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Warehouse Move

Moving warehouses can be a daunting prospective but good organization can break it into manageable sections and tasks. This article outlines some considerations or ideas for what to consider while creating a plan. Tracking the inventory from one location to another is a main highlight and potential pain point that won't always have a perfect methodology, so a few ideas are listed below, to either utilize or hopefully springboard more individualized concepts for an operation.

Moving Inventory

There are multiple options when moving your inventory from one warehouse to another with WOS.

Option 1: For the “easiest” move, your team should make sure that all of the locations the current warehouse get created in the new warehouse.  When your team is ready to move the inventory:
  1. Apply a label or sticky note to the inventory in your current warehouse, showing which location it’s in
  2. If location labels are removable, this could be made simpler by taking the location label off the shelf and putting it directly on the bin carrying the inventory
  3. Remove the inventory from the shelf and transport it to the new warehouse
  4. Place the inventory onto the shelf that matches the location from the old warehouse

    Pros: No scanning, inventory stays where it is as far as WOS location
    Cons: Can’t rearrange the new warehouse, system can’t tell what has been moved
Option 2: Perform a single “move” function.  Very similar to the above, but this works better if the new warehouse has entirely new locations so there isn’t any overlap.  When your team is ready to move inventory:
  1. Apply a label or sticky note to the inventory in your current warehouse, showing which location it’s in
    1. If location labels are removable, this could be made simpler by taking the location label off the shelf and putting it directly on the bin carrying the inventory
  2. Remove the inventory from the shelf and transport it to the new warehouse
  3. At the new warehouse, perform a “Move” function out of the location on the label into the new location in the new warehouse

    Pros: Single transaction to move inventory into a new location, transactions can show where something came from and went to
    Cons: Recommended to have a barcoded location label on the items before it’s moved to the new warehouse, otherwise a lot of manual typing of locations to move from will become tedious and allow for human error

 

Option 3: Whether you use all your old locations, or add new ones as well, your team could clear out all the inventory at the current warehouse and then do a cycle count or put at the new warehouse for created inventory.  When your team is ready to move inventory:
  1. Pull the inventory off the shelf in WOS and transport it to the new warehouse
    1. An Inventory Pull or a Cycle Count can be used.  
    2. Cycle Count provides the benefit that the quantity doesn’t need to be known.  Count the location as Empty and it will clear out whatever is there
  2. Use the Put or Cycle Count function to add the inventory to a location at the new warehouse

    Pros: Labels aren’t needed before moving inventory, opportunity to count inventory and ensure accurate numbers
    Cons: No accountability to make sure the quantity in the old warehouse is fully moved to the new warehouse

Option 4: Use transition locations to track inventory between the warehouses. To do this create one or multiple locations designated for in-transit inventory. This could be just a single dump location if preferred. Or if moving inventory on pallets or another contained method, create locations per container and print them out. When your team is ready to move the inventory:

  1. Use the Bulk Move function to move all inventory from the individual locations in the old warehouse into the transition location as items are taken off the shelves
  2. Transfer the inventory to the new warehouse, kept organized by container if applicable
  3. Use the Move function to move inventory from the transition location into the new warehouse location as it's placed on the shelf

    Pros: Full visibility as inventory moves between warehouses, better organization
    Cons:     Can add some additional work on the iPad and organization setup, can cause issues if not all inventory for an item is physically moved into the new warehouse location but is on the iPad

Naming Locations

A new warehouse can often mean a new layout, which sometimes can benefit from new location naming or structuring.  

There are various potential options for new location names if you decide that you will be naming the new warehouse differently. Below are some basic options that could be considered as an updated format for the new warehouse. Note: these all follow the same configuration of Row-Bay-Tier-Slot.

01-01-A-02

6A14B1

A:8:A:145

101-9-1-2 (Standard Format)

 

Cycle Count

No matter the method used to move the inventory from the old warehouse to the new warehouse, it is recommendable to perform a complete cycle count of the new warehouse once all items are physically moved in. Any method can have it's issues and room for human error, so getting a clean start will be important for ensuring accurate inventory levels in the new warehouse.