Product
Empty and occupied locations, both counted.
A location that looks empty on the WMS is not the same as a location that is empty in the racking. Slotting, put away and capacity planning run on what is actually on the shelf rather than on what the system last believed.
The problem with "empty"
Most stock systems only see what they were told about.
A WMS records a location as empty the moment stock is picked from it in the system. Whether the pallet actually left the position at that moment, or ever, is a separate question the WMS has no way to answer on its own.
- A position can be empty in the WMS and full on the shelf. A put away that never got scanned, a return that landed in the wrong bay, or a pick that was recorded before the pallet physically moved, all leave a location marked available that is not.
- A position can be full in the WMS and empty on the shelf. Stock is picked, shipped, damaged or moved without the transaction catching up, and the system carries a phantom pallet nobody can fulfil an order against.
- Both errors are invisible until somebody looks. A manual count only checks locations someone thought to check, and an empty bay is the easiest thing in a warehouse to walk past without recording.
An empty location is not a null result. It is a claim about the building, and like any claim it can be wrong.
What the run actually does
Every position gets registered, not just the full ones.
Location level recognition identifies where every pallet actually sits, down to the individual position in the racking. The same pass that reads a label also registers the bays that hold nothing, at up to 3,000 units per hour.
Why counting the empty half matters
A system that only checks locations the WMS says are full will never catch a phantom pallet, because it never looks anywhere the WMS did not already point it. Sentispec Inventory covers every position in the aisle regardless of what the WMS expects to find there, which is the only way to catch an error the system does not already know it has made.
The discrepancy this produces. When a position the WMS expects to hold a pallet is driven past and found empty, the portal reports it as "Empty location where pallet expected", one of the four discrepancy types the product surfaces. The other three, including what happens when a pallet turns up somewhere it should not be, are covered on lost pallet search.
What it changes downstream
Slotting, put away and capacity planning on real occupancy.
Slotting
A slotting plan built on locations the WMS believes are empty inherits every phantom pallet in the building. A plan built on what a recent run actually found starts from the real shape of the racking.
Put away
Directing a driver to a location that is not really empty costs a trip and a decision on the spot. Registering true occupancy on a recent pass means fewer put away attempts land on a bay that is already taken.
Capacity planning
Available capacity is a count of genuinely empty positions, not a subtraction sum against system stock. A site planning a peak, a consolidation or a new intake needs the first number, not the second.
This matters most exactly when capacity planning matters most: during a consolidation or a relocation, when locations are emptying and filling faster than any manual count can track. See counting through a warehouse move.
Questions
What managers ask about occupancy.
Does the system report empty locations, or only stock?
Both. Every position a run passes is registered, whether it holds a pallet or not, and a mismatch against what the WMS expects is reported as "Empty location where pallet expected".
How is this different from what our WMS already tells us?
Your WMS reports what the last transaction claimed. This reports what a recent physical pass actually found. The two agree most of the time, and the gap between them is exactly what a stocktake exists to close.
Can we use this for capacity or slotting projects directly?
Yes. A discrepancy export gives true occupancy by position, which is the input a slotting or capacity exercise needs. See the ROI calculator for how the labour saved on manual location checks factors into a project like that.
Does it count the cases inside a partial pallet?
No. Sentispec Inventory does not count cases or cartons inside a partial pallet. Occupancy is reported at position level: the position is occupied by a labelled pallet, or it is empty. A half emptied pallet reads as an occupied position, not as a case count. If case level accuracy inside a broken pallet is what you need, this is the wrong tool. The other limits are listed on what Sentispec Inventory does not do.
How often is occupancy refreshed?
As often as you schedule a run. A 20 minute drive covers 500 to 1,000 pallets, so occupancy for a zone can be refreshed daily rather than left to the next full stocktake. See continuous cycle counting.
Next step
See what your empty locations hold.
A 30 minute demo comparing your current WMS occupancy against a real recording from a site with your racking.