Pick Items with Inventory Picks

In Business Central, you pick and ship items using one of four methods, as described in the following table.

Method Outbound Process Require Pick Require Shipment Complexity Level (Learn more at Warehouse Management Overview)
A Post the pick and shipment from the order line No dedicated warehouse activity.
B Post the pick and shipment from an inventory pick document Turned on Basic: Order-by-order.
C Post the pick and shipment from a warehouse shipment document Turned on Basic: Consolidated receive/ship posting for multiple orders.
D Post the pick from a warehouse pick document, and post the shipment from a warehouse shipment document Turned on Turned on Advanced

Learn more at Outbound Warehouse Flow.

This article refers to method B in the table.

When your location is set up to require pick processing but not shipment processing, use the Inventory Pick page to record and post picking and shipping information for your source documents. Outbound source documents can be sales orders, purchase return orders, and outbound transfer orders.

Note

Note:
Production and assembly order component needs also represent outbound source documents. Learn more about handling production and assembly orders for internal processes at Design Details: Internal Warehouse Flows.

Although service orders are also outbound source documents, they don't support the basic, order-by-order level of complexity.

When picking and shipping sales line quantities that are assembled to the order, there are rules you must follow when you create inventory pick lines. Learn more at Handling Assemble-to-Order Items with Inventory Picks.

You can create an inventory pick in in three ways:

  • Create the inventory pick directly from the source document.
  • Create inventory picks for multiple source documents at the same time by using a batch job.
  • Request the pick in two steps by first releasing the source document, which acts as a signal to the warehouse that the source document is ready picking.

The inventory pick can then be created from the Inventory Pick page based on the source document.

To create an inventory pick from the source document

  1. In the source document, which can be a sales order, purchase return order, or outbound transfer order, choose the Create Inventory Put-away/Pick action.
  2. Select the Create Invt. Pick checkbox.
  3. Choose the OK button. A new inventory pick will be created.

To create multiple inventory picks with a batch job

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature. icon, enter Create Inventory Put-away/Pick/Movement, and then choose the related link.
  2. On the Warehouse Request FastTab, use the Source Document and Source No. fields to filter on certain types of documents or ranges of document numbers. For example, you can create picks only for sales orders.
  3. On the Options FastTab, select the Create Invt. Pick checkbox.
  4. Choose the OK button.

To create the pick in two steps

To request an inventory pick by releasing the source document

For sales orders, purchase return orders, and outbound transfer orders, you create the warehouse request by releasing the order. Releasing the order makes the items available for picking.

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature. icon, enter Sales Orders, and then choose the related link.
  2. Select the sales order that you want to release, and then choose the Release action.

To create an inventory pick based on the source document

After you release an order, the warehouse employee can create an inventory pick.

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature. icon, enter Inventory Picks, and then choose the related link.
  2. Choose the New action.
  3. In the Source Document field, select the type of document you're picking for.
  4. In the Source No. field, select the source document.
  5. Alternatively, choose the Get Source Document action to create a list of all outbound source documents that are ready for picking at the location.
  6. Choose the OK button to fill the pick lines according to the selected source documents.

To record inventory picks

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature. icon, enter Inventory Pick, and then choose the related link.

  2. In the Bin Code field on the pick lines, the bin that the items must be picked from is suggesting per the item's default bin. You can change the bin in this page if necessary.

  3. Perform the pick, and then enter the quantity that in the Qty. to Handle field.

    If you must pick the items for a line from more than one bin, for example because the full quantity isn't in the bin, use the Split Line action on the Lines FastTab. The action creates a line for the remaining quantity to handle.

  4. Choose the Post action.

    • Post the shipment of the source document lines that were picked.
    • If the location uses bins, posting will also create warehouse entries to post the changes to the bin quantity.
    Tip

    Tip:
    To avoid mistakes, use the Preview Posting action to review the entries that posting will create. However, the preview won't show entries for inventory picks and put-aways that will post non-inventory lines from source documents. For example, lines that have the G/L Account type or items of the type Service.

Handling assemble-to-order items with inventory picks

You can also use the Inventory Pick page to pick and ship for sales where items must be assembled before they can be shipped. Learn more at Sell Items Assembled to Order.

Assemble-to-order items aren't physically in a bin until they're assembled and posted as output to a bin. Picking assemble-to-order items from a bin for shipments follows a special flow.

  1. From a bin, warehouse workers take the assembly items to the shipping dock and then post the inventory pick.
  2. The posted inventory pick posts the assembly output, the component consumption, and the sales shipment.

You can set up Business Central to automatically create an inventory movement when the inventory pick for the assembly item is created. Select the Create Movements Automatically field on the Assembly Setup page. Learn more at Set Up Basic Warehouses with Operations Areas.

Inventory pick lines for sales items are created in different ways, depending on whether none, some, or all of the sales line quantities are assembled to order. In scenarios where some of the quantity is assembled and some is picked from inventory, a minimum of two pick lines are created.

For sales where the full quantity on the sales order line is assembled to order, one inventory pick line is created for the quantity. The value in the Quantity to Assemble field is the same as the value in the Qty. to Ship field. The Assemble to Order field is selected on the line.

If an assembly output flow is set up for the location, the Bin Code field on the inventory pick line contains the value from the following fields, in the following order.

  • *Asm.-to-Order Shpt. Bin Code
  • From-Assembly Bin Code

If a bin code isn't specified on the sales order line, and no assembly output flow is set up for the location, the Bin Code field on the inventory pick line is empty. The warehouse worker must open the Bin Contents page and select the bin where the assembly items are assembled.

In scenarios where a part of the quantity is assembled and another must be picked, a minimum of two pick lines are created.

  • One pick line for the assemble-to-order quantity. Business Central uses the following fields, in this order, to determine the bin code: Bin Code, Asm.-to-Order Shpt. Bin Code, and then From-Assembly Bin Code. If these fields are blank, the warehouse employee must open the Bin Contents page and choose the bin where the items are assembled.
  • The other pick line depends on which bins can fulfill the remaining quantity. If the item is kept in multiple bins, multiple lines will be created. The Take line is based on the quantity in the Qty. to Ship field.
Note

Note:
If items are assembled to order, the inventory pick for the linked sales order till create an inventory movement for all of the assembly components.

See also

Warehouse Management Overview Inventory
Setting Up Warehouse Management
Assembly Management
Walkthrough: Picking and Shipping in Basic Warehouse Configurations
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