Learn how to manage and organize your inventory across different places with Katana’s location management feature.
What are locations?
A location in Katana represents any place where you:
Store stock (warehouses, retail outlets, reseller shops, etc.)
Manufacture products (in-house or outsourced)
Fulfill customer orders
This allows you to track stock per location and manage operations independently.
Don’t confuse Katana locations with bin locations:
Locations = warehouses, stores, fulfillment centers, or production sites.
Bin locations = exact spots within a warehouse (shelves, rows).
Plan limits
The number of available locations depends on your subscription plan:
Free and Standard → 3 locations
Professional → 10 locations
Professional Plus → Unlimited
Why use multiple locations?
Track inventory at each warehouse or store separately.
Manage outsourced manufacturing partners with independent schedules.
Transfer stock between warehouses or fulfillment centers.
Control which team members can access certain locations (via permissions).
Tip: Use permissions to manage who can view or manage locations.
Key rules for locations
You can define the address of each location (appears on purchase order printouts as the “Ship to” address).
Each location runs independently with its own stock, orders, and schedules.
Your default (first) location cannot be deleted.
You can create locations for different geographical sites or even for different sections within the same warehouse if useful.
How locations work with orders
Sales orders (SOs)
Item availability checks stock only from the sales location, not all locations.
You can set a default sales location for new SOs.
For Make-to-Order (MTO) SOs, the SO and MO must share the same location.
To change it, you must delete the MO, adjust the SO location, and recreate the MO.
Manufacturing orders (MOs)
Each location has its own production schedule and list of MOs.
Ingredient availability is checked from the assigned manufacturing location.
You can set a default manufacturing location for new MOs.
Purchase orders (POs)
Each location has its own list of POs.
When a PO is received, items are added to the assigned location.
You can set a default purchase location for new POs.
Outsourced purchase orders (OPOs)
Each location has its own list of OPOs.
When an OPO is received:
Ingredients are processed from the Track ingredients in location.
Purchased items are added to the Ship to location.
You can set a default purchase location for new OPOs.
Stock transfers between locations
Need to move stock? Use a stock transfer to record items moving between locations.
Storage bins (Optional)
You can define storage bins for each location, linked to item variants. This helps if you want more detailed tracking within a location.
Summary
Locations help you manage stock, manufacturing, and fulfillment independently.
They’re especially useful for businesses with multiple warehouses, fulfillment centers, or outsourced partners.
Each location has its own inventory, schedules, and order lists.
Remember: your first location cannot be deleted, and MTO orders must share the same SO/MO location.
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