We have recently released the latest updates for SAP EWM with the SAP S/4HANA 2023 Feature Pack 3 update. The enhancements of this release further improve our Advanced Shipping & Receiving integration and functionalities, complementing the features we delivered in the SAP S/4HANA 2023 Feature Pack 2 release. Furthermore, with this release we introduced a new Machine Learning based feature, called “Predictive Labor Demand Planning”, empowering shift managers at the warehouse to more accurately and efficiently plan out the tasks for the day. And to start today’s deep dive, we will begin with it.
PREDICITVE LABOR DEMAND PLANNING
With the SAP S/4HANA 2023 FPS03 release, we deliver the new Machine-Learning based predictive labor demand planning (LDP) that can be used to predict planned workload data based on the picking and packing outbound processes. This enables warehouse shift managers and supervisors to plan resources and workloads more efficiently. Very summarily, LDP uses historical workload records to calculate a planned duration for warehouse workload records, and then use those records to plan outbound delivery orders.
Historical workload records contain information about executed warehouse tasks (WTs) in the warehouse. They are not stored in an archive as all data is saved in the database, and outdated records are deleted. These records are only written for picking and packing tasks when a warehouse order is confirmed. These records contain application information that is mainly based on warehouse task data, with additional data from the assigned outbound delivery order.
The planned duration is a key component of a planned workload record. In labor management, you can use engineered labor standards to calculate the planned duration, but in labor demand planning, this is not necessary. Instead, labor demand planning uses historical workload records to calculate the planned duration for planned workload records.
Please note that if you have already set up engineered labor standards, they will still be used to calculate the planned duration. In this case, the system will not calculate based on historical workload records. You can also use engineered labor standards for one area of your warehouse and use calculations based on historical workload records for another area.
Outbound delivery order (ODO) processing includes picking and packing steps before the ODO item can be staged and loaded. You can use labor demand planning to get better visibility into the planned workload that is expected from outbound delivery orders. This allows you to predict peaks in the workload and balance the workload of the warehouse accordingly. The way LDP calculates ODO planned workloads is the following:
- The system searches for historical data that belongs to similar ODO items. The resulting data forms the basis of the calculations for the required data of the current ODO item.
- The system identifies the picking location, preferably by using rough bin determination.
- The system determines the external process step that is most used by similar ODO items.
- If similar ODO items require packing steps, the system calculates the packing steps based on the packing-picking ratio of the similar ODO items. The packing-picking ratio indicates how often the pick step of an outbound delivery order with similar attributes was followed by a pack step and is calculated from the historical workload data. Single pieces may need a pack step while whole pallet picks don’t need to be packed in addition.
With LDP, it is possible to view planned workload durations directly in the warehouse monitor, allowing for better visibility and control over task planning. This functionality improves operational efficiency by streamlining the planning process and ensuring more accurate and timely execution of warehouse tasks as well as reduce inefficiencies by predicting the time required for tasks such as picking, packing, and outbound deliveries.
This is only a first step for Predictive Labor Demand Planning, and we plan to build on top of this feature with future releases. But we will reveal those steps at a future date.
ADVANCED SHIPPING & RECEIVING UPDATES
With the SAP S/4HANA 2023 FPS03 release we continue to further extend the range of functionalities available with Advanced Shipping & Receiving as well as expand on existing ones. In the interest of time and convenience, I want to briefly touch upon every ASR update in one or two paragraphs, and we begin with integration to Global Trade Service:
- Integration of Decentralized EWM and TM with GTS – This is a new integration of decentralized Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) and Transportation Management (TM) with SAP Global Trade Services (GTS) which supports the execution of the outbound, or export, process. It enables users to conduct compliance checks for freight units and freight orders and complete export declaration for consignments and freight orders.
- Search for Advanced Shipping and Receiving Deliveries in Waves – In this release, we further build upon a feature we delivered in SAP S/4HANA 2023 FPS02, by enabling users to search for waves, wave items, and wave-relevant warehouse requests that are part of Advanced Shipping and Receiving deliveries in the Maintain Waves app (transaction /SCWM/WAVE) and the warehouse monitor (transaction /SCWM/MON).
- Custom Checks for Loading Materials onto a Freight Order – We also provide BAdIs that add customer-specific checks for handling units or warehouse requests before loading execution in Advanced Shipping and Receiving. The checks take place during outbound delivery, and allow for the customer’s own logic for loading checks in:
- The radio frequency (RF) screen before loading, where the system can show special warning or error message to the RF user
- The App "Load or Unload Freight Orders", where the same or a similar BAdI is called when the loading execution function is used
- The enterprise warehouse management (EWM) desktop transaction /SCWM/LOAD
- TM Updates for Unpacked Products with Actual EWM Weight and Volume – With this update, when information regarding weight and volume for unpacked products in an outbound delivery order item is updated in Extended Warehouse Management (EWM), the relevant documents in Transportation Management (TM) are updated with the adjusted EWM weight and volume information. These updates are made after the “Ready for Shipping” status is set in EWM. The updated weight and volume are sent on product item level and on handling unit header level.
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENTS
To round of today’s overview, I would like to also go over some of the final topics that came to be as a result of the most recent Customer Connect program:
- Add Short Text to Goods Issue and Cancellation - With this feature, it is now possible to provide a short text for goods issues and cancellations in several apps. A text of up to 50 characters can now be manually entered, for example, to add an explanation or other information to the goods movement in the following apps: “Manage Physical Stock – Products” (F5340); “Manage Warehouse Documents” (F5341). This text can be seen in the relevant material documents in other components of SAP S/4HANA using the “Display Material Document List” app. If synchronous goods movements are used from Inventory Management to Extended Warehouse Management (only available in EWM embedded in SAP S/4HANA), text can be entered in the “Post Goods Movement” app (transaction MIGO). The text is visible in the corresponding goods movement document in EWM, and can be seen in the monitor node at Documents -> Warehouse Task. This functionality has also been added to the consume and scrap actions in the “Warehouse Physical Stock by Product” API.
- Scanning Alternative HU IDs During RF Processing - With this feature, it is now possible to scan alternative handling unit (HU) IDs on vendor labels which the system converts them to internal Extended Warehouse Management Handling Unit IDs. Converting the alternative HU IDs in RF transactions removes the need to re-label the HUs or create custom RF screens. Note that if multiple HU IDs are assigned to one alternative HU ID, the relevant internal HU ID can be selected.
FIND OUT MORE!
To see more details on the above mentioned topics as well as see what other enhancements we delivered with this release, I highly encourage you to explore our latest “SAP EWM in SAP S/4HANA 2023 FPS03 – What’s New” slide deck.
You can also find more technical details and documentation on the above listed topic and others we left out via the “What’s New” viewer on the Help Documentation portal.
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SAP Extended Warehouse Management Roadmap Explorer
Release information and restrictions of embedded EWM on SAP S/4HANA 2023
Release information and restrictions of Decentralized EWM on SAP S/4HANA 2023
For a complete list of Q&A from the EWM community, please access this link:
https://answers.sap.com/tags/01200615320800000705
Thanks to author Florian Kuchta