How proper bin location naming can make everything easier

Introduction

In this blog post we are going to talk about something a lot of companies don’t do effectively – naming bin locations in a warehouse. Can having a uniformed bin naming policy throughout your warehouses really make a difference? Let’s find out.

Designing your warehouse bin-location-matrix. Why bother?

There’s no doubt, the bin location is the cornerstone of the supply chain. Only when your bin locations are properly set up and bear well-thought out understandable names, you can effectively do the tasks of finding, storing, moving, putting inventory away, taking it out of your warehouse, audits and cycle counts. By putting a bin number scheme in place, you can make picking inventory to fulfil shipments far more efficient and, therefore, improve customer service greatly! Once you design a proper pick path guiding your workers through storage space, it’ll strike you that man-hours have been considerably reduced which surely results in money savings. Moreover, bin numbering amplifies visibility which likewise leads to efficiency gains.

Some tips on how to set up bin locations

• Try to break down your space into manageable smaller subspaces.

If you have a huge storage area, this is most advisable. Name each zone using alphabetic characters or numbers – this is going to be the first element of the location address “code”. Let’s say we are looking for a unit in zone Z1.
Our location address contains Z1-..-..-..-.. for now.

• Location names should ascend from bottom to top and from left to right

Once we get to the “zone” level, label the aisles with alphabetic characters or numbers. We are in aisle A1. Each aisle needs sectioning as well. Assign numbers to sections (bays). Next, number shelves (levels) off the floor. Within each shelving, assign numbers to positions (“bins”) from left to right, just like you did with sections. Let’s say we are looking for section S2,shelf SH3, position P1
Now our bin location code goes like this Z1-A1-S2-SH3-P1.

• Sections must be labelled and easily viewed

Use a consistent method of creating location names, otherwise all this may end up being counter-productive.

Bin location naming with HF

HandiFox is designed to support the common 'Aisle, Bay, Shelf, Bin' configuration of warehouses, providing easy, logical access to a physical location in the warehouse. However, this format can vary, based on your warehouse layout.

With HandiFox it is possible to monitor how many items of a particular product are stored in a particular location at any time. What’s more, the pick list in HF reflects the pick path, so it’s your job to make this picking tour as quick and easy as possible.