Storage Unit Management

Purpose
Storage unit (SU) management in Warehouse Management (WM) enables you to optimize warehouse capacity and control material flow by utilizing storage units within the warehouse. A storage unit is a logical grouping of one or several amounts of material such as a pallet or a container that can be managed within a warehouse as a unit that belongs together. Storage units can be either homogeneous (containing one material item only) or mixed (containing two or more material items). All storage units, whether the materials are stored on standard pallets, wire baskets or other containers, are assigned an identifier a number which is maintained in the system as the storage unit number. Therefore, it is possible at any given time to know where each storage unit is located in the warehouse complex, the amount of material contained in it, and which operations have been processed or planned for it.

When SU management is not active in a storage type, all stock is managed as separate quants at the storage bin level. With SU management, stock is managed at the pallet or storage unit level. A storage bin can have one or more storage units. Similarly, each storage unit can consist of one or more quants.

Selection Criteria
Storage unit management is generally activated in the warehouse for the following reasons:

Movement of mixed pallets (with more than one material) as a single unit within the warehouse Identification and management of materials using storage unit numbers assigned internally or externally WM can communicate with fork lift control systems via an interface without having to maintain material data in the external system.

Prerequisites
Before using storage unit management, you must first set up the default values for your warehouse. This initial configuration is accomplished using the customizing function. For information on how to configure WM for Storage Unit Management, see the Implementation Guide (IMG) for Warehouse Management.

It is only possible to deactivate SU Management in the warehouse number record if it has first been deactivated in the subordinate storage types.

Features
In addition to the capabilities already available in WM, the activation of storage unit management in your system enables you to access several functions that are specifically designed for working with storage units. Using SU management, you can Create homogeneous and mixed storage units Place materials into storage using an identification (ID) point Create transfer orders and confirm stock movements for storage units Transfer whole storage units internally Add stock to existing storage units Display the contents of storage units Print documents to accompany storage units Plan goods issues, for example, to stage materials in replenishment storage bins in production

All storage unit management functions are fully integrated with WM.

Handling Unit Management

Purpose
You can use Handling Unit Management (HUM) to reflect packing-based logistics structures in the SAP System. Using this method, you track the movements of entire handling units and the materials they contain rather than tracking each material individually. When you base logistics processes on handling units, goods movements processing is made easier, which in turn optimizes all logistics operations. This simplified processing includes the existing packing function in shipping and warehouse processing in the Warehouse Management system, which is expanded here.

Features
In the system, the handling unit (HU) expands on the shipping unit. Handling units can be nested, which means that you can create new handling units from several handling units as often as you like. At the material item level, HUs contain the complete material identification, the quantity, and, in the case of serial numbers, the respective object list. Handling units have unique, scannable identification numbers that can be developed according to standards such as EAN 128 or SSCC. Handling units contain all inventory management information of the materials they contain that are maintained in Inventory Management. There are also status messages that you can call up at any time that indicate whether a handling unit is only planned or if the ship-to party has been notified of the arrival of this handling unit, or whether it is in the warehouse or has already been posted to goods issue. The integrated history function also records each business process in the life cycle of each handling unit, meaning that you can track the handling units path and development at any time. In HU-managed storage locations, all goods movements are executed through the specification of the respective HUs, and Inventory Management is performed through the handling units. If you are not working with HU-managed storage locations, you can use handling units (without stock information) as before in the delivery and in the shipment. In HU-managed storage locations, materials can be managed in HUs only. Mixed stock (stock made up of packed and non-packed materials within the same storage location) is not supported. HUs can also be managed in interim storage types. Unpacking a material from an HU means that the stock of the material is posted to a storage location that is not HU-managed.

If you call up normal material movements in connection with an HU-managed storage location, a delivery is created, rather than a direct material posting, which has been the procedure up to this point. Handling units are unique at client level in at least one system. Using an indicator at client level (see Unique Identification of Handling Units), you can control whether you are going to work with the HU functions. Since the handling unit is a physical unit, the central logistics processes are controlled through the input of the handling unit identification. These processes include putaway, picking, and stock transfers, as well as goods receipts and goods issues.

A handling units mobility can be limited if quality checks are active. Changes in the stock category caused by a quality inspection are made using a posting change in the handling unit. There is also a report available that you can use to find and display handling units using different selection criteria such as material, packing instruction, or storage location. Although the handling unit is basically a unit that remains constant in the system, you can change it by repacking the materials it contains. All the packing functions, such as packing, repacking, and unpacking, are completely supported by the handling unit function. In this way, handling units can be created in production, during goods receipt, or in the packing areas of the warehouse. If you have automatic packing, the handling unit is created from the packing proposals defined in the system (from the packing instructions, for example).

Warehouse Management at the Storage Unit Level Use

Storage unit (SU) management in the Warehouse Management (WM) application component makes it possible to optimize warehouse capacity and control material flow using storage units within the warehouse.

Features
Structure of a Storage Unit Record
In the system, a storage unit record consists of a header and at least one material data record (quant data record). The header contains information which is relevant for the entire storage unit and includes the: Storage unit number Storage unit type (SUT) of the storage unit Storage bin in which the storage unit is currently located Status, which provides current information about the storage unit

Specific information about the stock contained in a storage unit is found in the material data record. The material record is already familiar to you in the existing system as a quant data record. For SU management, this information can be managed at the storage unit level. The following graphics illustrate how WM handles storage bins with and without the use of storage unit management. For these examples, storage bins are displayed in which 200 boxes of red pencils and 50 boxes of blue pencils are stored. The stock is distributed on two pallets. Without SU management, there are a total of 2 quants (a specific quantity of red pencils and a specific quantity of blue pencils) in the storage bin (see the figure below). The system has no information about the pallets themselves.

With SU management, there are three quants in the storage bin - one quant on the first pallet and two quants on the second pallet as illustrated in the figure below. Information about each pallet is stored in the system and is linked to the storage unit number.

See also: Material Master Data

SU-Managed Storage Types

Use
In your system, you decide at the storage type level whether storage units will be managed within a particular storage type or not.

Define storage unit management for physical storage types only. Interim storage areas cannot be SU-managed.

Prerequisites
To define a storage type for SU management, see Storage units Master data Define storage type control in the Warehouse Management IMG documentation.

Features
The following illustration shows how storage unit management may be implemented in a warehousing complex.

You process goods issues when SU management is active in your system using basically the same procedures as those used in WM without SU management. For more information on the creation of a transfer order for goods issues, refer to the section Goods issue for an IM Posting. The only difference for SU-managed storage types is that storage unit numbers are displayed on the corresponding screens.

Preparation Screen for Picking

When you process a goods issue (for example, for a delivery document or to a cost center), you will eventually display the transfer order preparation screen, provided you have not run processing in the background. On this screen you can influence how the system searches for stock to be picked for the goods issue. For example, in the Storage type fields you can suggest up to 15 storage types from which the storage units are to be taken. If you select All storage types, you can have the system propose up to 30 storage types for picking. You can also manually enter specific storage units in the Source storage unit field on this screen. After you have created the transfer order items, the system displays all the information on the storage unit in one line.

Stock List
From the transfer order preparation screen, you can also display a list of available materials for the stock picking. To call up the list, choose Stocks in the application toolbar. From this list, you can choose materials by selecting the respective items and then choosing the field Calculate selected quantity in the lower section of the screen. The system reduces the quantity above the table controls accordingly. You can also enter the required quantity manually in the column Selected quantity.

Transfer Order Item Generation Screen

If you always choose background processing when creating a transfer order for a stock pick, you will eventually see the transfer order item generation screen. On this screen you see data that is proposed by the system for the transfer order item. You can change these proposals on the transfer order item screen "at the lowest level". In the Storage unit field, the storage unit number that the system proposes for this stock pick is displayed. (Of course, for storage types that are not SU-managed, nothing will appear in this field.) By overwriting the information in this field, you can manually select storage units for a stock pick. See also: The Warehouse Structure in WM