Location Hierarchy

The system organises physical space into a six-level hierarchy. You only need to use the levels that match your warehouse’s real structure — intermediate levels are optional.

The hierarchy

Warehouse
└── Zone
    └── Aisle
        └── Rack
            └── Shelf
                └── Bin

Every bin always belongs directly to a warehouse. The levels in between (zone, aisle, rack, shelf) are optional — a bin can exist without being assigned to any of them.

---

Levels explained

Warehouse

The top-level organisational unit. Most operations are scoped to a warehouse — orders, stock counts, and item enrollments all belong to a specific warehouse.

A warehouse can be marked as a main warehouse. Sub-warehouses can reference the main warehouse, which is useful when managing a hub-and-spoke network.

Zone

A named area within a warehouse with a functional zone type:

Type	Purpose
receiving	Where incoming goods are checked in
storage	General-purpose storage area
picking	Area from which orders are picked
packing	Packing and preparation area
return	Returned goods staging
quarantine	Goods on hold pending inspection or QA decision
staging	Temporary holding before despatch or putaway

(Zone type values are stored in lowercase. Bin types, by contrast, are stored in upper case — see below.)

Zones can be deactivated without deleting them.

Aisle

A named aisle within a zone. Aisles are the main navigation aid for operators on the warehouse floor.

Rack

A physical racking unit within an aisle. Racks can be deactivated independently.

Shelf

A single horizontal level on a rack. The level number indicates its vertical position (1 = bottom, higher = further up).

Bin

The smallest addressable storage location. Every piece of stock ultimately lives in a bin.

Bins have a bin type:

Type	Description
STORAGE	A regular physical storage location on a shelf or floor
RECEIVING_DOCK	System-managed virtual bin where inbound goods first land
DISPATCH_DOCK	System-managed virtual bin where outbound goods stage before despatch
IN_TRANSIT	System-managed virtual bin for goods mid-transfer
QUALITY_HOLD	System-managed virtual bin for quarantined stock

The four non-STORAGE types are virtual bins — they are created automatically by the system for each warehouse and do not correspond to a physical shelf location. You cannot delete or reassign them.

---

Practical example

A warehouse storing electronics might be laid out like this:

Warehouse: Main DC
├── Zone: RECEIVING (type: receiving)
│   └── Bin: RECV-DOCK (type: receiving_dock — auto-created)
├── Zone: BULK-STORAGE (type: storage)
│   ├── Aisle: A
│   │   ├── Rack: A-01
│   │   │   ├── Shelf: level 1  →  Bin: A-01-01
│   │   │   └── Shelf: level 2  →  Bin: A-01-02
│   │   └── Rack: A-02
│   │       └── Shelf: level 1  →  Bin: A-02-01
│   └── Aisle: B
│       └── Rack: B-01
│           └── Shelf: level 1  →  Bin: B-01-01
└── Zone: DISPATCH (type: staging)
    └── Bin: DISPATCH-DOCK (type: dispatch_dock — auto-created)

---

Setting up locations

See Managing Locations for step-by-step instructions on creating zones, aisles, racks, shelves, and bins.