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Zones, Aisles, Racks, Shelves

ScanPick models warehouses using a five-level hierarchy that maps to physical warehouse organization. Each level narrows the search for a product’s location.

A zone is a major physical area of the warehouse. Zones typically correspond to product velocity or storage type.

A — Fast Movers (nearest to shipping)
B — Medium Movers (mid-warehouse)
C — Slow Movers (farthest from shipping)
R — Reserve (bulk pallet storage)

Zones have a pickRank field:

  • 1 = highest velocity, picked first in path optimization
  • Higher values = lower velocity

An aisle is a walkable row between racks. Aisles are numbered within each zone (01, 02, 03, …).

Zone A
├── Aisle 01
├── Aisle 02
├── Aisle 03
└── ...

A rack is a single shelving unit along an aisle. Racks are numbered within each aisle (01, 02, 03, …).

Aisle 01
├── Rack 01 (left side)
├── Rack 02 (right side)
└── ...

A shelf is a horizontal level within a rack. Shelves are numbered bottom-to-top (01, 02, 03, …).

Rack 01
├── Shelf 04 (top shelf)
├── Shelf 03
├── Shelf 02
└── Shelf 01 (floor level)

A bin is the individual storage compartment on a shelf. Bins are numbered left-to-right (01, 02, …).

Shelf 02
├── Bin 01 (left slot)
└── Bin 02 (right slot)
{Zone}-{Aisle}-{Rack}-{Shelf}-{Bin}

Examples:

  • A-01-03-02-01 — Zone A, Aisle 01, Rack 03, Shelf 02, Bin 01
  • B-11-01-01-01 — Zone B, Aisle 11, Rack 01, Shelf 01, Bin 01

When generating locations, you specify:

  • How many aisles in each zone
  • How many racks per aisle
  • How many shelves per rack
  • How many bins per shelf

ScanPick generates all combinations. For example:

  • Zone A: 10 aisles × 5 racks × 4 shelves × 2 bins = 400 locations

This bulk generation is done through the dashboard’s setup wizard.

The address format is fixed ({Zone}-{Aisle}-{Rack}-{Shelf}-{Bin}), but you can use descriptive zone codes. For example:

  • Frozen-01-03-02-01 if your zone is “Frozen”
  • Bulk-01-01-01-01 for bulk storage areas

Keep zone codes short for readability on the mobile scanner.