Creating Hold Bins

Owned by Mike Kocsis
Last updated: Dec 10, 2021
3 min read

OpenBoxes includes a feature that enables users to create hold bins within a location. This feature is very helpful when products need to be isolated or prevented from being picked or shipped.

This page is focused on creating hold bins in OpenBoxes. For additional information on using hold bins for inventory management, including how to put products on hold, please seePlacing Inventory On Hold.

First, we need to set up a location type. This can be done in Configuration > Location Types.

We are brought to a page that lists the current location types. Click on the ‘Add location type’ button to get started with the workflow.

We need to enter some important information before our location is created. Start by selecting ‘BIN_LOCATION’ as the location type. Following that, give this location a name. You can see I’ve called it ‘Depot Hold Bin’ in our example below. The supported activities section is very important. It links a profile of supported activities to our new location. Here, we need to select ‘Hold stock' and then hit ‘Save’ to finish the creation of our new location type.

Next we need to create the bin location at our site. We do this by going to Configurations > Location. This will bring us to a list of all locations in OpenBoxes. From here, we select the location where we will be creating the hold bin. In this example, I’ve selected the Thomonde Depot. Click on the dropdown menu next to the name and select ‘Edit Location’ to proceed.

Once on the Edit Location page, select the ‘Bin Location’ tab and then click ‘Add Bin Location.'

This will take us to a screen where we can add our internal location, in this case a hold bin. You will notice that we are required to select a Location type. From the dropdown menu, I select ‘Depot Hold Bin’ which we just created above. Then we have to name the hold bin. For this example I’ve used ‘Hold Bin 1A' as the name and then hit ‘Save’ to finish this workflow.

Our hold bin has now been created at this site. We will see confirmation in the upper left that the location has been updated, and ‘Hold Bin 1A’ with location type ‘Depot Hold Bin’ is now visible on the bin location list.

This bin location can now be used to place product on hold and prevent it from being picked and used in shipments.