Managing Kanban Bins
A Kanban bin is a RFID-tagged unit being tracked in Stratosphere when the Kanban Inventory Management feature is enabled. Kanban bins can be used to track and manage low-cost, med surg inventory that would not be cost effective to individually tag.
An RFID Tag that is seen by a Kanban Read Point that is not associated with a bin in Stratosphere will appear in the Unassociated Tags Report until it is associated as a bin, at which point it will be tracked and managed in Stratosphere as a bin.
Kanban bins can be viewed and managed in 2 spots in Stratosphere, Locations and the Non-RFID Product Catalog. If you would like to set up all bins for an inventory location, or simply view all your bins for a stocking location, proceed to Viewing Kanban Bins - Location. If you would like to configure or view your bins based on the product the bins contain, proceed to Viewing Kanban Bins - Non-RFID Product. Bins can be created and managed from either of these spots in the system at any time, so that you can maintain bins in the context that makes the most sense for you.
Viewing the Non-RFID Product Details page requires the "Product Management" role to be granted in your user record. Viewing the Location Details page requires that your user be granted access to that location. Contact your system administrator to add these capabilities.
Bins can be viewed and managed from the Location Details page, which can be accessed through the following steps.
- Select Location from the side menu.
- Select the Location for which you would like to view Kanban bins by clicking the Location Name.
- Select the Bin Management tab.
Bins can also be viewed and managed from the Non-RFID Product Details page, which can be accessed through the following steps.
- Select Products and then Non-RFID Product Catalog from the side menu.
- Select the Non-RFID Product for which you would like to view Kanban bins by clicking the Non-RFID Product Name.
- Select the Bin Management tab.
To view a bin's details, click the RFID Tag EPC for the bin. The Bin Details page contains the following information:
- RFID Tag EPC* - The unique Electronic Product Code (EPC) for the RFID tag attached to the bin. This value typically consists of 24 hexadecimal characters. This will be printed in both a human readable and barcode format on the tag and is also the number that Kanban read points use to read and identify the bin.
- Stocking Level* - The number of units of the Non-RFID product that should be stocked in the bin so that the bin is considered to be fully stocked
- Location* - The name of the location where the bin should be located
- Non-RFID Product* - The name and code of the Non-RFID Product that the bin contains
- Shelving Unit - The shelving unit where the bin is located within the stocking location
- Shelf - The shelf where the bin is located within the shelving unit
- Slot - The slot where the bin is located within the shelf
- Bin Color - The color of the bin
- Bin Description - Additional descriptive details about the bin
- Stocking Status - The status of the bin, indicating whether the bin is "In Stock" or "Out of Stock". A Stocking Status of "Out of Stock" indicates the bin is currently being reported by a Kanban Read Point, and a State of "In Stock" indicates the bin is not currently being reported by a Kanban Read Point.
- Stocking Status Set Time - The time that the Stocking Status was last updated. If the bin has no transaction history, this field will not have a value.
- Kanban Read Point - The name of the Kanban Read Point the bin is currently being reported by. If the bin is "In Stock", this field will display the value "N/A".
- Transaction History - Table showing up to the last 5 times a bin was reported by a Kanban Read Point, with a link to view more, if applicable
- Event Time - The date and time that the bin was reported
- State - The stocking status of the bin, indicating whether the bin is "In Stock" or "Out of Stock", at the time of the transaction
- Read Point - The name of the Kanban Read Point that reported the bin
- Location - The name of the location where the bin was reported
* = Required
Users with the Organization Management role can establish custom validation rules for Tag EPC to allow only a certain length or certain prefixes (only allow tag EPCs that start with ABC123 and are 24 characters total, for example). If a Tag EPC entered does not match your organization's validation requirements, an error will appear clarifying those requirements when entering the RFID Tag EPC.
Creating Kanban bins requires the "Product Management" role to be granted in your user record. Users are only able to create bins for locations they have been granted access to. Contact your system administrator to add this capability.
There are two options for adding new Kanban bins in Stratosphere.
- Navigate to the Location Management page. Select the location where the new bin will be located, and go to the Bin Management tab for the location.
- Click "Add Bin".
- Enter or scan in the RFID Tag EPC.
- Enter the Stocking Level. This field can contain positive integers.
- Select a Non-RFID Product. This is the product that will be stocked in the bin.
- Click "Optional information" to enter additional information about the bin.
- Click "Save Changes" to finish adding the bin.
- Navigate to the Non-RFID Product Catalog. Select the Non-RFID Product that the new bin will contain, and go to the Bin Management tab for that Non-RFID Product.
- Click "Add Bin".
- Enter or scan in the RFID Tag EPC.
- Enter the Stocking Level. This field can contain positive integers.
- Select a Location. This is the location where the bin will be stocked.
- Click "Optional information" to enter additional information about the bin.
- Click "Save Changes" to finish adding the bin.
Editing Kanban bins requires the "Product Management" role to be granted in your user record. Users are only able to edit bins for locations they have been granted access to. Contact your system administrator to add this capability.
All bin fields can be edited. There are two options for editing a bin.
- Navigate to the Location Management page. Select the location containing the bin you would like to edit, and view the Bin Management tab for the location. OR Navigate to the Non-RFID Product Catalog. Select the Non-RFID Product containing the bin you would like to edit, and view the Bin Management tab for the Non-RFID Product.
- Open the quick action menu for the bin you wish to edit and select "Edit."
- In the "Edit Bin" window that opens, make any desired changes.
- Click "Save Changes" to save the edited bin. Clicking "Cancel" or the X in the top right of the window will remove any edits you just made but had not yet saved.
- Navigate to the Location Management page. Select the location containing the bin you would like to edit, and view the Bin Management tab for the location. OR Navigate to the Non-RFID Product Catalog. Select the Non-RFID Product containing the bin you would like to edit, and view the Bin Management tab for the Non-RFID Product.
- Click the RFID Tag EPC for the bin you would like to edit.
- On the Bin Details page that appears, make any desired changes.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Save Changes" to save the edited bin. To cancel your edits, leave the Bin Details page without saving.
Deleting Kanban bins requires the "Product Management" role to be granted in your user record. Users are only able to delete bins for locations they have been granted access to. Contact your system administrator to add this capability.
If a Kanban bin does not have transaction history, the bin can be deleted. If the bin does have transaction history, the option to delete will be replaced with the option to deactivate. See the Deactivating Kanban Bins section below for more information. There are two options for deleting a Kanban bin.
- Navigate to the Location Management page. Select the location containing the bin you would like to delete, and view the Bin Management tab for the location. OR Navigate to the Non-RFID Product Catalog. Select the Non-RFID Product containing the bin you would like to delete, and view the Bin Management tab for the Non-RFID Product.
- Open the quick action menu for the bin you wish to delete and select "Delete."
- In the "Delete Bin" confirmation window that appears, click "Delete" to confirm the deletion of the bin. This action cannot be undone.
- Navigate to the Location Management page. Select the location containing the bin you would like to delete, and view the Bin Management tab for the location. OR Navigate to the Non-RFID Product Catalog. Select the Non-RFID Product containing the bin you would like to delete, and view the Bin Management tab for the Non-RFID Product.
- Click the RFID Tag EPC for the bin you would like to delete.
- On the Bin Details page that appears, scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Delete."
- In the "Delete Bin" confirmation window that appears, click "Delete" to confirm the deletion of the bin. This action cannot be undone.
Deactivating Kanban bins requires the "Product Management" role to be granted in your user record. Users are only able to deactivate bins for locations they have been granted access to. Contact your system administrator to add this capability.
If a Kanban bin has transaction history, the bin can be deactivated, but not deleted. When a bin is deactivated in Stratosphere, it is hidden from inventory, excluded from the Kanban Restock and Kanban Inventory Reports, and excluded from transaction tracking. The transaction history and audit log events for the bin prior to its deactivation will remain in the Transactions and Audit Log Reports. Deactivated bins can be activated to unhide the bins from inventory and Kanban reports and resume tracking. There are two options for deactivating a Kanban bin.
- Navigate to the Location Management page. Select the location containing the bin you would like to deactivate, and view the Bin Management tab for the location. OR Navigate to the Non-RFID Product Catalog. Select the Non-RFID Product containing the bin you would like to deactivate, and view the Bin Management tab for the Non-RFID Product.
- Open the quick action menu for the bin you wish to deactivate and select "Deactivate."
- In the "Deactivate Bin" confirmation window that appears, click "Deactivate" to confirm the deactivation of the bin. This action can be undone by activating the bin.
- Navigate to the Location Management page. Select the location containing the bin you would like to deactivate, and view the Bin Management tab for the location. OR Navigate to the Non-RFID Product Catalog. Select the Non-RFID Product containing the bin you would like to deactivate, and view the Bin Management tab for the Non-RFID Product.
- Click the RFID Tag EPC for the bin you would like to deactivate.
- On the Bin Details page that appears, scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Deactivate."
- In the "Deactivate Bin" confirmation window that appears, click "Deactivate" to confirm the deactivation of the bin. This action can be undone by activating the bin.
Activating Kanban bins requires the "Product Management" role to be granted in your user record. Users are only able to activate bins for locations they have been granted access to. Contact your system administrator to add this capability.
There are two options for activating a Kanban bin.
- Navigate to the Location Management page. Select the location containing the bin you would like to activate, and view the Bin Management tab for the location. OR Navigate to the Non-RFID Product Catalog. Select the Non-RFID Product containing the bin you would like to activate, and view the Bin Management tab for the Non-RFID Product.
- On the Bin Management tab, turn the "Show Deactivated Bins" toggle on.
- Open the quick action menu for the bin you wish to activate and select "Activate."
- In the "Activate Bin" confirmation window that appears, click "Activate" to confirm the activation of the device.
- Navigate to the Location Management page. Select the location containing the bin you would like to activate, and view the Bin Management tab for the location. OR Navigate to the Non-RFID Product Catalog. Select the Non-RFID Product containing the bin you would like to activate, and view the Bin Management tab for the Non-RFID Product.
- On the Bin Management tab, turn the "Show Deactivated Bins" toggle on.
- Click the RFID Tag EPC for the bin you would like to activate.
- On the Bin Details page that appears, scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Activate."
- In the "Activate Bin" confirmation window that appears, click "Activate" to confirm the activation of the device.