8th & Walton’s Joel Graham covers two item creation attributes suppliers commonly struggle with: item type and warehouse alignment code.
Lainie: What are some common item creation attributes that suppliers often struggle with?
Joel: So there are two common attributes during the item creation process: Item type and warehouse alignment code.
Most suppliers struggle with those answers and those choices, and they can be important in the supply chain and replenishment process. So let’s look at item type first. While there are several types, we’re gonna stick with these two most common ones. The first one is 03-Promotional. If you have an item going into the season and it’s a limited buy, short season, or one-time buy, 03 is often the right choice. Also, if you’re doing a shipper where you send in what they usually call a PDQ, those are often Promotional as well, so limited season. Choose a 03- Promotional. If you’re going in as a replenishable item, you would choose 20-Warehouse.
And honestly, 20-Warehouse is a very common choice. That would be the choice if you have a replenishable item. Next, let’s look at Warehouse Alignment code. This one, in my opinion, is slightly more important than the item type. As they’ve evolved, it seems like item type hasn’t; it’s become less and less critical.
But the warehouse alignment code, definitely, you need to make the right choice there. And there’s an overwhelming 54 choices in that dropdown. We’re going to talk about the two most common choices in the ambient network. If you’re in the perishable network, you will need to choose a perishable option.
But for the sake of simplicity, just going to stick with the ambient network, which is the most common for most suppliers. So those two choices are Assembly and WH Warehouse, and you can relate them back to the item type. We had type 20-Warehouse. We also have Warehouse Alignment code of WH warehouse. So they kind of feel like they’re connected, and they are. What is assembly? Assembly is exactly the same word as crossdock. Many of you have probably heard the word “crossdock.” I go in one door at the DC, and I go straight out the next door to an outbound truck. That is what they call crossing the dock.
So if you have product that’s going in one door and out the other, which is common, you would choose as Assembly. If you have an item going into a DC with a palletized slot, choose the WH Warehouse option. Mm-hmm. Um, that is not a common option. Most people will choose Assembly.
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But there are some options where, if you have a high velocity, high-selling item, Warehouse is a great option because it allows you to palletize your product into the DC. And then the stores get to pull that product from the DC nightly simply because there’s high volume. Also, if you’re in the perishable network, you would always be a warehouse. You would always have a slot in the DC. So with that said, that gives you some options to make some choices. However, if you ever are in doubt, my recommendation is to reach out to your RM and simply ask them: “Building the item. I have some choices here. Would you recommend one or the other, or do you have a different recommendation?”
It’s always better to get that feedback from the RM if you can. And once you make that decision and you build that item, just keep in mind that that particular attribute is locked out from suppliers. So if you do make a wrong choice, it has to be corrected by Walmart, and that’s not something we always want to have to rely on.
So make the right choice the first time. And with that said, pet peeve of mine: when you’re in the item creation environment, there are no do-overs. There are, but you know, go into it with the option. There are no do-overs. It must be done with precision and accuracy. If you are trying to build an item and someone says, ah, we’ll fix that later. If you do have the luxury of pushing back on that, I would do so simply because you want it to be done right the first time.
