Inventory · Daily operations · 9 min read

Work with tasks, waves, handling units and the scanner

Turn transfers into pick, put-away and pack tasks, release them in waves, pack into cartons and pallets, and work them on a hand-held scanner.

Before you begin

• On Inventory > Configuration > Routes & operations, tick Work through tasks for the operations that should raise tasks, and Must be packed where items must be in a package before the transfer is done.
• The Waves, batches and handling units switch must be on for waves and packages.
• A transfer must be Ready before it can become tasks.

Work warehouse tasks

1. Open Inventory > Operations > Warehouse tasks. Use the Open only filter to hide finished work.
2. Click Assign to me on a task. Each task belongs to one person.
3. Click Complete. Enter Done (between zero and what the task asks). For a put-away task choose Put away in; the suggested bin is filled in. You can choose another bin, but it must be inside the transfer's destination and not blocked.
4. If you cannot do it, click Block and give Blocked because. A blocked task cannot be completed until you click Unblock.

When the last task of a transfer is completed, the system validates the transfer with the quantities the tasks recorded and stock moves.

Create and release a wave

A wave releases the tasks of several ready transfers together, in pick-path order (the walk order of the bins).

1. Open Inventory > Operations > Waves & batches and click New wave.
2. Choose the Kind: Wave or Batch (several orders, one trip) or Cluster (one tote per order).
3. Choose the Warehouse.
4. Choose the Transfers, or leave blank to take every ready transfer of that warehouse not already in a wave.
5. Click Create wave, then Release.

A draft transfer cannot join a wave and a transfer can be in one wave only. If nothing is ready the system says there is nothing ready to pick. A released wave cannot be released again. Cancel wave works on a draft wave and frees its transfers; a finished wave cannot be cancelled.

Pack into handling units

1. On an open delivery click Pack into a new carton, or open Inventory > Operations > Handling units and click New package.
2. Choose the Type (pallet, carton, box, tote, container or custom) and the transfer or location it is on.
3. Click Put stock in and choose product, lot or serial, and quantity. You cannot pack more than was picked for the line.
4. To stack, set Put on / in to another open package. A package cannot go inside itself or its own child.
5. Enter the Weight (kg) if you ship by weight.
6. Click Seal when packed. An empty package cannot be sealed.

Other actions: Take out, Move whole unit to another unblocked internal location, Unpack, and Relabel. Every package has an LPN, and an SSCC if a GS1 company prefix is set in the stock policy. A shipped package cannot be moved. Inventory > Operations > Stock by package shows what each stored package holds.

Use the scanner

1. Open Inventory > Operations > Scanner on a phone or hand-held.
2. Pick one of My tasks.
3. Scan the bin. A wrong bin is refused: 'Wrong bin: this task picks from <code>.'
4. Scan the product (or its packaging barcode, which pre-fills the factor), then the lot or serial.
5. Enter the Quantity and confirm.
6. For put-away, scan the destination bin.

Each step gives feedback such as 'At A-01. Scan the product.' A wrong product is an error counted on the task, never accepted. Scan errors appear in Reporting > Warehouse productivity.

If the network drops, the scanner shows 'Offline: saved, will send when the connection is back.' and queues your scans. Click Send now or wait. Sending the same scan twice changes nothing.

To find out what a code is, use Inventory > Planning > Barcode lookup. It recognises products, packaging barcodes, GS1 strings such as (01)06291041500213(10)LOT7, lots, serials, bins and handling units, and prints product and package labels.

What happens next

Completed tasks feed the productivity report: tasks, lines, units, minutes per task and scan errors by person.

Good to know

• Tasks created from a draft transfer are refused: only a ready transfer can be turned into tasks.
• Nobody else can complete your task unless it is reassigned.