1. Purpose
Give each pallet a scannable identity so that a whole pallet can be moved with one scan, and so its contents are known without opening or counting it.
2. Scope
Printing licence plate labels, loading stock onto them, putting them away, and transferring stock between them. Building pallets physically, and the general mechanics of moving stock, are covered in SWI-002. Setting the barcode mask that makes plates recognisable in the first place is SWI-022, and it comes before everything here.
3. Roles & Responsibilities
Role | Responsibility |
|---|---|
Warehouse manager | Sets the LPN prefix and the barcode mask before any labels are printed. See SWI-022. |
Operations lead | Prints label batches, keeps unused labels controlled, decides the labelling convention. |
Warehouse operator | Applies one label per pallet, loads stock onto the LPN, puts the pallet away. |
4. When you need this
You are storing stock by the pallet and want to move a whole pallet in one scan.
You need to know what is on a pallet without unwrapping it or counting it.
A bulk delivery is arriving that will be broken out into pallets.
A pallet needs relocating and re-scanning every carton is not realistic.
5. Key concept: stock sits on the plate, the plate sits in the location
What people assume | What actually happens |
|---|---|
An LPN is just another kind of location. | It is a container with its own identity — a pallet, a cage, a tote. Stock sits on the LPN, and the LPN sits in a location. Move the LPN and everything on it moves with it, in one transaction. |
Any pallet label will do, as long as it scans. | Only barcodes matching the warehouse's LPN Barcode Mask count as licence plates. With the mask blank, receiving cannot recognise a pallet at all, and elsewhere a mis-scanned carton silently becomes a new plate. Set it first — SWI-022. |
The rows marked Virtual in the LPNs list are pallets too. | They are system placeholders, one per location, so loose stock behaves consistently behind the scenes. You never print, scan or select them. Ignore them. |
A damaged label can be replaced by generating a new number. | That creates a second, separate pallet identity, and the stock stays on the old one. Reprint the existing plate from the LPNs list instead. |
6. Procedure
6A. Print a batch of labels
Check that the warehouse has an LPN Barcode Mask set — Warehouses, open the warehouse. If the field is blank, set it before printing anything. See SWI-022.
Check that the destination locations already exist. See SWI-001.
Load the label printer with the stock you intend to use.
Go to Inventory › LPNs.
Click Print New LPNs.
Choose the Warehouse.
Enter the Quantity of labels — up to 500 per batch. Print roughly what you will use; the numbers are consumed whether or not the labels are applied.
Choose the Label Size that matches your stock.
Click Generate & Print.
Numbers are issued in sequence from your warehouse's prefix, so a first batch of eighteen produces LPN-00001 through LPN-00018. They are consecutive, which makes them easy to reconcile against a build sheet.
Apply one label per pallet, on a corner post at roughly eye height, so it can be scanned without a ladder and without unwrapping the load.
6B. Load stock onto a pallet
On the handheld, open Move Inventory.
Scan the source location, or the product, and select the product to move.
Enter the quantity going onto this one pallet.
At Scan To Location, scan the pallet's LPN label instead of a location barcode. The prompt on that screen tells you this is allowed: “Scan a location, or scan an LPN to store this inventory on it.”
Confirm. That quantity now sits on that licence plate.
Repeat for each pallet.
6C. Put the pallet away
On the handheld, open Move Inventory and scan the LPN label first.
The LPN Details screen lists everything currently on the pallet, with quantities. Check it against what you loaded.
Tap Next, then scan the destination location barcode.
Review the summary — LPN, From, To, and how many products are on board — add a Reason if useful, and tap Confirm Move.
The entire pallet relocates in one transaction. You do not scan the products again.
6D. Move stock from one pallet to another
Open Move Inventory and scan the source LPN.
Tap Next, then scan the destination LPN.
Choose the product to transfer. If the source pallet holds only one product, this step is skipped for you.
Enter the quantity, or tap All.
Tap Confirm Transfer.
7. Verification
Inventory › LPNs lists each licence plate with its current Location and its SKU, or MULTIPLE where a pallet is mixed. A plate that has not been put away yet shows Unassigned.
Opening an LPN shows its full contents.
Inventory › By Location shows the stock under the destination location, and total On Hand is unchanged.
No plates you did not print have appeared in the list. If any have, the barcode mask is missing or too loose — see SWI-022.
8. Constraints and caveats
With no LPN Barcode Mask set on the warehouse, the receiving handheld flow cannot recognise a pallet label at all, and Move Inventory will accept any barcode as a licence plate. Set the mask before you rely on either.
Maximum 500 labels per batch.
To replace a damaged label, reprint the existing LPN from the LPNs list. Generating a new number creates a second, separate pallet identity and the stock will not follow it.
A licence plate cannot be transferred to itself, and cannot cross warehouses.
Rows marked Virtual are system placeholders. They cannot be printed or selected.
Numbers are consumed from the sequence at the moment you generate them, printed or not. Keep unused labels rather than discarding them, so the sequence stays meaningful.
9. Worked example
A client needed 50,880 units of one SKU broken out as eighteen pallets in a bulk location, at 60 cases of 48 per pallet.
Step | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|
1 | Warehouse checked for an LPN Barcode Mask; blank, so set to match the LPN- prefix | Pallet labels will now be recognised as pallets, and nothing else will be |
2 | LPNs › Print New LPNs › quantity 18 | LPN-00001 … LPN-00018 printed |
3 | One label applied per built pallet | Physical pallet 1 = LPN-00001, and so on |
4 | Move Inventory: source location → 2,880 units → scan LPN-00001 | 2,880 units now on LPN-00001 |
5 | Repeat for pallets 2–17; pallet 18 takes 1,920 units (40 cases) | 50,880 units across 18 plates |
6 | Move Inventory: scan LPN → scan the bulk location → Confirm Move | Each pallet relocated in one scan |
Because the label numbers run consecutively from LPN-00001, the pallet numbers on the build sheet map straight onto the licence plates with no separate cross-reference to maintain.