How to Use Bins for Inventory Management

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A Bin is a specific storage location where parts and inventory items are kept. This could be physical storage bins or containers, shelf locations, storage racks, mobile vans, or any designated storage area.

Setting Up a Bin Mandatory Location

Before you can use bins, you must configure a location to require them for all inventory movements.
    In the top-right corner, choose the Search icon, enter Locations, and select the related link.
    Open the card for the location you want to setup.
    On the Warehouse FastTab, enable the Bin Mandatory slider. This setting ensures that no item can be received or shipped from this location without a specific bin being assigned.
    (Optional) In the Default Bin Selection field, you can choose how the system suggests bins:
  • Fixed Bin: Places the item in the first available bin.
  • Last Used Bin: Places the item in the bin that was most recently used for it in purchase documents or journals.

Creating Bins

Once a location is bin mandatory, you need to create the physical bin locations.
    From the Location Card, select Bins action from the menu bar.
    On the Bins page, select New to create a new bin and give it a Code (e.g., A1, A2, A3) and Description. Repeat this for all the bins you need to create.

Receiving Items into Bins via Purchase Order

When you purchase items that will be stored in a bin-mandatory location, you must specify which bin they will go into.
    Create a Purchase Order as you normally would.
    In the purchase lines, set the location code to your bin-mandatory location, and specify the destination bin code (Use  personalisation⁠  to show the column if not visible) and quantity for each item.
    Post the document by selecting Post and then Receive and Invoice. The system will create positive warehouse entries, increasing the inventory in the specified bins.
Note: The Item Ledger Entry will only record the movement at the location level. The specific bin information is stored in the Warehouse Entries.

Selling Items from Bins via Jobsheet

When selling an item from a bin-mandatory location, you must specify which bin the item is being taken from.
    Create a Jobsheet and add the items to the lines. Ensure the Location Code is set to the bin-mandatory location.
    For each item line, you must select a Bin Code. If you fail to do this, the system will show an error during posting, stating that the bin code is missing.

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    Post the jobsheet. This action creates negative warehouse entries, decreasing the inventory from the specified bins.

Checking Bin Contents and Movements

You can easily check the contents of any bin or see where a specific item is located.
To See all Items in a Specific Bin:
    Open the Location Card and select the Bins action from the menu bar.

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    Select the bin you want to check and click on Contents. This page shows all items and their quantities within that single bin.
To See All Bins Containing a Specific Item:
    Open the Item Card.
    Go to Related > Warehouse > Bin Content. This shows a list of all bins where that item is currently stored.
To View the Movement History of an Item in a Bin:
    Go to the Bin Content page (using either method above).
    Click on the value in the Quantity(base) field. This will open the Warehouse Entries for that item in that specific bin, showing a complete history of receipts and shipments.

Performing a Physical Inventory Count with Bins

When performing a stocktake for a bin-mandatory location, the system can break down the inventory by bin.
    Open the Physical Inventory Journal.
    Select Prepare, then Calculate Inventory.
    In the request page, set the Location Code filter to your bin-mandatory location and click OK.
    The journal will populate with the calculated quantities. To see the bin for each line, you may need to add the Bin Code column using  personalisation⁠ .
    The journal will now display the quantity of each item in each specific bin, ready for you to count and make adjustments.


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