Overview
Putaway is the process of moving received stock from a staging area to its final storage location — such as a bulk shelf or a pick face.
When you receive a delivery into a Staging Dock, WMS automatically creates one or more putaway jobs to complete the placement. This two-step workflow (receive, then put away) lets your receiving team log deliveries quickly without needing to know final locations at the time of receipt.
If you receive stock directly into a final location (direct putaway), no putaway job is created — the stock is immediately available.
When to use staging vs direct putaway
| Direct putaway | Staged putaway | |
|---|---|---|
| How it works | Receive directly into a pick face or bulk location | Receive into a staging dock; complete putaway separately |
| Best for | Small deliveries, known locations, fast-moving SKUs | Large or mixed deliveries, separate receiving and putaway teams, new SKUs |
| Putaway job created | No | Yes |
| Stock available for picking | Immediately | After putaway is completed |
Working a putaway job
- Go to the Putaway section in WMS.
- Select a job linked to a staging location or PO.
- Review the list of items and quantities currently in staging.
- For each item:
- Confirm or choose the target location (bulk, pick face, or other).
- Optionally split quantities across multiple locations — for example, send some units to bulk storage and some to the pick face.
- Complete the job to move stock out of staging into the final locations.
When a putaway job is completed, WMS:
- Reduces the quantity in the staging location.
- Increases on-hand stock at the destination location(s).
- Records PUTAWAY stock movement entries.
Putaway job statuses
Putaway jobs move through statuses — Pending, Assigned, In Progress, and Completed — so supervisors can see at a glance which deliveries are actively being put away versus waiting to be started.
Putaway on mobile
The WMS mobile app supports putaway from the warehouse floor:
- Open the putaway job.
- Collect the staged stock.
- Scan or select the destination location.
- Submit the putaway lines.
This is useful when the putaway team works directly from a pallet or cart on the floor rather than returning to a desktop between each step.
Creating a putaway job manually
You can also create a putaway job from the location detail view:
- Open the location that has stock you want to move (for example, a staging dock).
- Use the Create Putaway Job action.
- WMS shows all inventory at that location and creates a job to move it to its designated storage locations.
This is useful for clearing staging or receiving docks, or for moving orphaned inventory that arrived through a non-standard process.
Verifying putaway
After putaway is complete, confirm the stock is in the right place using:
- Location view — select the destination location to see all products and quantities stored there.
- Inventory dashboard — check that on-hand quantities have updated correctly for the received SKUs.
- Stock movement logs — locate the RECEIVE and PUTAWAY entries for the PO to verify the full inbound trail.
Best practices
- Receive into staging for large or complex deliveries. Let the receiving team log quantities quickly, then have a dedicated putaway run to sort and move stock efficiently.
- Standardise destination rules for common SKUs. Identify which products go to bulk and which go straight to pick faces, and brief your team so putaway is consistent.
- Complete putaway promptly. Stock in staging is not typically available for picking. Delays in putaway can affect order allocation and fulfilment times.
- Monitor PARTIALLY_RECEIVED POs. Stock may be in staging or awaiting putaway. Regularly review partial receipts to ensure nothing is forgotten.