eCommerce
April 9, 2022

15 Warehouse Management Terms You Must Know

Like any other workplace, all employees in a warehouse or throughout the supply chain must understand how to communicate.

One important aspect is to incorporate industry-specific warehouse terminologies into your vocabulary. Besides helping you communicate more effectively with your coworkers in the warehouse, it will also help you converse with peers in the supply chain.

To help you learn the terms used in a warehouse or the most commonly used warehouse terms abbreviations, we've compiled a list of the most widely used warehouse management terminologies for you: 

STOCK/INVENTORY: The total number of goods or products stored inside the warehouse to meet the need of the production process or to be sold to the customers are referred to as inventory or the stock of the warehouse.

BARCODE: This marking consists of a series of bars and spaces used to identify products and is read by a scanner.

BATCH PICKING: An order picking process in which a single picker picks all items for multiple orders.

3PL: Third-party logistics means the company hires a third party to manage a warehouse or group of warehouses.

4PL: Fourth Party Logistics - a single connection point between the client and specialist organizations.

ADVANCED SHIPPING NOTIFICATION: A document sent by a supplier to a warehouse management system that contains information about a pending shipment.

BILL OF LADING: A document that details the contents of a shipment and serves as a receipt given by the carrier to the shipment recipient.

ORDER: All of the products included in a single transaction from a customer.

 

PUTAWAY:  This refers to removing incoming orders from the location where it is received to the final storage area and recording the movement and identification of the storage location where it has been placed. 

CROSS DOCKING: Refers to moving products directly from the receiving area to the shipping area for distribution rather than being put away and stored for some time. 

DISCRETE PICKING: A process of order picking in which the picker picks all the items for one particular order. 

LINE: The products in an order that share the same SKU or UPC number. 

PURCHASE ORDER: A purchase order is a document that is sent from a buyer to a supplier requesting an order for merchandise. The purchase order usually lists the type of item, quantity, and the agreed-upon price. 

WMS (WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM): A software solution for tracking all warehouse operations, including receiving, putaway, picking, shipping, and inventory.

ZONE PICKING: this is an order picking procedure in which separate pickers select things from certain allotted storage zones for later assembly and shipping.

ACTIVE STOCK: The minimum amount of stock/inventory kept in the warehouse to meet customers' demands over time. This stock is usually held for a more extended period.

AISLE: Any passageway inside the storage region.

ATA: Real-Time of Arrival.

ATD: Real-Time of Departure.

These are some warehouse abbreviations that are commonly used in the domain and dealt with daily. Hope it helps increase your warehouse vocabulary!

Conclusion 

Now that you know what all of these warehouse management terms mean, you can effectively manage your warehouse and make sure that everything is running smoothly. If you’re looking for a comprehensive solution to your warehouse needs, Conveyr has you covered. We provide solutions for warehousing, order fulfillment, shipping and more. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help streamline your operations and improve your bottom line.

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