Zones

A zone is an area of a warehouse whose bins all follow the same rules: whether stock sits loose on shelves or on pallets, which products and clients may go there, whether different products, lots or expiry dates may share a bin, and whether stock there can be picked at all. Zones are the most powerful part of the warehouse setup. Plan them with your LogisticaHQ partner before you create bins: a zone's rules decide what every operator's handheld will accept and refuse.

Create a zone

Open the warehouse: Setup > Warehouse > Warehouses, then click its code.
Scroll to Zones and click New.
Enter the Zone code, the Mask its bins will follow (see Bins), a Description, and the Product handling.
Click Submit, then click the new zone's code to set the rest of its rules.

The Zones section of a warehouse: zones A to D with their bin mask, product handling type and a Delete button, and New at the top right

A zone code can hold only letters and digits: A-01 is saved as A01.
Zone codes must be unique across all your warehouses, not only within one.

The zone's rules

Click a zone's code to open it. Change the settings and click Update.

Zone A's details: zone code, mask, warehouse, product handling By Product, printer, allowed categories, the quarantine, production and multiple-products switches, and its dimensions

Product handling: loose stock or pallets

Product handling	Meaning
By Product	Stock sits loose in bins: shelving, pick faces, cartons. This is where orders are normally picked from.
By LPN (bulk)	Stock sits on pallets or containers (LPNs) in the bins: racking, reserve, floor storage.

The two never mix. The handheld refuses loose product into a By LPN bin (Zone [A] only allows Bulk handling), an LPN into a By Product bin (Cannot move LPN to a non Bulk bin), loose product into a bin that holds an LPN, and an LPN into a bin that holds loose product. Stock on LPNs is only picked when the allocation option Allocate bulk is on; otherwise it is replenished to By Product bins first.

Settings

The zone rules: allowed categories, quarantine zone, production area, and whether bins may hold multiple products, client products, pack sizes, lots and expiries

Setting	What it does
Mask	The pattern proposed when you generate this zone's bins. See Bins.
Printer	The printer for carton labels when a wave is picked zone by zone. Without it, the company's default printer is used.
Allowed categories	Only products of these categories may be put in this zone, comma-separated, for example Frozen, Chilled. Anything else is refused: Cannot move product to [bin]. Category [X] is not allowed. Leave empty for any category.
Quarantine zone	Stock here is never allocated to orders, production or replenishment: it stays until someone moves it out. Use it for damaged, recalled or inspection stock.
Production area	The zone's bins are work areas where production orders are built. Their stock is never allocated to orders. See Production orders.
Production auto source	For a production area: a bin whose stock is offered automatically to production orders built here. Saved as soon as you choose it.
Allow multiple products per bin	When off, a bin holds one product at a time: Bin [X] cannot contain multiple products.
One bin per product	When on (only with one product per bin), a product may occupy only one bin of the zone; the handheld points the operator to it: Use Bin [Y] instead.
Dedicated product bins	When on, each bin belongs to one product: the first product put in a bin becomes its dedicated product, and bins can carry a minimum and maximum for replenishment. See Bins.
Allow multiple client products per bin	When off (the default), a bin never mixes the products of different 3PL clients.
Packsize handling	For pack size controlled products (By Product zones): Unchanged; Prevent eaches (only whole packs); Prevent packs (only single units); Convert packs to eaches (packs are stored as single units).
Allow multiple packsizes per bin	When off, a bin holds one pack size of a product.
Allow multiple Lots per bin	When off, a bin holds one lot of a lot-controlled product.
Allow multiple expiries per bin	When off, a bin holds one expiry date of an expiry-controlled product. Keeping one expiry per bin makes first-expired-first-out picking exact.
Allow multiple LPNs per bin	(By LPN zones) When off, a bin holds one pallet at a time.
Description	A note for people.
Dimensions	The typical bin's length, width and height, and the resulting cube. Informational: LogisticaHQ does not use them to limit what goes in a bin.

The multiple-products, lots, expiries and pack size rules are not applied during a cycle count, so a count always records what is really there.

Reserve a zone for a client

In a 3PL warehouse, the Client assignment list (administrators only) reserves the zone for one client: switch that client on. Only that client's products can then be put in the zone's bins: Bin is assigned to a different Client. The switch is saved at once; switch it off to open the zone to everyone again.

The Client assignment list of a zone, with a switch for each client

Every bin can override its zone

A bin follows its zone's rules unless it has its own setting. See Bins.

Restrict people to zones

A user can be limited to certain zones on their profile. They are then refused anywhere else: User is not allowed to handle product in zone [Z]. See Users.

Delete a zone

Click Delete in the zone's row and confirm. A zone that still holds stock cannot be deleted: Cannot delete, contains inventory.

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