The seal kits nobody can pick
What the user reports
Monday 21 December. Hallam ordered 10 seal kits (reference HFS-PO-7866) and the delivery is waiting. The shelf shows 90 seal kits in bin 10-01-01, yet picking says there is nothing to take. On Friday afternoon someone started a cycle count of the shelving.
The error: Pick tasks for Hallam's delivery refused: 90 CP-SK200 sit in bins being counted.
What you'll do
- See the problem as the warehouse clerk: On Outbound and picking, create the pick tasks in RKDC for Hallam's delivery of 10 CP-SK200 (reference HFS-PO-7866).
- Find the cause: The seal kits are unrestricted, on the shelf and in no other delivery. Why won't picking touch them?
- Fix it as the warehouse clerk.
- Prove it: run the step that failed again.
The drill runs in the lab on its own prepared copy of the fictional Calder Pumpworks, saved in this browser apart from your company. All codes and values are fictional course labels.
Answer and explanation (open after the drill)
The fix: The shelf's bins are on an open count document, and counted bins are blocked for picks and putaway.
A count document freezes the book quantity of its bins when it is created, so the count can be compared with it. To keep that number still, its bins take no putaway and give no picks until the count is posted. Friday's count was never finished, so the whole spare-parts section is blocked. Credit is checked on the order, not at the pick; the shelving takes first in, first out, part cartons included; and the delivery does take FG01.
Why it broke
A count blocks its bins on purpose: if stock moved while people counted, the difference would mean nothing. The cost is that a count left open blocks real work. Counts are best started when the area is quiet and finished the same shift; one started on a Friday afternoon and forgotten stops Monday's picks.
How teams prevent it
Count small areas at a time, start a count only when the counters are there to finish it, and give the supervisor a list of count documents open longer than a shift. If a count can't be finished, post what was counted or cancel the document, rather than leave the bins blocked.
Across teams
Customer service has Hallam waiting, the warehouse clerk can't pick, and the count belongs to the inventory team (or the clerk who started it). Finance cares too: posting the count with made-up numbers to unblock the bins would book a difference that isn't real.
Where AI fits
Finding counts open for too long is plain automation: a list with a time limit. An assistant could explain to customer service why the order is stuck and who to call (retrieve). It must never enter counted quantities to free the bins; a count is evidence that someone looked at the shelf.
Learn more: Warehouse and transportation execution