vendor returns.

Note:

You can create multiple bin records at one time by adding all of the bin information to a CSV (comma-separated value) file and using the Import Assistant to upload the data to NetSuite. Using the Administrator role, the Import Assistant is available at Setup > Import/Export > Import Tasks > Import CSV Records. For more information, see Importing CSV Files with the Import Assistant.

On your mobile device, the use of bin types depends on the process, as described in the following:

  • You can store, transfer, create inventory, and pick items in these bin types: Storage, Picking, or None.

  • You can remove Picking, None, Storage, and Inbound Staging bin types from the outbound order picking process through the Block Bins From Wave Order Picking setting. It includes removing a bin from bin lists and bin recommendations. The bin remains active and available for other mobile processes, such as inventory counting and bin transfers.

  • For the outbound order picking process, you can pick from Inbound Staging bins by enabling a setting on pick strategies. This setting does not apply to work order and vendor return picking. It excludes Inbound Staging bins that you block from the outbound order picking process. See Bin Sorting with Pick Strategies.

  • You can count items in all bin types, except those in WIP bins. See Inventory Counts.

To create a bin location or cart:

  1. Go to Lists > Supply Chain > Bin > New.

  2. On the Bin page, enter or select values in the following fields:

    • Bin Number – Enter a number or code to identify the bin or designate a bin location in your warehouse.

      For example, you want to create a bin numbering nomenclature that uses aisle, pallet position, and level in the format aisle-pallet position-level. You can assign the name A1-01-01 to the bin in the first aisle in the first pallet position of the first level.

    • Bin Type – Select the bin type.

      When you release orders to the warehouse, NetSuite WMS sorts bins by type to determine the recommended bin for picking. For more information, see Pick Task Sorting for Released Orders.

    • (Optional) Sequence Number – Enter the bin’s sequence number in relation to other bins in your warehouse.

      Bin sequence numbers are used to determine which bins in a warehouse zone take priority when you pick items. When NetSuite WMS suggests bins for outbound order and vendor return picking, the bins appear in ascending order by bin sequence number. See Pick Task Sorting for Released Orders.

    • Location – Select the warehouse location of this bin.

      The location cannot be changed after you save the bin record.

    • Zone – Select the warehouse zone in which this bin is located.

      Note:

      You may notice a performance impact if a zone has more than 4000 associated bins. You should not assign more than 4000 bins to the same zone. See Creating Zones.

      If you assign a zone to a bin, you can also set it up on strategies for outbound and vendor return picking. See Defining Pick Strategies.

  3. If you want to set an inbound staging bin as a cart, check the Set as a Cart box

  4. Depending on the bin type, you can check the Block Bin From Wave Order Picking box to remove this bin from the outbound order picking process.

  5. If you assign this bin as a preferred bin for an item and you want to replenish it using a plan, enter values in the following fields:

    • WMS Replen Max Qty – Enter the maximum number of an item the bin can contain after a replenishment.

    • WMS Replen Min Qty – Enter the minimum number of an item the bin should contain before a replenishment.

    • WMS Replen Qty – Enter the default quantity of an item to be used for replenishment tasks.

    • WMS Replen Round Qty – Enter the multiple to which the required replenishment quantity must be rounded down to determine the required number of replenishment tasks.

    For more information about inventory replenishment, see Replenishment.

  6. If you want to define putaway strategies, set the following fields:

    • WMS Zone - Select the warehouse zone you want to associate with this bin and to set up in a putaway strategy.

    • WMS Put Seq No - Enter the bin’s sequence number with regard to other bins in your warehouse.

    For more information about putaway strategies, see Putaway Strategies or Defining Putaway Strategies.

  7. (Optional) To specify more details about a bin’s location or position, you can set these fields: WMS Pallet Position, WMS Aisle, or WMS Level.

  8. For a WIP bin type, you can check the Use Bin in Manufacturing Mobile box if you want to use the bin for the Manufacturing Mobile processes.

  9. Click Save.

After you create bin records, you can set up item records for use with bin locations. See Creating Items for NetSuite WMS or Moving Existing Items To Bin Locations.

Moving Existing Items To Bin Locations

If you have existing items in your NetSuite account and you want to associate them with bins, you can move those items to their storage bin locations using the WMS Bin Putaway Worksheet record type in the Import Assistant.

For more information, see Importing CSV Files with the Import Assistant or Items Import.

To move existing items to bin locations:

  1. Create a CSV (comma-separated value) file with the following data:

    • Item

    • Name

    • Putaway Quantity

    • Serial/Lot Number (if required)

    • To Bin Location

    • Units

    • WH Location

    Note:

    You can import up to 500 line items in a single CSV file.

  2. Log in to NetSuite WMS using the Administrator role.

  3. Go to Setup > Import/Export > Import CSV Records.

  4. Set the Import Type field to Custom Records.

  5. Set the Record Type field to WMS Bin Putaway Worksheet.

  6. Under CSV File(s), click Select.

  7. Open the file you created in step one.

  8. Click Next to move through the pages of the Import Assistant.

  9. Click Save & Run.

Related Topics

General Notices