Inventory Bins
A Bin is a subdivision inside a Location (warehouse): an aisle, a shelf, a pallet, or any physical space where you store merchandise. While the Location tells you "which warehouse" the inventory is in, the Bin tells you "exactly where in that warehouse" it is, which speeds up locating, counting and shipping product.
What is it and what is it for?
Each Bin belongs to a single Location (warehouse) and identifies the exact spot where inventory sits inside that warehouse. This lets you:
- Record which Bin stock ended up in when purchasing, manufacturing or transferring an item.
- Pick the right Bin when selling, dispatching or doing a physical count, for items that require it.
- Set a preferred picking Bin for an entire Location.
Using Bins is optional per item: only items with the Requires Bins option checked on their card ask you to pick a Bin during inventory transactions. If an item doesn't have that option checked, its movements are only tracked by Location, not by Bin.
How to use it
- Open the Inventory Bins list and click New to create one.
- Choose the Location (warehouse) the Bin belongs to. This choice cannot be changed later once the record is saved.
- Enter the Name of the Bin (for example "Aisle 3 - Level A" or "Pallet 12"). It must be unique within that same Location.
- Add Notes if you want to leave an extra reference (for example, what kind of merchandise is stored there).
- Save the Bin. From that point on it will be available to select on items that require a Bin and on their inventory transactions within that Location.
From a Location's card you can assign it a default picking Bin, which is suggested first when dispatching merchandise from that Location.
Main capabilities
- The list can be filtered by name and its columns (Location, Bin, Notes) customized, including which ones show and in what order, saving your own configuration.
- When selecting a Bin on a transaction, AdmCloud can show you first the Bins that currently have available stock of the item, to speed up dispatching.
- If your company has Subsidiaries enabled, the list and the Bin selector are automatically filtered to the Locations that belong to your current Subsidiary.
Key fields
| Field | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Location | The warehouse the Bin belongs to. Required, and cannot be changed after the record is created. |
| Name | Identifies the Bin within its Location. Required and unique per Location. |
| Notes | Free-form remarks about the Bin. |
Validations when saving
- Name is required.
- Location is required and must be a valid, active Location.
- The same Name cannot repeat within the same Location. You can reuse a Bin name across different Locations.
- A Bin's Location cannot be changed once created; if you need to move it to a different Location, you must create a new one.
Deleting a bin
A Bin cannot be deleted if:
- It has inventory transactions recorded against it (purchases, sales, transfers, adjustments, etc.).
- Some item has stock or a setup linked to that Bin.
- It's assigned as the picking Bin of any Location.
In any of these cases, AdmCloud shows you the document, item or Location that's using it, so you can unlink it first.
Availability, permissions and conditions
- This feature requires the Advanced Inventory module, available as an add-on module of the Enterprise edition. If your company doesn't have that module active, the screen shows a "not available on this edition" message.
- Access is controlled with the "Locations" permission of the user group (the same one that controls the Locations/warehouses catalog), with separate levels for browsing, adding, editing and deleting.
- Only items with the "Requires Bins" option checked on their card ask for a Bin during inventory transactions.
- With Subsidiaries enabled, visible Bins are limited to the Locations that belong to your current Subsidiary.
Tips and common mistakes
Use short, consistent names (for example "Aisle-Level-Position") so it's easy to physically locate merchandise and pick the right Bin during a transaction or a physical count.
Think through the Location before saving. You won't be able to change it afterward; if a Bin ends up under the wrong Location, you'll need to create a new one under the correct Location.
If a Bin doesn't show up as selectable on a transaction, check that the item has the Requires Bins option checked and that the Bin belongs to that transaction's Location.