Give every unit an address. AIMS360 bin locations track stock by bin at the style, color, size level across rails, racks, pallets, shelves and floor spots, with directed putaway, suggested picks and multi-order zone picking.
A warehouse without bin locations answers "we have 40 units" and then sends someone walking. A warehouse with them answers "12 are in A-07-3, 28 are in bulk on pallet P-22," and the pick ticket already knows the route. AIMS360 bin locations put an address on hanging rails, racks, pallets, shelves and floor spots, in one warehouse or across several, at the style, color, size level.
AIMS360 lets you define locations and bins inside every warehouse, then tracks inventory in them at the style, color, size level. Styles can sit in multiple bins at once, stock lookups show exactly where, default bins direct putaway, and pick tickets suggest the bin and can be assigned to specific pickers, so one person picks a whole zone for several orders in a single pass. Bin to bin moves, warehouse to warehouse transfers with in-transit visibility, production receiving and allocation all speak the same addresses.
The rest of this page covers what a bin location actually is, how to name them so they still make sense two years from now, and what changes in day to day warehouse work when every unit has an address.
A bin location is the specific, named place inside a warehouse where inventory physically sits: a shelf position, a rack section, a pallet spot, a stretch of hanging rail, or a marked area of floor. "Bin" does not mean a plastic tub. It means the smallest addressable unit of storage, whatever the storage physically is, which matters in apparel where goods hang on rails and stack on pallets as often as they sit on shelves.
AIMS360 structures this as a hierarchy: the warehouse is the building, a location is an area within it, and a bin is the addressable spot inside that area. Every bin can hold any mix of SKUs, every SKU can sit in several bins, and the system holds the map: which cells of which styles are in which addresses, in which buildings.
A SKU has a home: style 4402 in Black always lives in A-07-3, and putaway returns it there. Predictable, easy to learn, and the right default for replenished basics. In AIMS360 this is the default bin location on the style, which also powers auto-suggested picking.
Goods go wherever space is when they arrive, and the system remembers. Better space use for seasonal drops that arrive big and shrink fast, and entirely dependent on software keeping the map, because nobody's memory survives a receiving day. AIMS360 supports both, and most apparel warehouses run a mix: fixed homes for basics, dynamic overflow for the season.
Bin names are the part everyone improvises and then regrets. The convention that holds up is an address that reads from big to small, the way a person walks:
| Segment | Means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Zone | Area of the building: A for shelving, H for hanging rails, P for pallet bulk | A |
| Aisle | Which aisle in that zone, numbered in walking order | 07 |
| Bay | Which rack section along the aisle | 3 |
| Level | Which shelf, counted from the floor up | 2 |
So A-07-3-2 is zone A, aisle 7, bay 3, second shelf up, and a new hire can find it on day one. A few rules save future pain: keep segments fixed width so names sort correctly (07, not 7), skip characters that misread at a glance or on a label (the letter O and zero, I and 1), leave number gaps so growth does not force renaming, and put the name on a scannable barcode label at the bin, because the address only helps if the shelf itself agrees. In AIMS360, bins carry names and category assignments you define, created in the user interface, imported from an Excel template, or created through the API, so an existing map of your building drops in rather than being retyped.
Style stock shows where the units are, not just that they exist: this many in A-07-3, this many on pallet P-22, this many in the other building. One style across multiple locations is normal life, and now it is visible.
Default bin locations give styles a home, so receiving does not depend on the one person who knows where things go. Goods land where the system expects them, which is what makes every later step trustworthy.
Picks suggest the bin from the default and actual locations, so the ticket says where to walk instead of leaving it to memory. Travel time is most of picking labor, and addresses are how you compress it.
Pick tickets can be assigned to specific users, and one picker can pull goods for several customer orders in a designated location, in one pass, with the pieces consolidated with picks from other zones to complete each ticket. That is zone picking, and it is how a big floor stops being a bottleneck.
Bin to bin moves handle consolidation and reslotting inside a building. Warehouse to warehouse transfers send and receive at the bin level with in-transit visibility, so stock is never invisible just because it is on a truck.
Production receiving puts finished goods from WIP into bins, intelligent allocation works with bins and locations, stock adjustment reporting shows the bin, carton labels print from production, and materials tracking extends the idea to fabric locations, lots and rolls.
Everything on this page compounds with the thing AIMS360 already does: tracking inventory as a style, color, size matrix. A bin does not hold "40 units of style 4402." It holds specific cells of the matrix: 12 units of Black in Medium, 8 of Navy in Large. So when a retailer's order needs exact sizes, the pick ticket points at the bins that hold those exact cells, and when a size sells down, you can see which addresses still have it. Generic bin systems track products in places. An apparel bin system has to track sizes in places, because the 850 that arrives tomorrow will be written one line per UPC, and the definition of every cell lives on the size matrix.
Not everyone does, and pretending otherwise would waste your setup effort. The feature is built for brands with a large warehouse area and multiple warehouse staff picking goods. If your whole operation is one room where one person can point at everything, your warehouse is effectively one bin, and the system overhead buys you little. The signs you have outgrown that: pickers asking where things are, receiving days that scatter goods nobody can find by Friday, counts that take a weekend, a second building, or a floor big enough that walking time is your real picking cost.
Practical notes for when you are ready: bin locations are available on the AIMS360 Designer and Luxury plans, activation is coordinated with AIMS360 Support, and rollout runs with the implementation team, because turning a warehouse into addresses is a project with physical labeling and a data import in it, not a checkbox. Bins and locations are created in the user interface, imported from an Excel template, or created through the API.
The smallest named, addressable place where inventory sits: a shelf position, rack section, pallet spot, stretch of hanging rail, or marked floor area. Bin is the address, not a container. In AIMS360 the hierarchy is warehouse, then location, then bin, and inventory in every bin is tracked at the style, color, size level.
The warehouse is the building, a location is an area within it, like a zone of shelving or the hanging rail section, and a bin is the specific addressable spot inside that area. The hierarchy exists so an address reads the way a person walks: building, area, aisle, spot.
Honestly, only past a certain size. The feature is designed for brands with a large warehouse area and multiple staff picking. One room and one picker is effectively a single bin already. The tipping points are pickers hunting for goods, unfindable inventory after big receiving days, painful counts, meaningful walking time, or a second building.
Big to small, the way a person walks: zone, aisle, bay, level, like A-07-3-2. Keep segments fixed width so names sort, avoid characters that misread like O and 0, leave numbering gaps for growth, and put a scannable label on the physical bin. A boring, systematic name outperforms a clever one every time.
Yes, and it usually does: a picking bin on the shelf, overflow on a pallet, and more in a second warehouse. AIMS360 tracks every placement at the style, color, size level, so a stock lookup shows exactly which sizes are at which addresses instead of one blended number.
Pick tickets suggest bins, using the style's default bin and where stock actually sits, and tickets can be assigned to specific pickers. One picker can pull goods for several customer orders in one designated location in a single pass, and those picks are consolidated with goods picked from other locations to complete each ticket. Less walking, more parallel work.
Directed putaway means the system, not tribal knowledge, decides where received goods go. In AIMS360 you set default bin locations per style, so receiving lands goods at their home address and the same defaults then feed the suggested picks. Fixed homes for basics, dynamic placement for seasonal overflow, and the system keeps the map either way.
Both. Bin to bin moves handle reslotting and consolidation inside a building. Warehouse to warehouse transfers work at the bin level with a send and receive flow and in-transit visibility, so goods on a truck are still accounted for, and receiving places them into bins on the other end.
Yes. Finished goods received from work in progress land in bins, so production output gets an address the moment it becomes sellable inventory, and carton labels can print from production. Materials tracking extends the same idea to fabric with locations, lots and rolls.
Three ways: create locations and bins in the user interface, import them from an Excel template, or create them through the API, which suits brands that already have their building mapped in another system. Styles link to default bins by import as well, so an existing layout drops in rather than being retyped.
Bin locations are available on the Designer and Luxury plans. Activation is coordinated with AIMS360 Support, and the rollout runs with the implementation team, since going from an unaddressed floor to a labeled, mapped warehouse is a real project with physical labeling and a data import in it.
For most apparel brands, that is the point: bins and locations live inside the same AIMS360 record that runs orders, allocation, EDI and invoicing, so there is no sync between a separate WMS and the ERP to drift out of truth. The pick that empties a bin is the same event that updates availability everywhere, including what your retailers and your Shopify store see.
Last reviewed 8 August 2026 by the AIMS360 product team, against the AIMS360 Bins and Locations documentation in the AIMS360 help center, including setup, default bin locations, picking, transfers, production receiving and allocation articles. Storage types, the warehouse, location, bin hierarchy, multi-user picking, plan availability on Designer and Luxury tiers, and setup by user interface, Excel import or API are from that documentation. Bin naming conventions are standard warehouse practice, offered as guidance rather than AIMS360 policy. Feature availability and plan details can change, so confirm specifics with your AIMS360 contact.
Bring your floor plan to a demo and we will walk through zones, bins, defaults and the picking flow, on your actual layout.
