Infer UOM from Scanned Barcode in Putaway Cart Transaction

With this release, WMS offers you enhanced capabilities to infer UOMs from vendor barcodes for the RF Putaway Cart module.

To support the UOM inference for the RF Putaway Cart module, we’ve introduced:

  • a new screen parameter infer-uom-from-item-barcode
  • a new hot key (Ctrl+K) to switch the UOM.

NEW SCREEN PARAMETER TO INFER UOM

Now, when you perform the RF Putaway Cart transaction, you can infer the UOM from the scanned barcode by configuring the screen parameter infer-uom-from-item-barcode (as “Yes”).

When you allocate Units, this feature is particularly useful since you can easily putaway the scanned quantity in terms of Packs or Cases without needing to compute the Unit quantity, while also eliminating any errors due to mistyping the UOM.

NOTE: By default, the parameter value is blank. Here, the system behavior is the same as a “No” value and will not infer the UOM from the scanned item barcode.

SWITCH UOM USING HOTKEY

On the other hand, if your actual allocated inventories have UOMs that are different from item’s primary UOM (i.e, Units/Cases/Packs/other non-primary UOM of the same class), it could be useful to change the UOM while performing putaway.

With the newly introduced hotkey “Ctrl+K”, you can easily switch the UOM via the SKU and quantity scan screen of the RF Putaway Cart module.

NOTE:

  • You can use the Ctrl+K hotkey to switch UOM only when the screen parameter infer-uom-from-item-barcode is set as <blank> or “No”. This is because you’d be inferring the UOM from the item barcode when the parameter is set as “Yes”.

  • When the Allocation UOM is in Cases, you can putaway the inventory only in terms of the Case UOM. So, if any other UOM is selected in the UOM selection screen, the system displays an error message: “Allocation UOM is not compatible with selected UOM”.

  • However, when the Allocation UOM is in Packs, you can perform the putaway in terms of the Packs UOM and Case UOM (higher package UOM). For Case UOM, the putaway is conditional to the allocated inventory case quantity being a multiple of the inventory pack quantity.
    So, if you select any other UOM other than the Package UOM (Case/Pack UOM) or if the allocated inventory case quantity is not a multiple of the inventory pack quantity, the system displays an error message: “Allocation UOM is not compatible with selected UOM”.

The following table informs you how the putaway quantity is computed when you hit the Switch UOM hotkey:

UOM TYPE SELECTED FOR SWITCHING

BEHAVIOR
Primary UOM The putaway quantity is computed according to the item’s Primary UOM.
Pack UOM Upon SKU and quantity scan, the putaway quantity is computed as (scanned quantity * inventory pack quantity).
Case UOM Upon SKU and quantity scan, the putaway quantity is computed as (scanned quantity * inventory case quantity).
Not a Primary/Pack/Case UOM Upon SKU and quantity scan, the putaway quantity is computed as (scanned quantity * UOM conversion factor).

Steps to Enable

To infer UOM from the scanned barcode during RF Putaway Cart:

  1. Configure the screen parameter infer-uom-from-item-barcode (as “Yes”).

To switch the UOM: 

  1. Go to the SKU and quantity scan screen of the RF Putaway Cart module.
  2. Hit the hotkeys “Ctrl+K”.