We have recently released the latest updates for SAP EWM with the SAP S/4HANA 2023 Feature Pack 2 update. The enhancements we deliver not only further improve and compliment the SAP EWM features of the SAP S/4HANA 2023 release, but also expand integration options for EWM, such as integration with Service Order Management and extended Service Parts Planning, streamline processing steps for the Next Generation Just-In-Time (nJIT) external replenishment when using embedded S/4HANA Cloud for Extended Warehouse Management, Private Edition , enable circular logistic flows for returnable and reusable packaging material, offer new field extensibility options for select Warehouse Monitor nodes, and much more. The following blog post will provide an overview of the main highlights of this release, and we begin with an exploration of how this release further expands our best-of-suite integration capabilities.
INTEGRATION
Advanced Shipping & Receiving Enhancements
As with every update since the initial release of the Advanced Shipping & Receiving integration between SAP EWM and SAP TM, we invested in streamlining and expanding the capabilities of ASR. One such streamlining is the introduction of the Outbound “Streaming” process in the warehouse. What this means is that now warehouse workers can start to load available handling units (HUs) for an outbound delivery order, even if some items or HUs in the order have not been picked, packed or staged. Before the SAP S/4HANA 2023 FPS02 release, loading could only start when all HU’s in an outbound delivery order were ready for shipping. Now, with immediate loading, you can start the loading process for any handling unit that has the status “Packed for Shipping”. Immediate loading helps to reduce the total lead time needed for the outbound delivery. At the same time, it allows the staging areas to be used more efficiently by letting you load goods onto the truck instead of having them remain in the staging area, taking up valuable space.
- The ability to schedule the automatic creation of waves from freight orders in Advanced Shipping and Receiving. This can be executed for both transportation planning type E (the delivery needs to be released in TM before warehouse processing can begin in EWM) and F (warehouse processing can begin immediately, and planning in TM can only be finalized when the outbound delivery order has the shipping readiness status set to “Ready”), and can be used for order-based as well as delivery-based freight order planning.
- An enhancement to the RF loading and unloading screens which allow warehouse operators to use the container document type for radio frequency (RF) loading and unloading in Advanced Shipping and Receiving, depending on the deployment option. Please note that If you're using embedded Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) in SAP S/4HANA, you can use the container document type for RF loading and unloading. However, when using decentralized EWM based on SAP S/4HANA, you can use the container document type for RF loading only.
Service Order Management Integration
With this integration, users can now find an outbound delivery order (ODO) using the service order ID. When searching by service order, the system returns the outbound delivery along with references to the reservation and the service order. Users can also create a return delivery using the service order ID. Searching for orders using the service order ID improves visibility and control over service order fulfillment and returns processing.
The search criteria for the service order ID are available from the advanced search for the outbound delivery order and the inbound delivery. It is also integrated into the Warehouse Management Monitor. Via the Warehouse Monitor, users can display multiple ODO items for multiple Service Orders and trigger follow-up actions.
Other Integration Updates
To round off this category of updates, some more highlights that are worth mentioning are:
- Transfer of Recommended Storage Quantity from Extended Service Parts Planning (eSPP) to Warehouse Product – with this release, users can now enable Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) to take over the requirement quantity, number of order items, or recommended storage quantity from Extended Service Parts Planning (eSPP) during slotting and update these values in the warehouse product master data (transaction /SCWM/MAT1). For the technical details on how to set up the eSPP data access for the EWM slotting customizing, please read SAP Note 836899 “TDL: Setup of customizing for EWM slotting->SPP data access”
- Quality Certificates in Goods Receipt with Synchronous Goods Posting – we have further expanded on our Quality Management integration to allow users to process quality certificates for synchronous goods receipt posting in the storage locations managed by Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) embedded in SAP S/4HANA. Users can also confirm the receipt of a quality certificate when posting a goods receipt for a purchase order in the Post Goods Movement app (transaction MIGO). The quality certificate not only certifies the quality of the goods, it also records the chemical and physical properties, the inspection results, and the batch characteristics.
- Quality Inspections by Generic Article in Retail (Decentralized EWM) – one final quality management topic to mention is that now users can perform quality inspections for generic articles instead of article variants when using decentralized Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) based on SAP S/4HANA. For example, a user can inspect generic article Shirt 0815 instead of article variant Shirt 0815, Color Red, Size M. These quality planning properties can be specified in Customizing for Extended Warehouse Management under Business Add-Ins (BAdIs) for Extended Warehouse Management > Cross-Process Settings > Quality Management > Inspection Creation > BAdI: Data Transfer to Inspection Properties.
PRODUCTION INTEGRATION
Assign Multiple Bins to a Production Supply Area (PSA) for Repetitive Manufacturing (REM)
In the SAP S/4HANA 2023 FPS01 release, SAP introduced the ability to assign multiple bins for each Production Supply Area for MES-Driven staging for production & process orders, with the option to do follow-up actions, such as consumption triggered from a Manufacturing Execution System (MES), clear of Production Supply Area, etc. Now with the latest release, users can manage a production supply area (PSA) more granularly by dividing it into multiple storage bins in MES-Driven Repetitive Manufacturing. This lets you store stock separately and supply it to different resources or different production process steps in a work centre. It is now easier to keep track of the stock and ensure that the right products are available for each production process in MES-driven Repetitive Manufacturing.
Just as with production and process orders, users can use multiple bins assigned to PSAs for a component when working with confirmations send by a manufacturing execution system (MES) in the integration of repetitive manufacturing with Extended Warehouse Management (EWM).
To implement this, warehouse clerks need to assign the storage bins to the product, party entitled to dispose, and PSA, in the Assign Bin to PSA app (transaction /SCWM/PSASTAGE2) and select MES-Relevant and Allow Multiple Bin Assignment. Then, they must define multiple storage bins for the product, party entitled to dispose, and PSA in the Assign Multiple Bins to PSA app (transaction /SCWM/MBINPSA).
JIT Call-Triggered Supply to Production (S2P) or to Customer (S2C) for Component Group Materials
But aside from the ability to assign multiple bins to a Production Supply Area for repetitive manufacturing, the largest block of production related improvements is the ability to fulfill a supply-to-production (S2P) call by receiving the required component group materials from a supplier to production. In some industries, vendors deliver grouped materials / components, which when received by the warehouse, are moved directly to the PSA for production. S2P stock is a new special stock category, where the S2P number would be the JIT call number which triggers the supply to production event. The S2P stock could also be posted to Supply to Customer (S2C) stock.
Here's how the S2P inbound process works:
- An S2P Just-In-Time (JIT) call is triggered to create an inbound delivery for component group materials in Delivery Management (LE-SHP).
- Transportation planning is completed in Transportation Management. Once the Ready for Warehouse Processing status is set for the relevant freight order, the delivery of Delivery Management is updated to include items for component materials.
- An inbound delivery in Extended Warehouse Management (EWM), containing only component group materials, is now active for processing.
- Goods receipt is posted for the inbound delivery in EWM, and a goods receipt message is sent to Delivery Management.
- Finally, the put away process is done for the handling unit containing the S2P stock in the production supply area specified by the JIT call.
To support this, we have also developed a Combined Goods Movement Service (API). This application programming interface (API) enables users to post goods movements (goods receipts, goods issues, transfer postings, and their reversals) in Inventory Management and Extended Warehouse Management. The API allows combinations of different goods movements to be posted in the same API call.
This API supports the following Goods Movement:
- Combined Goods Movements
- Goods Movements in IM only using IM managed storage locations
- Goods Movements in EWM only for S2P/S2C stock
- GR of HUs in EWM for normal stock and S2P/S2C stock
- Support of auxiliary packaging materials
- Automatic putaway warehouse task creation
- GR of Serial numbers for normal materials/stock
- GR of batches for normal materials/stock
- GI from HUs for normal stock and S2P/S2C stock
Tying up this topic,, we also enable users to perform the warehouse processing steps for the Next Generation Just-In-Time (nJIT) external replenishment processes for multiple Production Supply Areas when using Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) embedded in SAP S/4HANA. This includes the following activities with inbound delivery items for multiple production supply areas (PSAs):
- Receipt of nJIT inbound deliveries for items containing handling units (HUs) with different destination PSAs
- Status update of nJIT calls when confirming putaway warehouse tasks to the PSAs
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENTS
Enhancements to Goods Distribution Process Using Distribution Equipment
Initially released in 2019 for SAP EWM, the introduction of distribution equipment supported warehouse operators in transporting goods in a warehouse to different sections in the facility, for example, components to production supply areas (PSAs). With the SAP S/4HANA 2023 FPS02 release, we further expand the scenarios and capabilities in which distribution equipment can be used in logistics facilities:
- Load handling units (HUs) during the unloading process - Using a radio frequency (RF) presentation device, users can load handling units (HUs) onto distribution equipment after they have already started the unloading process. When loading during unloading, a warehouse operator must specify the HU position on the distribution equipment manually. After the operator starts unloading and scans an HU to identify the distribution equipment, they can load HUs instead of confirming the next unloading warehouse task. For example, they can collect empty HUs from a production supply area (PSA) while unloading HUs and bring them to an empties buffer zone. Furthermore, users can also collect HUs containing semi-finished components from a PSA and bring them to the next PSA for further production steps.
- Use distribution equipment in the external replenishment process for Just-In-Time (JIT) or Just-In-Sequence (JIS) calls – The integration of Next Generation Just-In-Time (JIT), Delivery Management (LE-SHP), Transportation Management (TM), and Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) enables the receival of component materials based on JIT calls and to store them in the production supply area. With the latest release, warehouse workers can now use distribution equipment to move goods in the external replenishment process to PSAs. The following RF screens have been added for external replenishment for JIT or JIS calls:
- 03 Inbound Processes > 06 Distribution Equipment > 01 Load by HU - Auto. Pos. Assignment
- 03 Inbound Processes > 06 Distribution Equipment > 02 Load by HU - Man. Pos. Assignment
- 03 Inbound Processes > 06 Distribution Equipment > 03 Change Loading/Unloading Details
- 03 Inbound Processes > 06 Distribution Equipment > 04 Unload by HU
Ad Hoc Movement of HUs – Lastly, with this release we extended the API for goods distribution with distribution equipment to enable users to create ad hoc warehouse tasks for HUs to use distribution equipment for the supply of components to production. Warehouse operators can also use the monitor method Change HU Destination Data to change or delete the destination PSA and destination storage bin of one or more lowest-level HUs.
Reverse Goods Receipt for Handling Units from Production
With this feature, we enable users to reverse the goods receipt of a handling unit (HU) received from production with a corresponding Logistics Execution (LE) delivery after final putaway. Since SAP S/4HANA 2023, we made it possible to reverse goods receipt of HUs after final putaway for HUs received using Advanced Production Integration without a corresponding LE delivery, where the goods receipt is communicated using the goods movement interface. Now users can reverse the goods receipt for all HUs received from production, including HUs with a corresponding LE delivery. The goods receipt doesn’t have to be communicated using the goods movement interface. If a decentralized Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) based on SAP S/4HANA system is used, the connected enterprise management system must allow the reversal of completed LE deliveries.
OTHER RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS
In this final section, I would like to round off today’s blog post by mentioning a few more enhancements that we have delivered that will improve and streamline the user experiences:
- Migration of LE-WM Data Using an XML File – To simplify data migration of LE-WM data, we have enabled users to download warehouse storage bins and warehouse stock from their legacy LE-WM system to an XML file. The XML file can then be used to upload the data to the Extended Warehouse Management system using the migration cockpit. To download the warehouse storage bins or warehouse stock, on the SAP Easy Access menu users must choose Extended Warehouse Management > Interfaces > Migration from LE-WM > LE-WM Migration via Migration Cockpit or call transaction /SCWM/MIG_FILE_MC in their Extended Warehouse Management system, instead of /SCWM/MIG_BIN and /SCWM/MIG_STOCK.
- Serialized Returnable Packaging Materials – Prior to this release, serial numbers were assigned to the contents of an HU, but not to the HU itself. As a result, the system could not automatically generate a packaging item correspondent to the HU in the outbound delivery order. However now with SAP S/4HANA 2023 FPS02, users can assign a serial number (SN) to a returnable packaging material that is used to pack a handling unit (HU) by entering the serial number in the HU header. This unique serial number helps to ensure that the correct returnable packaging material can be included in the goods issue. The serial number also allows the system to automatically generate a packaging item that corresponds to the HU.
- Custom Fields for Selection Screens in the Warehouse Management Monitor – Lastly, want I want to mention is that now users can add custom fields to some of the selection screens in the warehouse management monitor. These new fields can then be used when selecting, for example, warehouse orders, warehouse tasks, or deliveries relevant for inbound, outbound, or other processes. If these Business Add-In (BAdI) methods to support variant data handling are implemented, users can also store selection values for the custom fields in monitor node selection variants.
To add custom selection field, users must go in Customizing for Extended Warehouse Management under Business Add-Ins (BAdIs) for Extended Warehouse Management > Monitoring > Warehouse Management Monitor > BAdI: Custom Selection Fields in Standard Monitor Nodes.
Custom fields can be added for the following monitor nodes and subnodes:
- Inbound > Documents > Inbound Delivery and subnodes
- Outbound > Documents > Outbound Delivery Order and subnodes
- Outbound > Documents > Production Material Request and subnodes
- Documents > Posting Changes and Posting Change Items subnode
- Documents > Stock Transfer and Stock Transfer Items subnode
- Stock and Bin > Storage Bin > Handling Unit
- Stock and Bin > Handling Unit
- Documents > Handling Unit
Thanks to author Florian Kuchta