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Location based storage for used parts: Advice requested please
I know this topic has been repeatedly discussed, but please bear with me.
Up until now, we've used a category/description storage system.
I recently acquired a store complete with a location based storage system, and
it is fabulous for new parts. I love the simplicity of picking from it, particularly
when selling on multiple platforms, and I am absolutely using it for all new
part-outs, gradually morphing the entire wall of new into a location based system.
Here is the tricky part, what about used? I can see the efficiencies putting
the 36 new dark blue gray 1x2 plates into the same single drawer. I struggle
with how it would work when putting away recently uploaded used stock. If I
have 36 mixed color 1x2 plates, do they all go in the same drawer? What about
the next batch? I can see having to pull 10 different lots to get 10 red plates.
Alternatively, I'd have to look up each color of the current batch to find
out where in the store it is. So the time savings is lost.
TLDR: How do you efficiently use location based storage for used stock?
Advice most welcome.
Dawn
Pretty_Pieces
Up until now, we've used a category/description storage system.
I recently acquired a store complete with a location based storage system, and
it is fabulous for new parts. I love the simplicity of picking from it, particularly
when selling on multiple platforms, and I am absolutely using it for all new
part-outs, gradually morphing the entire wall of new into a location based system.
Here is the tricky part, what about used? I can see the efficiencies putting
the 36 new dark blue gray 1x2 plates into the same single drawer. I struggle
with how it would work when putting away recently uploaded used stock. If I
have 36 mixed color 1x2 plates, do they all go in the same drawer? What about
the next batch? I can see having to pull 10 different lots to get 10 red plates.
Alternatively, I'd have to look up each color of the current batch to find
out where in the store it is. So the time savings is lost.
TLDR: How do you efficiently use location based storage for used stock?
Advice most welcome.
Dawn
Pretty_Pieces
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I would probably never put 36 different colors of the same part in the same location unless they were separated somehow. Would require too much knowledge of the different colors to pull the order. I know the different colors no problem...my helpers, maybe not. Would just be a problem waiting to happen for me.
Maybe all of this is why I typically don't mess with too much used other than rare colors, decorated stuff, or rare elements.
If you use a new drawer/location for each iteration, don't you then have to visit 3 or 4 locations to pick an order?
Thanks!
Dawn
Pretty_Pieces
For bulk used items where you can't really search by set, yeah, it sucks. I usually sort my inventory by color or part (whichever way the bulk lot is organized) and then just go down the list doing a group (part or color) at a time. For new items, I right click on an existing part number of a different color and open in a new window on a second monitor. Then I add/price the lot. If it is only a few items, I just search my inventory for the part i.e. 2x4 brick and locate the drawer. I used to have my inventory kind of grouped with certain part types in certain areas, but most of that has eroded over the years.
I dunno, I'm also all ears for a more efficient system for used lots.
You seem to call "location-based" storage any system that disregards ordering the lots by type or by color, which is fine.
Here's how ours works:
Parts are stored in varying sizes of drawers -- from bead tray spots to large sterilite drawer units. Each spot has a number and then the remarks for each lot denote which type of drawer the lot is in. For instance BT01 is a bead tray numbered "1", SB134 is a shoebox numbered "134", and so on (our system has BT for bead trays, D for Stack-On drawers, TC for LEGO Pick-a-Brick tall cups, etc.) In this case the remarks control the information, and so long as the remarks on both BL and BO stay consistent, then all is good.
When adding parts to the store, here's my methodology:
Load all parts in a BrickStock file. Sometimes this means simply parting out a set with a known inventory, sometimes I have to pick and choose different part numbers from the catalog, but it all starts in BrickStock. You don't mention using it in your post, but I highly recommend it. It's a great program for uploading and maintaining inventory.
Next, once the inventory file is prepared, I export and upload the data to BrickLink. The good thing here is that BL will first give you a page where you can dictate how the new file is to be merged with the existing inventory. You can choose to consolidate pricing, remarks, etc. I choose to accept the new prices from BrickStock but keep the old remarks. I paste the XML into the site and move to the Verify step.
On the Verify Items screen, here's where the real work begins. For any lot with a notification that begins with "This lot will be consolidated into lot#...", it will tell me the location tag for the existing lot, and all I have to do is put the incoming parts into that location. If there is no remarks, then I'm dealing with a new lot and can put in any location that will fit and notate the new remarks in the BrickStock file for that part. The good thing is that the Verify page and the BrickStock file should be in the same order, so you just move down the page and the file working through each item.
IF, upon consolidating incoming items with existing items, the drawer cannot fit the new total, then I move the lot to a new spot -- bead tray lots upgrade to small Stack-On drawers which upgrade to large Stack-On drawers which upgrade to shoeboxes which upgrade to Sterilite drawers, and so on. When this happens, I use BrickSync to change the remarks for the existing lot. The good thing here is that on the Verify Items page, the lotID is already listed for you, so the change is very easy once you get used to the commands for BrickSync.
This is it -- I work through every lot, one by one, until everything is either merged into existing lots or put away in fresh spots. Next, I close the BL Verify page (you only need this to prepare the file), and I save the BrickStock file, leaving no remarks for lots that already existed and new remarks for new lots to the store, and then I upload the file through the BrickSync interface. This process uploads the parts to both stores simultaneously and keeps inventories consistent. The first few iterations of this process can be a little nerve-wracking, but now I trust it completely.
Every lot has its own spot, and no element/condition combination is split across two different locations.
For your other question of efficiency, with our current system, it take about 25-35 seconds to find, count, and pack a lot. The order tells you the location in the item remarks, you find it, pull the drawer, count the parts, then put the drawer and get the next one. Granted, the space I have is basically a short hallway (9 ft x 25 ft), so it's easy to get to the farthest item quickly. If I created a new location for every lot that entered the store, it would be 3 times a large as it is now, and as you have seen, remarkably inefficient.
I would consider if you haven't already leaving an expandable section to your used section.
How do you expand? Leave a few drawers out or empty in each column or row depending on how you prefer to sort. Next your numbering system should be expandable. Mine is by BL cat eg bricks -> B, bricks, modified -> BM next have a number that can increase. My 1x1 bricks are in drawers B 001-01 and B 001-02, my 1x2 bricks in B 002-01 and B 002-02, and so on. That way you can expand as space requires. It also enables you to put different colors in the same drawer but keep the similar colors away from each other.
On a side note, when dealing with used it's really nice to have a color comparison chart with known bricks colors.
Tyson.
GBoneNY, That is the exact post I was looking for. Thank you so much. I currently use (and love) brickstock. I don't know about uploading the file using the brickstock interface, but I suppose I could back it out, and re-upload using the bricklink mass upload, then wait for sync.
I will poke around brickstock to see if I can figure out your method. Question: does uploading using the brickstock interface directly then still trigger the "notify" function in bricklink.
Thanks everyone for your input.
Dawn
Pretty_Pieces
The other nice thing with this method if you sort your orders by the remarks it flows picking the order, however I'm sure it would if you sorted by remarks with your current method. I've put _ in front of some items so that they appear at the beginning of the pick list if they are not in the normal drawers.
Tyson.
My system is to put all of the same part, regardless of color, into a drawer. Due to sizes and quantity, this may mean one part may be divided between three drawers (all dark stone gray in one drawer, a mix of 6 colors in a second drawer, all white in a last drawer), and/or one drawer contains ten totally different parts within it. Each drawer has nomenclature, e.g., Box A, third row, third drawer is A3-3 under "personal notes". That is how I got my native inventory into the system.
For adding inventory, for small items, I just toss into the existing drawer where it's peers are located and update the quantity in BO. If it's a new item I haven't sold before, goes into a new drawer or an existing drawer that has space available. If it's more of what I already list and doesn't fit into the existing drawer, I'll split that drawer by color into multiple drawers. The goal is to keep all of at least one color (ideally all) together in one drawer, so you don't get personal notes that look like "1/ea A3-3, 4/ea K1-2" and are running between boxes/drawers to fill one line item on an order.
I'm sure there's a better way, but it's all I've been able to come up with so far. I use the good ole Akro-Mills bins. Color mixing into one bin hasn't affected me really - I just gently pour the bin out into a black or white plastic tray if I'm not spotting the color immediately, then pour the bin back in after finding the item (e.g., for the little 1x1 round plates).
I totally agree with Leopard - if I could sort orders by Personal Notes, my picking would go MUCH faster...
> I know this topic has been repeatedly discussed, but please bear with me.
>
> Up until now, we've used a category/description storage system.
>
> I recently acquired a store complete with a location based storage system, and
> it is fabulous for new parts. I love the simplicity of picking from it, particularly
> when selling on multiple platforms, and I am absolutely using it for all new
> part-outs, gradually morphing the entire wall of new into a location based system.
>
Out of curiousity, what issues did you run into with category sorting? I know there are two camps, but interesting to hear about why someone changed their mind :) For me it's category sorting all the way.
SMH
You just made my day, thank you soooooooooo much! I do use the picker page to fill and checkoff as I go, so this will be an awesome help! You rock!
We'll call this my blond moment. I get at least one here in the forum, right? :))
I'm at about 180K parts (Not all currently visible online). It takes up over 12m/40 linear feet, and is about 2m/6.5 feet high. Organising by category and part description worked great when just on bricklink. My challenges have been selling on 2 platforms, when part names and even categories are vastly different.
For example, part 30562 is a cylinder quarter 4x4x6 on bricklink, but a panel 4x4x6 round on brickowl. The really challenging categories are minifigure parts & accessories, and technics, where the majority of the category is named differently.
In order to pick the orders, I often have to go to the brickowl order, get the external lot ID, then look that up in the bricklink inventory to find out what it was called there in order to find out where in the shelves to look for it. That's what makes it so awesome to pick the newly acquired parts that just have a bin number. So lovely and simple.
Calibrick,
Thank you for the clarification. Between you and GBoneNY, it seems like it could be quite workable for used stock. I hadn't considered putting different parts in the same drawer. Precision is an absolute must though, or doing inventory would be a nightmare.
Part of the reason some of my stock isn't visible online, is that the movers actually shook some of the boxes because they "sounded like LEGO". Even though each stack-on was wrapped in shrink wrap inside the boxes, the drawer contents were jumbled, and I am slowly working my way through them, confirming stock before I make it active again.
Since I'm putting hands on each drawer and part to confirm it, now would be a really good time to morph those segments into location based, if that is what I decide to do.
I'll spend a few more days thinking of how best to arrange it. I may leave some categories (regular plates/bricks/slopes) as they are, but transition the problem ones (technics) to location numbers.
Thanks everyone for your advice and feedback.
Dawn
Pretty_Pieces
I highly suggest using the location (in your remarks/personal note) as your link between the two sites. If two pieces are too similar to each other and could be mistaken for each other, put them in separate drawers (all my light gray and medium stone gray for example). Then there is no thinking when pulling the order. It was done ahead of time. Just ensuring the quantity is correct.
Tyson.
> I'm at about 180K parts (Not all currently visible online). It takes up over 12m/40 linear feet, and is about 2m/6.5 feet high. Organising by category and part description worked great when just on bricklink. My challenges have been selling on 2 platforms, when part names and even categories are vastly different.
>
> For example, part 30562 is a cylinder quarter 4x4x6 on bricklink, but a panel 4x4x6 round on brickowl. The really challenging categories are minifigure parts & accessories, and technics, where the majority of the category is named differently.
We run our own suite of software. When picking an order, we use our own internal web page so it shows BL part numbers and categories for BO orders as well. See screenshot of an example BO order:
http://www.qwertyboy.org/files/BO-order.jpg
With this we have no issues at all having our storage sorted by (BL) category. It makes it easy to find parts without having to rely on remarks, storing uploaded items is a breeze etc.
I have contemplated "cleaning up" the software so others can use it, but that will be quite an undertaking. If only there were 50 hours in a day...
Niek.