Inventory Organization

Loremonger

How do you organize your inventory?

I currently have everything in alphabetical order by category and then by item name... using the BrickLink catalog. This creates obvious problems when picking orders.

I think I'm eventually going to have to come up with my own proprietary system so that it doesn't matter which site I sell on, I can still find what I'm looking for. I'm just curious how other Brick Owl sellers are coping with the differences.

Enoch

Brikomania

I used to do that. Now I have every lot separated in a zip-loc baggie, inside a vig bag. The big bags I have in a table put one behind the other one and in rows.

Forms like a rectangle full of bags, and I number the bags A-Z, and the row in which the bag is 1-10(or whatever number).

IE, in a table, it would be

A1-B1-C1
A2-B2-etc
A3-B3

So my remarks look like 'A1' 'H8'.

However, I've already grown a single letter, so I'm using 'AA1', 'A(letter)(number)'. After I run out of this, I will do B(letter)(number). And so on.

Hope I made it clear. :P

Loremonger

Interesting. How do you handle consolidating lots? Also, what do you do when the parts inside one bag outgrow that bag?

Hoddie

I use plastic cases with divider trays to store my pieces. Items of rarer colours are thrown in together, for example all trans. dark pink are kept together, all yellowish green together, etc. Some items are kept individually bagged, mostly printed items but also those prone to scratches such as windscreens, etc. Other colours are further divided across many trays, keeping smaller items apart from larger items for ease of picking. I keep all those items that can be easily confused with other items in their own labelled bags.

The major colours like black, tan, green, greys, etc are kept in their own cases with all pieces in their own compartment. White pieces are kept in black cases though I don't know for certain if this helps protect them from UV or other nasty stuff.

I keep an Excel file updated to show the location of all colours/items in my system. Has worked pretty well so far and I don't plan on substantially increasing my stock levels so it should keep me going nicely.

Brikomania

Whenever I part out a new set I just choose to consolidate lots (I part out on BL, and it will tell you the remarks of the lots that are going to be consolidated, will go through each and put the parts with the other parts of the lot). After that I give new remarks to the new part and upload everything.

When the parts outgrow, I just change bags. I use the bags I told you for the most of them, but I also have some boxes on the ground under the table for big bags. Same, 'Box A1'. The high quantity parts or big parts go there (if it outgrows just move it and change remarks).

DagsBricks

Bags in bags in bins, all clear so I can see at a glance. Mostly I keep them organized by category. Some anomalies arise such as with Technic bricks (which I keep in the Technic bin) but I just know where everything is supposed to be.

http://www.dagsbricks.com/2014/02/lego-tips-and-techniques-updated-store.html

Brian

Plastic-Paradise

I run my inventory a lot like Brick_Top. The green and blue bins as shown below are number 1-475 and the other tubs, boxes, etc... are just random number/letter sequences I come up with. Then I use the remarks sections when adding inventory. I am likely going to have to adjust a few things now as well I cant get a good handle on Brick Owl's sorting system mainly on order screens. For the most part my set up was in order of the BrickLink catalog, which is basically the same with Brick Owl as far as the order is concerned. But I still have to run back and forth when picking Brick Owl orders because the order of things on my order screen is just random no matter what I select. I will get it eventually I guess but it is frustrating right now to say the least.

PP

Lawrence

@Plastic-Paradise with regards to sorting, did you try the suggestion in the thread regarding the sorting?

Plastic-Paradise

I believe so. The one thing that seems to work better for me is sorting by remarks but then it scrambles my new/used. My preference is sorting by category but for some reason even though you do have it listed it doesn't do it.

For example, know matter what I set up I will be pulling things such as plates, tiles, bricks, scattered throughout the entire order. separating by new and used works great but using the drop down doesn't seem to do anything for me.

I will go back and check the previous post again and make sure I didn't miss anything but I believe I tried everything. It is almost like there is some issues on Brick Owl affecting only my account somehow. The address thing (states not being abbreviated) is a major headache, the sorting on the order screens, and the payments through PayPal not showing as payment received until I go in and do it manually. I don't see to many other posts on any of these issues so I am not sure if it is just me or it is affecting others and they just haven't said anything.

With that being said I want you to know I am still 100% happy with Brick Owl. I don't want you to think I am whining or anything as they are mostly just annoyances. I have grown to just tolerate it and move on since I cant figure out what is causing it or how to fix it.

PP

polarbomber

i use ikea storage racks arranged alphabetically , a container for each category , large grip bags for item type , small grip bags for colour , when i fill a container or need more space i buy a new rack and extra containers then shuffle the containers around . works fine for a small hobby store .

alltrightbricks

@Plastic-Paradise

I noticed the same thing about the Paypal payments after you (?) mentioned it before. There are often payments that do not appear in my mulit-order shipping. I have to go back to those transactions and do the shipping labels for them individually. I also noticed as mentioned, that the State was spelled out in full. I don't know if this is coming through Brick Owl somehow, but I did not deal with this before. It's is not a lot more work to do it this way, but lately the orders have really been coming in, so anything to save a few minutes helps.

My payments are all coming through and showing in the order just fine--so far

Katie

Badlove

Sterilite drawers with my own system. Each drawer labeled "a12n" etc and that number put in the remarks. So when pulling an order I take my tablet and start in one spot and then around each wall in order, so very smooth flow. No walking back and forth. The only thing that would be better is if I did not have to share the room with the laundry.
James

Plastic-Paradise

@alltrightbricks I am all but sure it is on Brick Owl's end. I believe it is a formatting issue. I think @Admin (Lawrence) had mentioned making a drop down with abbreviations instead of allowing it to be spelled out was on the list so I never brought it back up.

When the correct format is used, such as:

Google, Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043

Everything shows up and works just fine. However, when it is done incorrectly such as:

Google, Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, California 94043

Than I believe PayPal is considering it a international address and not pulling the order. I think that what happens is when submitting a PayPal order some orders are pulling the Brick Owl shipping address and either others do not or the others are just formatted correctly.

The only thing I have figured out for certainty is that when the shipping address in Brick Owl has the state completely spelled out it will not show up in my shipping programs.

Also, @Admin (Lawrence) I was able to get the sort a little better buy using the invisible button. It still skips around a bit but it is 100% better.

PP

Loremonger

@Plastic-Paradise

Does shift-click not work for you? I sort by Condition first, and then hold Shift and click the Note column.

Plastic-Paradise

Yes that's what I did and it is much better. It still skips around a bit for example plates standard, plates unstandard, then back to plates standard but it is way better now that I found the invisible button.

PP

Loremonger

The two that cause extra trips for me are 1 x 10 parts come before 1 x 2. Also, catalog items that are just misnamed, but then I can just update those.

walstib

Mainly by category, then by size, colour or name depending on what is in the bin.

Enoch,

What I have done is not strictly adhere to any one method but try and combine benefits of different ones.

Things like plates; I sort 1x plates together, then by size, then by colour. 2x plates in another bin done the same.

I do have a couple "odd category" bins, individual categories inside these are sorted by name.

A varied category like modified plates I sort by size, small at the front large at the back.

Other things I break apart with my own logic. I have four bins for gears. One for plain old gears, one for beveled, one for racks and one for the odds and sods. Each of theses then sorted.

May not be for everybody but I know where things are and a category having a different name is not a big deal. No change in picking time from one place to another.

I also sort the bins so categories I sell often are withing arms reach, I only have to move for things that only sell once in a while. Well, working in a 9' x 9' room almost everything is within arms reach.

BinOfBlocks

I have 2 racks with bins. I use a 3 digit system. All bins where 001-500 but i found that took a little time expensively if i want picking the order but my GF was. So i redid it to one rack was 1XX and the other is 2XX so now not only do you know what bin in the rack to look for you also know exactly what rack too look for. This is a more.. warehouse approach and lets you open the door to massive expansion without having to re do your current inventory.

So like my 3001s are in 202 which would be rack #2 in bin #2. My minifigure parts are in 106 which is rack #1 in bin #6 and so on. Save lots of time not only pinpointing the bin but also the rack/location of the bin when you can. Deff if your not the only one pulling your orders.

zwartemagica

We have 7 racks, each with 4-9 shelves, each shelve with 3-5 rows of 1-3 boxes each containing mostly a 3x5 grid of small inner boxes. Every location is numbered like 4321A5 (rack 4, shelve 3 from top, 2nd row, 1st box from top, inner box A5 (as on a chess board). There is (on purpose) no logical order among the pieces. Before fetching we sort the picklist on *our* location and just walk by the racks and shelves once.

zwartemagica

"2nd row" should read "2nd column".

budgetkids

@Plastic-Paradise Where did you get the shelves at with so many shelves? That is what I have been looking for.

Dawn

Plastic-Paradise

@budgetkids

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200367213_200367213

I got them from Northern Tool but I made the purchase through Amazon on most of them to get the free shipping. They are expensive and maybe a bit over priced now that I think about it. I wanted to actually build my own custom shelves/drawers but the design I am wanting to use would be better suited as a built in design and I rent. Once I decide to bite the bullet and buy a place I will build my own.

PP