Replenishment

Overview

Replenishment moves stock from bulk storage into pick faces so pickers always have accessible stock to fill orders. Without replenishment, pick faces run empty and picking stops — either because pickers can't find stock, or because allocation fails when no stock exists in pick-face locations.

Starshipit WMS supports three replenishment approaches:

• Automated replenishment — triggered by location capacity rules when a pick face drops to or below its minimum level.
• Demand-driven replenishment — generated from pending orders to proactively fill pick faces before a run.
• Manual replenishment — created ad hoc when you want to top up specific locations ahead of time.

Setting up capacity rules

Capacity rules tell WMS when to automatically create a replenishment job for a pick face.

Configuring min/max on a location

1. Open the location in the Locations section.
2. Set a Minimum capacity — the quantity at or below which a replenishment job should be triggered.
3. Optionally set a Maximum capacity — the target quantity to replenish up to. If not set, WMS uses the minimum as the target.
4. Save the location.

WMS only looks for replenishment stock in bulk storage locations. If no bulk stock exists for the product, no job is created.

When replenishment is triggered automatically

Replenishment checks run as an event-driven process — not on a fixed schedule. Checks are triggered:

• After a stock movement that reduces pick-face quantity (such as a pick or stocktake adjustment)
• On some order-allocation failure paths where insufficient stock at pick faces is detected
• After a location is updated with changed capacity rules

When the check determines a pick face is at or below its minimum, WMS:

1. Looks for available stock of that product in bulk storage locations.
2. Creates a replenishment job targeting the minimum (or maximum, if set).
3. The job appears on the Replenishment dashboard for a picker to execute.

Demand-driven replenishment

The Generate from Demand action on the Replenishment dashboard scans all pending unallocated orders and creates or updates replenishment jobs for any pick faces that need topping up to fulfil those orders.

Use this before a high-volume picking run to ensure pick faces are stocked before pickers start. This is particularly useful for:

• End-of-day waves
• Flash sales or promotions
• Any time you have more demand than current pick-face stock can satisfy

Working a replenishment job

Replenishment jobs are executed in two steps — pick from bulk, then place into the pick face:

On desktop:

1. Go to the Replenishment dashboard and select a pending job.
2. Review the product, source (bulk) location, destination (pick face), and quantity.
3. Confirm the movement.

On mobile:

1. Open the replenishment job in the WMS app.
2. Phase 1 — Pick: Navigate to the bulk storage location, confirm the product and quantity.
3. Phase 2 — Move: Confirm the destination pick face and submit the putaway.

Both phases are guided step-by-step with barcode scanning support.

Manual replenishment planner

The Manual Replenishment Planner lets you create replenishment jobs on demand — useful for proactively topping up pick faces before a busy period without waiting for the automated trigger.

1. Open the replenishment or inventory view and select Manual Replenishment Planner.
2. Add one or more replenishment lines:
   • Product (searchable dropdown)
   • Destination location (pick faces only)
   • Quantity to replenish
   • Priority
3. Submit to create the jobs.

Rules that apply:

• SKU restrictions are enforced on destination locations — if a pick face is locked to specific SKUs, only those can be replenished to it.
• Quantities are validated and rounded to integers before submission.

Assigning and prioritising replenishment jobs

You can assign replenishment jobs to specific team members and set their priority. Higher-priority jobs appear at the top of the queue on the Replenishment dashboard and in the mobile app.

Use the Allocate Now quick action on any Pending, Ready, or In Progress replenishment job from the dashboard row menu to trigger immediate assignment.

Best practices

• Set capacity rules on all active pick faces. Even simple min levels (for example, 5 units) ensure you are notified before a face empties.
• Use max capacity for high-velocity SKUs. Without a max, replenishment consistently targets the minimum. For fast movers, a higher max reduces how often replenishment is triggered.
• Use Generate from Demand before high-volume runs. This catches shortfalls proactively, before pickers start walking and find empty picks.
• Keep bulk stock topped up. Replenishment can only create jobs when bulk stock exists. Monitor bulk locations for products with capacity rules to ensure there is always reserve stock available.