How to name and label warehouse bin locations

Build the code from the way someone moves through the warehouse: aisle, then bay, then shelf level. A-04-02 reads as aisle A, bay 04, level 02. A picker can work out where that is without looking it up.

• Use the same number of digits every time. A-04-02 sorts correctly, while A-4-12 lands after A-30-01 in a spreadsheet.
• Avoid letters that look like numbers. O and 0, or I and 1, get misread on a worn label.
• Do not put the contents in the code. Products move. A code that says "BOLTS-1" is wrong the day the bolts go elsewhere.
• One code for one physical spot, never two.

The site says which warehouse. The zone says what part of it, such as Cold Room or Returns. The code says where inside that. Keep those three apart instead of stuffing them into one long code, and you can count one zone at a time, which is how a cycle count usually works.

In Varify a bin code only has to be unique within its site, and it is matched without regard to capitals, so a-04-12 and A-04-02 are the same bin.

Stick every label in the same place: the front of the shelf beam at eye height for the lower levels, and a consistent position on racking above. A counter should not have to hunt for it.

Use a label big enough to read from a metre away, and cover it with something that survives forklift traffic if that is a problem in your aisles.

Open a bin and print one item, a selection, or everything assigned to that bin. Each opens as a PDF ready for a label printer, in 100mm x 50mm or 100mm x 200mm. Every label carries a QR code holding the SKU and the bin code, so scanning it during a count jumps straight to that item at that bin.

Labels belong to an item in a bin, so a bin holding five items has five labels. The full steps, with screenshots, are in How It Works.

Adding bins one by one is fine for a handful. For a full warehouse, put the codes in your import file and load them together with the items. The import creates bins and zones it has not seen before, so a typo makes a new bin. Check the codes before you upload. The import guide covers the cleanup.

When you re-rack or move a zone, give the new positions new codes and reprint the labels, instead of reusing old codes for different spots. Reusing a code for a different spot makes past counts for that code misleading.