Back in 2009 we talked about it being a problem for us that picking sequences are limited to 4 characters. We are trying to reorganize our warehouse and this limitation is still creating problems for us. There are some items we have so much of that we can't fit it all in one location or one bin, so we spread it out to 2 or 3 locations (i.e. B3, C5 and D2). When I requested that the picking sequence be longer than 4 characters in 2009, the response from Andrew was, "Some of the reports are printed in bin sequence (for picking). How can we handle more than a single bin for an item?" So, with that said, my understanding is that Softrak's intention is for each item to be located in only 1 bin and the bin location be entered into the picking sequence field that is limited to 4 characters. So since it's not possible for some businesses to fit all of one particular item into one bin, would it be a better solution then to have more than 1 Picking Sequence field available on each item? Maybe between 3 or 5 Picking Sequences could be available per item? Either that or give us more characters in the Picking Sequence so that we can enter it as B3C5D2. I understand that it might not be perfect for reporting in order by pick sequence, but it's more important that we have a way to find the product.

Hi Susan

I've never run into a situation where a company stocks an item in two bins and ships out of both bins simultaneously - they always ship out of one bin and call the other bin the overflow bin. And they replenish to the shipping bin as needed. Otherwise, how would the order entry clerk know what bin to enter for the order?

If that's the case, you only need one picking sequence. The overflow bin is really considered another location and you enter a stock transfer to record the replenishing. You can have different picking sequences for the same item in different locations in Adagio.

Steve

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your reply. First I'm confused by your question, "how would the order entry clerk know what bin to enter for the order". Are you referring to picking sequences or warehouse locations? The order entry clerk doesn't select the picking sequence, it is defined in Inventory. The order entry clerk selects only the warehouse location.

We have multiple warehouse locations. One for each city where we have a warehouse. They are all on our system. What I'm talking about is stock that is in one warehouse location (i.e. Trenton) but it is in more than one physical location within the warehouse. Are you saying that the overflow bin should be recorded as a separate warehouse location? That would create so much extra work to keep track of and doesn't seem reasonable.

Hi Susan,

One reason for not (yet) increasing the size of the picking sequence field is that this requires a database conversion and would break compatibility with a number of other applications (including Purchase Orders for Adagio). We have to release a new version of PO before even being able to consider this change.

Was your desire for the increased width of the picking sequence to store all the possible physical places for the item within the warehouse Location, so that when a picking slip was generated for shipping, all the different places for stock can be looked for? That is what I am implying from your initial post.

Hi Softrak Support,

Yes, if the picking sequence spaces were increased from the current limit of 4 characters, we could fit more locations into that field. All the possible locations would print on the pick list (i.e. B3C5D2) and the person picking would be able to find all the available stock in our warehouse of that item by looking in those 3 locations. Some of our locations contain 3 characters (i.e. B13) in which case we can't fit even a second location in the pick sequence field because of the limit of 4 characters.

It looks like Sage responded to customer's who were complaining, "Currently, MAS 90 only allows one bin location per warehouse. Frequently businesses have more items than possible to store in one bin location, and distributing the items to multiple bin locations would simplify physical counts and picking orders."

Sage now has, "Multi-Bin Advanced Distribution" for the Sage MAS 90 and Sage MAS 200 applications developed by Sage Software. You can track multiple bin locations per item/warehouse, providing you details about the exact bin location, the amount available in each bin location, and the amount available for distribution – giving you control of your inventory at all times.

We don't even need it to be that extensive. We just need to be able to find our product. Currently with the limitation of only 1 picking sequence per item at only 4 characters, it's just not enough space to alert us to where to find the product. So, a solution could be to make the pick sequence field longer. Or another solution would be to have more than one pick sequence field available per item.

I have to agree with Susan. The four character field size is too limiting. We have inventory in two or three different locations within one building, and also spread out between two other buildings. Because we sell/ship a large volume of certain items during the summer, we must build up stock levels. Therefore the product is stored wherever we can find the room. During the winter our stock levels decline and one location is often enough.

We also run into problems when we have an item in one location and the supplier changes packaging. Suddenly that item requires two locations until another area can be found.

I don't even use the pick sequence because of the location field size (though I would like to). We are hiring a new shipper and it would be much quicker to train him. As is, I'm using our old accounting system to print location sheets and most likely to do our inventory count at year end.

As much as I love the new system, this is it's one glaring shortcoming.

Mike

Can you use one of the Item optional fields? Do you need to know the quantity in each bin, or just that items might be found there?

We don't need to know the quantity in each bin. That would add more tedious work to keep track of. We just need to know all the locations where a particular item is stored so we can find it. The easiest solution for us would be to increase the picking sequence field to 8 characters.

Adagio Inventory has 3 optional string fields that are 35 characters long. These fields are available to be printed on a picking slip.

Is there a reason you cannot use one of these fields to solve the current problem?