Understanding Zone
What are Zones?
In Canary7, Zones are logical groupings of locations within a warehouse that help structure and streamline operations. By grouping locations based on their physical characteristics or operational behaviour, zones allow the WMS to apply specific rules or processes that reflect the reality of how work happens on the warehouse floor.
There are three types of Zones in Canary7:
1. Locating Zones
Locating Zones are used when putting inventory away into storage after receiving. These zones can help guide the system on where inventory should be located after receiving or movement.
Best Practice:
For most implementations, we recommend using a single, global Locating Zone across the warehouse unless your operation requires strict control over putaway behaviour. This allows maximum flexibility and avoids over-complication unless there is a clear benefit. Granularity with Putaway Jobs can be achieved through Locating Rules.
2. Allocating Zones
Allocating Zones influence where inventory is pulled from when allocating stock for orders. These can help separate inventory by characteristics such as client, size, or product type.
Best Practice:
As with Locating Zones, we typically advise using a single, global Allocating Zone, unless there is a need to constrain allocation based on operational or client-specific rules. Granularity with Allocations can be achieved using Allocating Rules.
3. Work Zones
Work Zones are where zones become operationally significant. These zones define how work is carried out — such as picking, replenishment, and movement — and can be referenced in rules and workflows throughout the system.
Work Zones can be highly granular and are critical for defining operational processes. For example:
Ground-Level Pickface: Designed for small-item, high-velocity picking performed on foot into totes or trolleys.
High-Bay Racking: Consists of tall racking aisles accessed by forklift, suitable for bulky or slower-moving items.
While both zones may be used for picking, they differ vastly in method, speed, and equipment. Defining them as separate Work Zones allows the system to apply different allocation logic, picking job creation rules, and process flows accordingly.
Why Use Zones?
Zones help drive intelligent warehouse behaviour. For example:
Allocation Rules can prioritise picking from specific Work Zones through the use of Selections.
Shipment Picking Job Creation can separate work based on zone to optimise labour or equipment usage.
Replenishment can be zone-specific, e.g., moving stock from a High-Bay Work Zone to a Ground-Level Pickface.
By thoughtfully defining zones — especially Work Zones — you enable Canary7 to reflect the operational layout and strategy of your warehouse, ensuring optimal performance and efficiency.
Adding a Zone
Within Zone click on the Red Action Button
, this will bring up a drop-down menu, and select "Add".
Enter in Mandatory Fields
Enter or Select the following fields:
- Name of the Zone
- Zone Class
Ensure that you check the box 
and click on the submit button.png)
to create the zone.