A warehouse management system (WMS) requires the warehouse bin locations to be barcoded for efficient usage. Barcoding eliminates the manual entry of data and the inherent risk of typing mistakes; scanning barcoded data is much faster than typing.
The naming of the bin locations should be designed to give a ‘grid map’ of the warehouses / yards / storage areas so it is clear where each bin location is situated within each branch.
Any ‘guidance’ that will be given during picking operations in the WMS will normally use an alphanumeric bin sequence. Therefore, when designing the bin code format, thought also needs to be given to the most efficient ‘walk’ around the warehouse when typically picking stock.
Two common examples of a naming convention are described below.
