When you think about what we do in the world of inventory and warehouse management from an operational perspective, it can really be broken down into only TWO core functions. They can be called numerous things, but in Qwix we break them down into the following:
To understand the core functions, we first need to define “core”.
If you really think about it. Almost everything that happens in the world of inventory boils down to an identifiable thing (let's call it an item), and where you may find it (let's call that a bin). Now if we combine the information of an item and a bin, and we add some additional information with that, we arrive at the concept of stock.
When we then think about the functions of a typical warehouse, effectively what we are then doing is moving items from one place to another. In essence, we are moving stock. In Qwix we define these movements as transfers, and we have two derivatives:
Both these types of transfers are the same thing, but one is based on some level of instructions that has been predefined, and the other is executed on an “ad-hoc” basis, without the need for a pre-defined instruction.
You can find much more information about transfers in the links above.
What cannot be satisfied with transfers is often something we just want to verify, but will not change any of the properties of the item or stock directly, or end up with any movement of stock. For this, we have a different type of function that we use to verify the details (mostly existence and qty). In Qwix we use a function called counting. Just like we have with transfers, we also have two derivatives:
When we count something, the result does not necessarily affect anything, we are simply recording information about the stock, and this can then be used in a seperate process to update details. This is an important concept to understand.