In this article, we will cover Load Balancing for Zone-based users from a shipping plan.
How to request to load-balance my products from a Shipping plan?
1- Login into your ShipHero Fulfillment app and click on the shipping plan tab.
2- Select the warehouse where you will send the products. For load balancing, this warehouse will be the “origin warehouse."
3- Select how you will pack your items, whether a small parcel or a palletized shipment.
4- Once you hit continue, you will see the“Load balance plan” section. Here, you can choose the default load balancing action:
- Load balance automatically: We will load balance the product based on the ShipHero suggestions. Once the suggestions are generated, you will still have the chance to configure the plan as desired. The suggestions are based on past sales and current stock.
- Don’t load balance: It will set the Load Balancing plan inactive (you can activate it later). If you don't make any changes before the shipping plan arrives, the plan won’t be executed, and all the inventory will be kept in the origin warehouse. (ShipHero is not responsible for issuing credits for this matter)
Initially, the shipping plan notes say we’re working on a plan.
As soon as we find a load balancing suggestion for the shipping plan or 48 hours before the shipping ETA (whatever happens first), we’ll email you informing them that there’s a balancing plan available.
You will receive the below email notification:
Now, the “Load balance plan” section will change to say that we’ll be load balancing the shipment based on the ShipHero suggestions.
In case you selected the option “Don’t Load Balance” when creating the shipping plan, then the message would say that we’ll keep the products in the receiving warehouse. You will still have the chance to request the load balance and activate it:
How can I access and modify my load balance information?
Once logged in to SFAPP click on the load balance option on the left menu: https://sfapp.shiphero.com/dashboard/load-balance/
Now you can select the load balance plan mode, we have 3 options available:
- Load balance automatically (dynamic mode). This is the plan suggested by ShipHero based on past sales and current stock. In the example below, the algorithm suggests moving 20 Ironman units to the Las Vegas warehouse and keeping the rest at the origin (Allentown). This plan may change at any time if the ShipHero predictions are updated for some reason, for example, if the customer creates another shipping plan where they send Ironman inventory to Las Vegas.
2- Load balance using my custom instructions (static mode). You can decide to define your own shipping plan, moving more or less inventory to any warehouse in the network. You can even decide to not balance any particular product using the toggle switch on the right side of the page. The data in this screen is pre-filled with the ShipHero suggestion.
3-Don’t load balance (inactive plan). You can also deactivate the whole shipping plan if you want to keep all the inventory in the origin warehouse.
To better support your decision of what to load balance and where we present stock information for each product and warehouse.
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On hand: represents the inventory quantity currently available at the final destination warehouse.
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Draft: Consists of everything still in the initial draft phase of another plan, not yet accepted nor finalized. It represents the stage where the LB plan is still being formulated and subject to changes.
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Approved: This stage indicates the LB Plan has been reviewed, accepted, and implemented.
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En Route: Includes everything that has arrived at the origin warehouse, has been counted, and is in transit to the final destination.
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After: Is the sum of the units in the input field + on hand + draft + approved + en route.
Important:
Products that are part of a kit will display a warning message so you can balance all the kit products equally. We aim to reduce the amount of split shipments. You can click on the “View product” button to be redirected to the product details page and check which kits the product belong to.
How much will it cost to load balance my products?
Balancing the products has a cost based on both dimensions and weight. You will be presented with the discriminated cost by-product. The total cost is in the page footer. Click HERE for more information
