Distribution: Warehouse Management Feature (Extra fee and requiring Acumatica version 2019R1)
Overview
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The warehouse management feature enables your company to receive, put away, pick, pack and ship products to customers.
When items are received from a supplier, those items will be scanned against the Purchase Order for verification, and then be put away in the storage location as specified in the product receipt.
When customer Sales Orders (SO) have to be fullfilled, somebody in the warehouse has to look for the items on the shelves, that are specified in the SO. That person, the picker, will get a pick list that specifies in which row, rack and bin a particular item is located. That pick list is generated by the Advanced Fulfillment feature of the Acumatica Distribution module/workspace. The picker will use that pick list to locate items for sales orders. The picker will scan each item he/she puts away in a gathering container. Once the items for a sales order are gathered, and brought to the packing station, the items for a specific sales order will be packed into one or more boxes. A shipment notice, which is also generated by the Advanced Fulfillment feature of the Acumatica Distribution module/workspace, will be added in the packing box. All items in the box may be scanned again to check the completeness and accuracy of the items packed for that sales order. Finally at the shipping station, by the Advanced Fulfillment feature of the Acumatica Distribution module/workspace will generate and print a shipping label that can be pasted on the packing box. The shipping label will be scanned again when the packing box leaves the warehouse for a truck, and the shipment transaction will be completed/closed in the Acumatica Distribution module/workspace.
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As you may have noticed, the above order fulfillment process is for a simple warehouse where barcode scanning is used, where packing is basically done manually, and where shipping labels are pasted manually on the packing box.
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For advanced order fulfillment processes, where wave picking or other optimized picking methods are used, and where items are gathered into a packing box via sorters and guided conveyors, you can use our integrated Independent Software Vendor (ISV) applications from eg. Scanco, Fusion, Savant, HighJump, OZLink, etc.
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The Warehouse Management feature is not included in the Acumatica Distribution module/workspace, and is available for an extra fee.
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The video ( 40 mins, 2019 ) below gives you an overview of this Warehouse Management feature.
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In this video, the following steps are taken:
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Receiving product: put away products
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When the PO was created, a barcode for that PO was generated and included with the PO
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The supplier got the PO, and shipped the products with that barcode on the shipping label
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The buying company receives the products, scans the PO barcode with the Zebra scanner from the put away option under Warehouse Management in the mobile app.
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The buyiing company receiver scans the items of the PO to check whether the items are correct, and to count the quantity of each item
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Shipping products to a customer​
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Create a Sales Order in Acumatica​
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Create a shipment for that Sales Order in Acumatica
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Create a shipment label and print it.
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Get the Zebra scanner, select the pick, pack and ship option
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Scan in the Shipment number barcode from the shipment label or from the printed picking list
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Scan in the barcode of the location
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Go to the location, pick the item off the shelf, and scan the barcode of the first item
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Scan the barcode of the second item (box of Poweraids)
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Acumatica Wave Picking available in 2020 R1 Release.
Companies with large warehouses can significantly increase the efficiency of their warehouse operations by using advanced methods of picking items for shipping, such as wave picking and batch picking workflows. The picking list, that is created, when you create a shipment, has the sequence of items to be picked. This sequence is generated by the selected method of picking: wave or batch.
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In wave picking, one picker picks a single order and goes after one SKU at a time. Orders are grouped into waves which match shipping goals and schedules. Waves are scheduled throughout the day, depending on picking needs.
Wave picking allows warehouse managers to schedule picking windows at specific times throughout the day, allowing them to schedule picking when it’s least likely to interfere with other processes on the warehouse floor. By scheduling specific picking windows, managers are better able to coordinate picking and shipping processes.
Waves can be grouped based on different criteria such as order lines, and functions such as case picking or pallet movement, so managers can easily estimate labor requirements to reduce overhead and minimize labor costs
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In batch picking, a single picker picks a batch of orders, which helps reduce repeated trips to the same location. An order management system (OMS) analyzes each batch of orders and helps pickers determine the most efficient route to pick each item. The goal is reducing the number of times a picker must visit the same bin to fulfill an order.
When all the steps a picker needs to take are organized, the picker works more efficiently and fulfills orders faster. The logic is simple, and this method works best if you commonly have multiple orders that require the same product. As with wave picking, a picker goes after one SKU at a time.
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Learn more.
