Locating inventory (often referred to as putaway)
a. This is the process of moving received inventory from the dock, kitting, or
production department to a storage bin
b. The simplest form of putaway is called user directed putaway where the operator
determines where to place the inventory and uses the portable terminal to record
the movement
c. A more advanced form of putaway is called system directed putaway where the
WMS determines the bin in which the inventory is to be stored and directs the
operator to place the inventory in the assigned bin – there are several different
methods for assigning storage bins that will be discussed in a subsequent article
d. Using system directed putaway along with inventory allocation as described next
can lead to significant space savings when the system is configured properly