How both replenishment types can work together:

The 'Continuous' and 'Demand' replenishment settings can be used simultaneously for the same product by assigning them to different pickface locations based on operational needs. Here's how they work together:

1. Continuous Replenishment ensures that a pickface is regularly restocked to maintain stock availability. This is ideal for fast-moving items that need to be consistently available.
2. Demand Replenishment triggers replenishment only when a pick task requires stock that isn't available in another pickface, ensuring that specific order demands are met.

How They Work Together

Primary Pickface → Continuous Replenishment: A regularly replenished location that holds the majority of stock for standard picking.

Secondary Pickface → Demand Replenishment: A separate location used when stock from the primary pickface is insufficient for a specific order (e.g shelf-life requirement).

Example:

• Product 123: Customer 456 - Shelf Life: Min=5 days, Max=10 days
  • Pickface 1 (Continuous): Quantity=10 | Sell by Date on Stock=15 Days
  • Pickface 2 (Demand): Empty
  • Racking: SU Quantity=20 | Sell by Date on Stock=5 Days
• Sales Order
  • Customer 456
  • Quantity = 7
• In this example, when I process picks on the sales order above, the pick task of 7 will go on hold and an available replenishment task will be generated for the demand pickface. The reason for this is because customer 456 requires stock with a maximum sell by date of 10 days, the stock in the continuous pickface has 15, therefore the stock within the continuous pickface doesn’t meet the shelf lives required for the customer on the sales order.

By using both settings, warehouses can ensure high availability while also responding dynamically to specific picking needs.

Guide to setting up pickfaces:

1. Navigate to the Product:

1. From the left-hand menu, click on Products.
2. Locate and select the product you want to configure pickfaces for.

2. Assign Locations

1. Open the Pickface panel.
2. Click New to add a new pickface location.

2A. Assign Location Groups (optional):

Use Location Groups to manage multiple pickfaces for a product simultaneously, ensuring consistency and efficiency.

• Location groups can be configured within the Groups page in Clarus.

• All Locations within a group must have the Is Pickface? flag set to Yes.

• Once a group is assigned to the pickface panel, you can manage settings for the entire group or customise individual locations as needed.
  

• 

• 
  

3. Assign settings to the locations

3a. Select Replenishment Type:

Choose the replenishment strategy that best fits your product’s picking and stock flow:

• Continuous Replenishment: A replenishment task is generated automatically when the minimum trigger level is reached.
• Demand Replenishment: A replenishment task is generated only when a pick task cannot be fulfilled by another active pickface.

3B. Define Minimum and Maximum Triggers

(Required only when Continuous Replenishment is selected.)

• Minimum Trigger: The stock quantity that triggers a replenishment task when levels drop below this threshold.
• Maximum Trigger: The target quantity to replenish up to when restocking the pickface.
  • If the ‘Full Storage Units Only’ toggle is set to Yes, the Max Trigger is overridden (see below).

3C. Specify Full Storage Units

Determine whether replenishment should use only full storage units.

• Toggle ‘No’: The replenishment task will top up to the Max Trigger level, even if it means breaking down a storage unit.
• Toggle ‘Yes’: Only full storage units will be replenished into the pickface. This overrides the Max Trigger setting.
  • For example, if the Max Trigger is set to 100 and each storage unit contains 60, the system will bring 2 full storage units (120 units) into the pickface.
    
• 
  
  
  
  

4. Prioritising the Locations

• Use the arrow controls on the left-hand side of each location to reorder them. The order determines the sequence in which pickfaces are used when assigning pick tasks or replenishments.
  
• 
  

FAQs

**How does the account pick rule affect my assigned pickfaces?**Clarus will use your account pick rule to determine the stock that is replenished into a pickface:

• First in First Out:
  • The system replenishes stock with the earliest FIFO date into the next available pickface.
• Sell by Date
  • The system replenishes stock with the earliest sell-by date into the next available pickface.

Why does the order of the locations matter?

The order of locations is crucial because it dictates how the system assigns pick tasks to pickfaces when multiple ‘Continuous’ replenishment pickfaces are assigned to a product. The system follows a sequential and alternating allocation method, ensuring balanced usage across all available pickfaces. See example below:

Pick tasks are assigned systematically based on the order within the pickfaces panel:

• Pickfaces locations setup= Pickface A & B & C
• Pick tasks to fulfil = 4
  • Pick task 1 → Pickface A
  • Pick task 2 → Pickface B
  • Pick task 3 → Pickface C
  • Pick task 4 → Pickface A (cycle repeats)

What happens if I make a pickface location inactive?

When a pickface location assigned to a product is set to inactive, this will be reflected in the Location Active column within the pickface panel. As a result:

• Pick tasks will no longer be assigned to the inactive pickface.
• Replenishment tasks will not generate, even if the stock falls below the minimum quantity.
• Any existing stock in the inactive pickface will remain there and will need to be manually managed.

What happens if the quantity in my storage units are larger than the max trigger set?

If your storage units are larger than the max trigger set for a pickface location, the replenishment behaviour will depend on the "Full Storage Units Only" setting:

• If toggled to ‘No’: The system will replenish stock up to the max trigger, even if it means breaking down a storage unit to meet the required quantity.
• If toggled to ‘Yes’: The system will only replenish full storage units, overriding the max trigger. This means that if a full storage unit exceeds the max trigger, more stock than the max trigger allows may be replenished into the pickface.

For example, if the max trigger is set to 100, but storage units contain 120, and "Full Storage Units Only" is set to Yes, the system will bring in one full storage unit (120), exceeding the max trigger.

What happens when the stock in the pickface cannot be used to complete the pick task?

If the stock in the pickface is insufficient or unavailable to fulfil the pick task, the system's response will depend on the replenishment settings assigned to the product's pickface locations:

• If Only "Continuous" Replenishment is Enabled Across Locations:
  • The pick task will go on hold until a replenishment task, that fulfils the stock requirements, is completed.
  • Each time a replenishment is completed to a continuous replenishment location, the system will check to see if the new stock can fulfil the on hold pick task and then release from hold status.
• If Both "Continuous" and "Demand" Replenishment Are Enabled:
  • The system will first attempt to a pickfaces using the continuous replenishment process.
  • If continuous replenishment pickface does match the requirements needed, a demand replenishment pickface will be utilised in order to complete the pick task.
  • This allows the pick task to proceed without manual intervention.

By enabling both replenishment types, the system ensures pick tasks are fulfilled efficiently, reducing delays caused by stock shortages in pickfaces.

Why is my pick task on hold?

In short, your pick task is on hold because the system is waiting for stock to be replenished into a pickface to fulfil the pick task.

Specifically:

• If Only"Continuous" Replenishment is Enabled Across Locations:
  • The pick task will go on hold when there is no stock that can fulfil the requirements of the pick task in any pickface.
  • Each time a replenishment is completed to a continuous replenishment location, the system will check to see if the new stock can fulfil the on hold pick task and then release from hold status.
• If Both "Continuous" and "Demand" Replenishment Are Enabled:
  • The system will first attempt to use the pickfaces using the continuous replenishment process.
  • The pick task will remain on hold until the replenishment task has been completed and stock has been added to the pickface. Once the replenishment is done, the pick task will be released and can proceed.

What happens if my demand replenishment pickface isn’t empty?

If your demand replenishment pickfaces still contains stock, meaning there is still a quantity above 0 in the location(s). The pick task and it’s associated replenishment task will be placed on hold until the location is empty.

How does the system know when to release the replenishment and pick task from hold?

When the demand replenishment pickfaces are empty with 0 stock in, then the next replenishment task will be released. Once the replenishment task has been completed, the pick task will be released from hold.

Do pickfaces hard allocate stock?

We do hard allocate the stock needed to be picked from a demand replenishment pickface. As part of the demand replenishment process, we need to replenish a full pallet of the specific stock into the pickface in order for us to proceed with the on hold pick task.

We do not hard allocate stock on a continuous replenishment pickface, as standard this is soft allocated.

Where can I see the status of my pick tasks?

The status of your pick tasks can be viewed in two locations:

• Picking List: ****Add the 'Status' column to the data grid when viewing the pick task on the picking list to see its current status. E.g. Status ‘On Hold’ will be shown.
• Tasks: Locate the task in the ‘Tasks’ data grid and refer to the 'Status' column for updates.

Hovering over the status, will show the reason for the ‘On Hold’ Status.

Where can I see the status of my replenishment tasks?

The status of your replenishment tasks can be found in the following location:

• Tasks: Locate the task in the ‘Tasks’ data grid and refer to the 'Status' column for updates.

Can I cancel a replenishment task?

A user is a able to cancel an available replenishment task at any time:

1. Go to the tasks page
2. Add the cancel button to the data grid
3. Find available replenishment task.

Can I leave Maximum Shelf Life days (Customer or Default) blank?

Yes, not inputting a value into maximum shelf life days will use the minimum days and then anything above it:

• For example, If I have the minimum days= 5 and Maximum days= blank. The system will look for shelf lives above 5.