Table of Contents

Location Types, Capacity, and Restrictions

Location types, capacity calculations, and restrictions are crucial for proper warehouse management. All capacity and restriction settings are always checked when transferring a handling unit. This page covers location type setup, capacity calculations, and restriction configuration.

In this article

Location Types

Enter a location type on the location card. This is a type or grouping of locations. For example, each location with a different height has been given a different location type code in which the sizes have been entered.

You can specify the dimensions (length, width, height) and weight per location type to define the physical constraints and capacity of locations with that type.

Capacity Calculation

The Calculation Capacity checkmark indicates that you want the location capacity to be calculated for the locations with this location type code. After each transaction, the location capacity is recalculated so that it is always up-to-date.

Based on Dimensions

When using dimension-based capacity:

  1. Enable "Calculate Capacity" in the location type settings
  2. Use Job Queue Task 33 (from task 11154689) to keep capacity calculations up to date and maintain good performance
  3. Use Carrier Put-away Method to see the combinations and calculations based on the dimensions of the handling unit type groups
  4. Use the Location Capacity page to view capacity per location and handling unit type group

For example, if you have a location type code where you can store multiple carriers, then you want to know the capacity of these locations and how many carriers of which Handling Unit Type you can still store. Therefore, make sure the master data of the Handling Unit Types is correct. If this is correct, you can perform the calculation through the Carrier Put-away Method. With this calculation, the system can calculate the capacity of locations. You can always check the location capacity of any location by clicking on Location Capacity in the Location List.

Based on Integer Max. No. of Carriers

You can also set capacity based on the maximum number of carriers that can be stored in a location, regardless of dimensions.

Fixed per Item (Fixed Number of Handling Units per Customer Item)

On bulk locations the physical dimensions of a location often say little about how many handling units really fit: it depends on the item, on how many layers of that item may be stacked and on how the handling units are stacked. With the put-away method Fixed per Item 3PL Dynamics defines the capacity of a location type as a fixed number of handling units per customer item, instead of deriving it from the length, width or surface of the location.

Note

The pages in this section still use the term "Carrier" in some captions (Carrier/Location Put-away Method, Carrier Type Code Group, Carrier Type Group Code). Carrier is the technical name for a handling unit.

Set the put-away method

On Carrier/Location Put-away Method, set Put-away Method to Fixed per Item for the combination of Location Type Code and Carrier Type Code Group (the handling unit type group).

The following rules apply when you choose this method:

  • All lines of one location type must use the same put-away method as soon as Fixed per Item is involved. You cannot set one handling unit type group of a location type to Fixed per Item while another group of the same location type still uses Normal, Rotated 90 degrees or Surface (and the other way around). The system then shows: You cannot set Put-away Method to Fixed per Item for location type <code>, because there are already records for this location type with a different Put-away Method.
  • A location type whose locations are child locations (positions of a parent location) cannot use Fixed per Item. The system then shows: You cannot set Put-away Method to Fixed per Item for location type <code>, because there are already locations (<location>) of this location type that are child locations.

Set the capacity per customer item

The capacity itself is stored per customer item, location type and handling unit type group on the Cust. Item Loc. Capacity page. You can open this page from three places:

  • Customer Item Card > Warehouse > Fixed Location Capacity: the lines of this customer item, for all location types.
  • Carrier/Location Put-away Method > Item Location Capacity: the lines of the selected location type / handling unit type group, for all customer items.
  • WMS Location Capacity > Item Location Capacity: the same view, from the location capacity of a location.

Per line you enter:

Field Description
Customer Item No., Location Type Code, Carrier Type Group Code The combination this capacity applies to.
Max. No. of HU The maximum number of handling units of this customer item that one location of this location type may hold. This is the value the capacity check uses.
Max. Stacking Height The maximum number of handling unit layers (a number of layers, not a physical dimension).
Stacking Method How the handling units of this item are stacked on the location: Straight or Pyramid.
Note

Max. Stacking Height and Stacking Method are not used by the capacity check itself; the check only counts handling units against Max. No. of HU. They describe how the location is to be built up, must be identical for customer items that share a location (see below) and can be read in a scan process with scan function 59. Get Customer Item Location Capacity.

A Cust. Item Loc. Capacity line cannot be deleted while handling units of that customer item are still stored on a Fixed per Item location of that location type / handling unit type group.

How the capacity is checked

As soon as a location type has a Fixed per Item line on Carrier/Location Put-away Method, the dimension check is replaced by a handling unit count for every location of that type:

  1. The customer item is taken from the first content line of the handling unit that is being transferred.
  2. There must be a Cust. Item Loc. Capacity line for that customer item, the location type and the handling unit type group. Without a line the location has no capacity for the handling unit.
  3. If another customer item is already on the location, its capacity line must have exactly the same Max. No. of HU, Max. Stacking Height and Stacking Method. Otherwise the items cannot be mixed and the location has no capacity.
  4. The handling units already on the location plus the open warehouse activities (with a handling unit type) that are going to the location are counted; the handling unit being transferred is not counted. The location has capacity as long as this count is lower than Max. No. of HU.

On the WMS Location Capacity page, Fixed per Item handling units do not consume length or width; the maximum capacity shown for the location is the Max. No. of HU of the customer item stored on it.

Tip

Because the capacity per location type is now maintained on Cust. Item Loc. Capacity, the older Location Type Capacity action (capacity per unit of measure) is hidden by default on the customer item card and lists, and the fields Max. Quantity (Base), Length (Unit of Measure), Width (Unit of Measure) and Height (Unit of Measure) are hidden by default on the Location Type Capacity page. Use personalization if you still need them.

Restrictions

When specifying the location types you can set restrictions for the location types. For example, in this warehouse height is very important. Therefore, the restriction is active where the system needs to take the height into account. So when the height of a carrier is 180cm, it cannot be stored on a location with location type B-160M because it has an 18-MAXHEIGHT restriction and a height of 160 cm. In the table filter you can set a filter when the restriction applies or when not, the same goes for the Criteria Function Set. Besides, you also set when this restriction applies in the Transfer Direction. You can therefore set the restriction to be active when you move a carrier TO this location or FROM this location. In addition, there are many more different restrictions that you can set, for example, the maximum weight or that there can be a maximum of one customer item on this location.

Current Examples

The system includes various restriction examples such as:

  • Temperature-controlled zones
  • Hazardous material restrictions
  • Customer-specific zones
  • Item condition requirements
  • Maximum height restrictions
  • Maximum weight restrictions
  • Single customer item per location
  • Maximum date difference between batches on a location (see Max Date Based on Reservation Method)

Note: There is a whole library of restriction functions available to meet specific business requirements.

Max Date Based on Reservation Method

On a bulk location you often want to store several batches of the same customer item together, as long as their dates lie close enough together to keep the picking order reliable. The restriction Max date based on Reservation Method (function code 39-MAX_DATE_RESMETH) makes this possible: it blocks a transfer to a location when the date of the incoming batch lies outside the allowed margin of the dates already stored on, or on their way to, that location.

Which date is compared and how large the margin is, comes from the customer item:

  • Reservation method: Receipt Date, Production Date or Expiration Date. When the reservation method is blank, the restriction does not block anything.
  • Reservation Tolerance: a date formula such as 7D or 1M that defines the allowed margin. When it is blank, the dates must be identical.

These are the same fields that allocation uses, see Reservation Methods.

The restriction works as follows:

  1. The incoming date is read from the handling unit content line (customer item, handling unit and batch) of the line being transferred, according to the reservation method. When there is no content line or the date is empty, the transfer is not blocked.
  2. The incoming date is compared with the same date of every handling unit content line already on the destination location, and with the open warehouse activities that are going to that location. Content lines and activities without a date are skipped.
  3. Two dates are within the margin when the later date is not later than the earlier date plus the Reservation Tolerance. The comparison works both ways, so an older incoming batch is checked against newer batches on the location just like a newer batch against older ones.
  4. The first date outside the margin blocks the transfer with the message: Location already contains a batch with a date (<existing date>) outside the reservation margin of the incoming batch (<incoming date>).

The check looks at the destination location of the transfer, so attach the function with Transfer Direction set to To Location (see How to Attach Location Restrictions).

Tip

If the dates must always be identical regardless of the reservation method, the exact-match restrictions 7-MAX_1_THT (Max. 1 Expiration Date per Location) and 36-MAX_1_PROD (Max. 1 Production Date per Location) are still available.

How to Attach Location Restrictions

To attach location restrictions to a location type, use the action buttons:

  1. Restrictions: Set up restriction functions for the location type
  2. Restriction Specifications: Define detailed restriction specifications

Restriction Specifications

Within the restriction specifications, you can define which values are explicitly allowed or disallowed for a specific location type.

For instance:

  • You can configure that items with a dangerous goods code are not permitted at a certain location type.
  • You can require a specific unit of measure for a location type.
  • You can mandate or exclude specific customers at the location type level.
  • A wide range of additional configuration options is available to tailor restrictions to your specific operational needs.
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