Inbound Warehouse Activities Overview

GoldFinch Inbound Warehouse Management helps organizations control how they receive and place purchased, transferred, returned, or other incoming goods into inventory.

By connecting receipts, warehouse locations, bins, pallets, labels, lots, serial numbers, and source documents within Salesforce, GoldFinch provides visibility from the expected receipt through final put-away.

The Inbound Warehouse Process

A typical inbound warehouse process includes the following stages:

1. Identify expected inventory
   Warehouse employees review the purchase order, transfer, return, or other source document associated with the incoming goods.
2. Receive the shipment
   Record items and quantities on a warehouse receipt. Depending on the configuration, employees may also capture units of measure, lots, serial numbers, expiration dates, pallets, or other tracking information.
3. Print labels
   Print item, receipt, or pallet labels to support identification, storage, and subsequent warehouse activities.
4. Stage or inspect inventory
   Received products may be placed in an input, receiving, staging, cross-dock, or quality-control bin before becoming available for picking or production.
5. Put inventory away
   Put-away activities direct products from the receiving area to their appropriate storage or picking bins.
6. Update inventory visibility
   Completed transactions update the related inventory and warehouse records in GoldFinch.

The precise workflow depends on each organization’s warehouse design, inventory controls, and operating requirements.

Warehouse Receipts

Warehouse receipts provide a controlled way to record incoming goods before placing them in their final warehouse locations.

GoldFinch can support inbound processes involving:

• Purchase orders
• Transfer orders
• Customer returns
• Production output
• Multiple warehouses and bins
• Multiple units of measure
• Lot- and serial-controlled items
• Pallet-managed inventory
• Partial or multiple receipts
• Approved over-receipt tolerances

Connecting the warehouse receipt with its source document helps employees verify what was expected, what arrived, and what remains outstanding.

Put-Away Management

Put-aways help warehouse employees move received inventory from an input or receiving area to designated storage, picking, quality-control, or other bins.

Depending on the warehouse configuration, put-aways may be created manually or automatically. GoldFinch can also support different units of measure during receiving and put-away when properly configured.

A structured put-away process can help organizations:

• Reduce inventory placed in incorrect locations
• Improve bin-level inventory visibility
• Replenish picking locations
• Separate available, inspection, damaged, or quarantined inventory
• Maintain lot, serial, and pallet traceability
• Establish consistent receiving procedures

Pallet and Label Support

Organizations that manage palletized inventory can use receiving and put-away pallets to group products as they enter the warehouse and move to storage locations.

Labels may be used to identify:

• Items
• Lots or serial numbers
• Receiving pallets
• Put-away pallets
• Warehouse receipts
• Bins and storage locations

Barcode labels can also support mobile scanning during receiving and put-away activities.

Exception Management

Actual deliveries do not always match the original order. Depending on the organization’s policies and GoldFinch configuration, the inbound process can help users identify and manage situations such as:

• Partial receipts
• Over-received quantities
• Incorrect items
• Damaged products
• Lot or serial discrepancies
• Missing tracking information
• Products requiring inspection
• Inventory directed to an unexpected bin

You can establish appropriate permissions and controls for transactions that require review or approval.

Connected Information on Salesforce

Because GoldFinch is Salesforce-native, inbound warehouse activities connect with purchasing, inventory, manufacturing, sales, and customer information on the Salesforce platform.

Authorized users can gain visibility into:

• Expected and completed receipts
• Outstanding purchase quantities
• Inventory awaiting put-away
• Inventory by warehouse and bin
• Lot and serial history
• Pallet activity
• Warehouse entries and transaction history
• Related vendors, orders, items, and documents

This connected information helps warehouse and office teams work from the same operational records.

Business Benefits

GoldFinch Inbound Warehouse Management can help organizations:

• Improve receiving accuracy
• Reduce manual entry and duplicate records
• Strengthen bin, lot, serial, and pallet traceability
• Accelerate receiving and put-away
• Improve visibility into incoming inventory
• Standardize warehouse procedures
• Identify receiving exceptions earlier
• Maintain better coordination among purchasing, warehouse, quality, and accounting teams

Flexible for Different Warehouse Operations

GoldFinch can support a range of inbound warehouse designs—from a simple warehouse using a single pick bin to a more advanced operation with dedicated receiving, inspection, cross-dock, staging, storage, and picking locations.

Available processes depend on the customer’s licensed GoldFinch modules, configuration, inventory controls, and warehouse requirements.

GoldFinch customers can sign in to Clientcare for detailed instructions on processing warehouse receipts, creating put-aways, managing pallets, printing labels, and handling inbound exceptions.