Warehouse Slotting
Blueprint workspace for designing bin layouts, visualising occupancy heatmaps, and applying optimised slot plans to live inventory.
Overview
Warehouse Slotting is a blueprint workspace — a design surface that is completely separate from your live inventory data. Every change you make in Slotting is staged locally inside a layout plan. Nothing touches the real stock until you deliberately press Apply to Live Inventory.
This separation is intentional. Planners need to be able to experiment freely — try a new bin arrangement, test a peak-season layout, or model a hazardous-materials zone — without risking any disruption to live warehouse operations. Once a layout is validated, it can be pushed as a single atomic batch.
Blueprint vs. Live
Think of the blueprint as a sandbox copy of your warehouse floor. You can save multiple named layouts — "Q1 Standard", "Peak Season", "Hazmat Zone Expansion" — and switch between them freely. The live inventory is only affected when you explicitly apply a layout.
Core Concepts
Understanding a few key terms will help you use the Slotting workspace effectively.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Base Products | A live snapshot of your current inventory pulled from warehouseInventoryService at the moment you open or reset the blueprint. |
| Staged Products | The blueprint's version of the inventory — includes any relocations you have dragged, moved, or edited within the current layout session. |
| Pending Changes | The diff between Base and Staged. Every row in this diff represents one bin-to-bin move that will be applied when you click Apply. |
| Layout | A named snapshot of a complete bin configuration, including all bin metadata (capacity, lock flag, zone rules) and product assignments. Layouts can be saved to and loaded from the Layout Library. |
| Bin Meta | Per-bin configuration: custom capacity override, a lock flag that prevents moves into or out of the bin, and an assigned zone rule (Standard, Hazmat, Cold, Bulky). |
Why Use a Blueprint Approach?
A blueprint decouples planning from execution. You can:
- Try multiple layout arrangements and save them as alternatives before committing to any one plan.
- Keep a "peak-season" layout saved and ready to apply with one click when seasonal demand arrives.
- Model hazardous-materials segregation requirements without moving a single physical item until you are ready.
- Apply an entire re-slotting plan as one atomic batch, rather than issuing individual move instructions that could leave inventory in an inconsistent state.
Header Actions
The Slotting screen header contains all the controls needed to manage the blueprint lifecycle.
Edit Mode / View Only
Toggle between read-only view (browse layout and heatmap without risk of accidental changes) and edit mode (enable drag-and-drop bin moves and bin configuration).
New (Reset to Live)
Discard all staged changes and reload the blueprint from the current live inventory. Use this when you want to start a fresh planning session.
Load Layout
Open the Layout Library and restore a previously saved layout plan into the blueprint workspace.
Save Layout
Save the current blueprint state (all product assignments and bin metadata) as a named layout in the Layout Library for future use.
Save Changes
Persist the current staged assignments to the blueprint without pushing to live inventory. Use this to save intermediate progress within a planning session.
Apply ({n} Pending)
Push all pending changes to live inventory. The button shows the count of pending moves. Runs full pre-validation before applying — will not proceed if any move violates capacity or lock rules.
Active Layout Banner
When a named layout is loaded (either from the Library or by saving your current work), an info banner appears below the header row. The banner shows:
- Layout name — the title you gave when saving.
- Description — optional free-text notes about what this layout represents.
- Last updated — timestamp of the most recent save.
- Amber "Unsaved" chip — appears whenever you have made changes to the loaded layout that have not yet been saved back to the Library. This prevents you from accidentally closing the browser and losing planning work.
Stat Tiles
Four summary tiles at the top of the blueprint canvas give an instant health snapshot of the current layout.
| Tile | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Bins in Use | Count of occupied bins out of total, plus average occupancy percentage across all occupied bins. |
| Low-Stock Bins | Bins where the assigned product quantity has fallen below the reorder threshold. |
| Out-of-Stock Bins | Bins that are assigned to a SKU but currently hold zero units. |
| Stock Value | Total estimated value of all staged products, calculated as quantity × unit price for each SKU. |
Moving Products Between Bins
To relocate a product from one bin to another in the blueprint:
- Ensure you are in Edit Mode (toggle in the header).
- Hover over the source bin on the heatmap canvas. A Move button appears on the cell.
- Click Move. An amber instruction banner appears at the top of the canvas: "Click any cell to drop here."
- Click the destination bin. The move is applied atomically to the staged layout — both cells update immediately.
Move Guardrails
A move is blocked if the destination bin is locked (prevents all moves in or out) or if the move would cause the destination bin to exceed its capacity. A toast notification explains the specific reason when a move is refused.
Bin Configuration
Every bin in the layout can be individually configured. Right-click (or long-press on touch) any bin cell to open the Bin Configuration popover.
| Setting | Effect |
|---|---|
| Custom Capacity | Override the default capacity for this bin. Useful for oversized bays, mezzanine shelves, or bins shared between two product lines. |
| Lock Flag | When enabled, no product can be moved into or out of this bin via the Move operation. Useful for bins reserved for a specific process (e.g. a quarantine bay or inbound staging area). |
| Zone Rule | Assigns the bin to a storage zone: Standard (default), Hazmat (restricted access, special handling), Cold (temperature-controlled), or Bulky (oversized items only). |
Layout Library
The Layout Library is a modal catalog of all saved layout snapshots. Open it with the Load button in the header.
Each entry in the library shows:
- Layout name and optional description
- SKU count — number of distinct product assignments stored in the layout
- Created date — when the layout was first saved
- Load button — replaces the current blueprint with this layout
- Delete button — permanently removes the layout from the library (does not affect live inventory)
Naming Convention Tip
Use date-prefixed names like 2026-Q1-Standard or 2026-PeakSeason-Hazmat so the library stays sorted chronologically and it is obvious at a glance which layout was active during any given period.
Apply to Live Inventory
When you are satisfied with the staged layout and ready to update real inventory, click Apply ({n} Pending) in the header. The system runs a two-phase operation:
- Pre-validation — every pending change is checked against current capacity limits and lock flags. If any change is invalid, the operation is halted and you are shown the specific violation. No changes are written at this point.
- Atomic apply — all validated changes are written to warehouseInventoryService in a single batch. Either all changes succeed, or none do. There is no partial apply.
Cannot Be Partially Applied
The apply operation is all-or-nothing. If validation finds even one invalid move, you must resolve it before any changes can be written to live inventory. This prevents the warehouse floor from ending up in an inconsistent half-migrated state.
Dual Style Mode
Warehouse Slotting supports both visual styles available in Settings → Appearance → Screen Style.
Workstation (Default)
Dark glassmorphism canvas with colour-coded occupancy heatmap. Bins are shaded from cool blue (empty) through amber (moderate) to red (near capacity). Best for night-shift operations and power users.
Enterprise (Light)
Light corporate grid with white bin cells and muted status colours. Matches the aesthetic of traditional ERP systems. Switch to this mode if warehouse managers prefer a printed-form look.
AI Assistant
Warehouse Slotting includes a right-edge AI Assistant panel that can analyze your bin heatmap and answer natural-language questions about it.
Occupancy Analysis
Ask which bins are near or over capacity, and which bins are sitting mostly empty.
Rebalancing Suggestions
Get recommendations on moving slow-moving stock out of prime, high-velocity locations, or vice versa.
Risk Flags
Highlight locked bins blocking rebalancing, and bins mixing out-of-stock items with high-value SKUs.
Value Concentration
Identify which aisles or shelves hold a disproportionate share of inventory value.
Save Assistant Answers as Reports
Any assistant response can be saved directly to My Reports with one click, so a rebalancing recommendation or risk summary doesn't have to be re-generated later.
Quick Start
- Open Warehouse → Warehouse Slotting from the sidebar.
- The blueprint loads automatically from your current live inventory. Review the heatmap to understand current bin occupancy.
- Click Edit Mode in the header to enable bin moves.
- Hover a source bin and click Move, then click the destination bin to relocate the product.
- When satisfied, click Save Layout to name and archive the plan, then click Apply ({n} Pending) to push all changes to live inventory.