Overview - ION Manual
Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: /llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
A location is a place where inventory sits or where work happens. Locations model the physical map of your factory, and every inventory transaction records the location it happened at. You manage locations from the Factory area in the Production section of the sidebar. For the steps, see Manage locations. Together, the location tree is your factory in ION.
Types and hierarchy
Each location has a Type: Warehouse, Rack, Shelf, Tote, or Workcenter. The type tags what a location is; it does not restrict nesting. Locations nest into a tree through the Parent Location field, mirroring your building: a warehouse contains racks, a rack contains shelves, a shelf contains totes. Root locations sit at the top of the Factory tree, and each child rolls up under its parent. To build and reorganize the tree, see Organize locations into a hierarchy.
Work centers
A work center is a location whose Type is Workcenter. There is no separate work-center record, so you create one by creating or editing a location. A work center is where runs and run steps are executed: run steps route to a work center, its capacity feeds scheduling, and operators work its queue of due steps. To designate one and run work there, see Set up a work center.
Fields
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Name | Location name. Required. Sort order drives the kit picklist pick path, so sortable names such as A1-01 produce a sensible sequence. |
| Type | Warehouse, Rack, Shelf, Tote, or Workcenter. |
| Description | Free text. |
| Parent Location | Sets the location’s place in the hierarchy. |
| Supervisor | The person responsible for the location. |
| Inventory Available | Controls whether inventory can be stored here. |
| Exclude from Inventory Merge | Keeps this location’s inventory from auto-merging. |
| Address | Optional. Postal address, used for bill-to and ship-to on purchase orders. |
| Geolocation Latitude / Longitude | Optional coordinates. |
| Image | Optional. A thumbnail for visual identification. |
A location’s status (Active or Archived) shows as a badge and changes with the Archive or Unarchive action, not as a field.
Your org can add custom attributes to locations for data the built-in fields don’t cover. See Custom attributes.
How locations are used
- Inventory: every inventory transaction has a location, so on-hand quantity is always tied to a place. Inventory Available and Exclude from Inventory Merge govern what can rest and merge there.
- Runs and execution: run steps are worked at a work center, and its queue buckets steps into Overdue, Now, Next, and Blocked. See Run steps at a work center.
- Scheduling: work-center capacity feeds run scheduling.
- Kitting: kits are addressed to a destination location.
- Barcodes: locations carry barcode labels for scanning. See Print a label.
Lifecycle
ION never deletes a location that carries history: archiving hides it from active use while keeping its transactions intact, and you can unarchive it later. Deletion is permanent, requires the DeleteLocation permission, and is blocked for a location set as your org’s default bill-to or ship-to. For the actions, see Archive or delete a location.