The Floor in 3D

Open Floor in the app switcher. You look at the hall from above, with the walls cut open: the high racks in their aisles, the inbound gates on one side, the packing stations and outbound gates on the other. The card at the top left names the Warehouse and counts its aisles, bays, locations, and pallets.

Every pallet stands where the WMS has booked it. Pallets in reserve and at the inbound gates are still wrapped in film; pallets on a pick location are open, and their cartons get fewer as pickers take from them. Each pallet carries its label with SSCC, article, quantity, batch, and best-before date, and each rack place carries its location code.

A truck backed up to an inbound gate holds the pallets still to unload. Each packing station has a roll container for its closed parcels, and picked trolleys wait at the stations or in the buffer. Empty trolleys stand in the trolley park. Roll containers and shipping pallets wait at the outbound gates for the carrier.

The Floor fetches new data every five seconds. Drag to turn the view, right-drag to move it, and scroll to zoom; on a phone, drag and pinch. Reset view brings you back to the start, and the sidebar takes you straight to Receiving, an aisle, Packing, Shipping, or the break room.

Lark Swiftwell and Godfrey Merrow push picking trolleys through the aisles. A full trolley goes to the packing zone, and the picker takes an empty one from the trolley park. Bram Ironside drives the reach truck, bringing pallets down to pick locations and putting new pallets away. Wren Gatewood and Hollis Dockerill each drive an electric pallet truck and carry received pallets from the gate. Mabel Tapsworth packs at the packing stations.

Tobin Haulwright, the loader, and Iris Calloway in the control room do their work but have no figure on the Floor. Real people working with a handheld are not shown either.

The crew is on the Floor during the shift, Monday to Friday from 06:00 to 22:00. Whoever has had nothing to do for two minutes goes to the glass break room and comes back when work arrives. Each vehicle has its own parking bay with a charger, so a parked truck is also charging. On foot, pickers have right of way; the reach truck never enters an aisle while a picker is in it.

Click or tap a pallet to see its details: article, location, quantity, best-before date, batch, and SSCC, and whether it waits for putaway or stands in reserve or on a pick location. Open pallet takes you to the same pallet in the WMS.

The pallet under the mouse and the selected pallet get a glowing yellow frame, in the colour of the floor markings. Only what you can actually see responds: a pallet hidden behind an upright or a beam cannot be selected, and a pallet only reacts on its front, the side facing the aisle. This also applies from above: point at the front of a pallet, not at its top.

If the pallet is picked empty or moved away while its card is open, the card says so. The Floor only shows the work; bookings are done on the handheld.

Choose an area under Walk the aisles in the sidebar to see the Warehouse at eye level. You start in front of the chosen area, and choosing another one carries you there. The map at the top right shows where you are, with your walking direction pointing up; the card at the top left names your place, for example an aisle and its bays. The badge with the footprints at the bottom shows which way your feet are pointing while you look around with the mouse.

You cannot walk through racks, walls, or people. Vehicles stop and wait until you have passed. In this view, the cursor turns into an eye; a small info badge on it means a click opens the pallet below.

1. Up and down (or W and S) walk forwards and backwards; left and right (or A and D) turn.
2. Hold Ctrl (or Option) with left or right to step aside, and Shift to walk faster.
3. Move the mouse to look around without changing your direction.
4. On a phone, push the joystick at the bottom right to walk and turn, and swipe to look around.
5. Back to the start returns you to your starting point.

On your first visit, a short tour shows where to switch between the systems and how to change between the view from above and the walk. Start it again at any time with Take the tour at the foot of the sidebar.