Comprehensive Report: SAP Warehouse Management System Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the SAP Warehouse Management System (WMS). It begins with an introduction to the system and its purpose, followed by a detailed examination of key documents used within the system, including transfer requirements, transfer orders, and posting changes. The report then explores inventory management within SAP, highlighting the interaction between inventory management and warehouse management. It further delves into warehouse data management and SAP Yard Management, extending the scope of WMS beyond the warehouse itself. A significant portion of the report is dedicated to put-away techniques, such as fixed bin, open storage, addition to the present stock, next empty bin, bulk storage, and near picking bin, offering practical insights into how goods can be stored efficiently. The report also covers storage unit management (SUM) and its objectives. The report uses a case study to illustrate the ordering, delivery, and storage of water bottles and road helmets, providing a practical context for the concepts discussed. It concludes with a summary of the key findings and references relevant literature.

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SAP Warehouse Management System
Name
Affiliate Institution

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Documents in Warehouse Management System.............................................................................3
Inventory Management....................................................................................................................5
Warehouse Data in the Material Management:...............................................................................6
SAP Yard management....................................................................................................................6
SAP Warehouse Management Put-away techniques.......................................................................7
Storage unit management (SUM)....................................................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
Warehouse management case study 1: after the system was tested and there were no problems
found, the management decided to implement it and utilize it productively. The task includes
ordering to different products (water bottles and road helmets) from Spy Gear, each 50 units. The
cost of water bottle is 11 USD and 27 USD for road helmet. Delivery time is 8 days. The goods
will be transferred into two different bins upon arrival at San Diego.
The goal of a System Application and Products(SAP) Warehouse Management System (WMS)
is to offer managers and staff with the data required to enhance track efficiency and monitor
material movement within the warehouse. SAP provides its own Warehouse Management
application, which offers automated, flexible support to help in processing of all goods
movements and managing inventories of current stock (Wood, 2007).
Documents in Warehouse Management System
The following are some of the documents that will be required when ordering and storing of
water bottles and road helmets.
Requirement of a Transfer-This is a file that uses the WMS to helps plan on movement of goods.
Transfer requirements helps in passing on information on movement of goods that are posted in
Inventory Management to the Warehouse Management System (Ray, 2011).
Structure: – The transfer requirement involves all the required data on a planned movement of
goods. for instance, a transfer requirement document should include the materials to be moved
and in this case water bottles and helmets are the items to be moved. The quantity to be moved
should be stated which is fifty pieces each. The date in which the materials are to be moved
should also be recorded. For additional automatic processing, planning date is important. In
addition, the type of transfer on the basis of movement of goods should be stated. Each
movement of goods in the warehouse is grouped by an indicator of transfer type. As such, it
helps distinguish between, a stock pick, stock transfer and stock put away. Lastly a file stating
why a material was moved should be included for instance whether the transfer order generated
was due to production order or purchase order and whether it was generated manually (Vinay,
2015).

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Transfer Order- this are files used for running goods movements with the aid of (WM)
Warehouse Management. Physical, Logical movement of goods or changes in stock can be the
sub structure for a transfer order. These consists; post changes, Picks, and Put away. Transfer
order can be created with reference to a source file from WMS or other application component of
SAP. A source file can be a: Delivery file, requirement of a transfer, Material file, and Posting
change (noticeKnolmayer, 2008).
Structure of Transfer Order –a transfer order consists all the necessary data on an arranged
movement of goods. For instance, what material to be moved, the material quantity to be moved,
where the bin should be transferred from and to where.
Figure 1 The Ordering Process
Posting change
A posting change is the modification to the stock information of a material that brings effect to
bookkeeping information. Posting changes generally occurs in most cases, for instance during
report from quality evaluation stock, the materials are left in the usual physical storage bin.
Posting changes are normally triggered in Inventory Management. Implementing the Warehouse
Management system, facilitates processing of the posting change notice from inventory

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management in the WMS. Material status changes can also be triggered in the WMS to add more
information, for instance if movement of goods physically in the warehouse is the reason for the
posting change (Daithankar & Pandit, 2014).
Types of Posting Change in WMS
The following are some types of posting change in WMS; quality evaluation stock release,
blocked stock processing, quality evaluation posting change, division of batches amongst other
batches, posting change from product number to product number, and posting change between
locations of storage.
Inventory Management
The Inventory Management system component interacts with the component of Warehouse
Management the via types of interim storage. Receipts of goods and issues posted in Inventory
Management are updated automatically in Warehouse Management in these types of interim
storage (Kurbel, 2012).
The standard System Application and Product interim storage types are: 901 GR production area,
902 GR external receipts area, 910 GI general area, 916 Shipping deliveries area, 917 Quality
assurance, and 999 Differences.
Ways in which SAP inventory management and warehouse management movement type
harmonize and posting occurrence in IM and WM synchronizes the updates of Inventory in SAP
System. Each IM movement type that is appropriate for the Warehouse Management system is
assigned to a type of reference movement, with which the system identifies the equivalent
movement in the Warehouse Management system. Allocation of 999 type of reference
movement is done if you do not want to join an Inventory Management movement type to
Warehouse Management. For example, receipt of goods posting for account allocated purchase
order (Zoellner & Halm, 2016).
The WM movement type offers the following information needed for placement and removal of
stock: type of Interim Storage, storage bin coordinate, transfer orders confirmation and printing,
outbound shipping and storage type search indicator.

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Figure 2 SAP Inventory Management
Warehouse Data in the Material Management:
When the water bottles and road helmets arrives at San Diego distribution center they will assign
warehouse number, storage type, picking storage type, storage bin, maximum and minimum bin
quantity, and control quantity.
SAP Yard management
SAP’s (YM) Yard Management expands WM beyond the warehouse physical walls, facilitating
control and management from the time that materials are expected to arrive at the warehouse. In
this case SAP YM will help in control and management of water bottles and road helmets.
SAP Material Management WM Inbound Process with YM Activated
The following are inbound process when Yard Management is activated; purchase order
creation, purchase order release, inbound delivery creation with reference to the order of
purchase, unassigned vehicle creation, inbound delivery vehicle assignment, vehicle check into
the yard, dock door scheduling, vehicle movement using mobile gadgets, vehicle check out of
yard, operation views on checked out vehicle, receipt packing and transfer order creation,
transfer order confirmation, goods receipt post for outbound delivery, material stock check,
excise invoice capturing and invoice receipt creation (Boeder & Groene, 2014).

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SAP Warehouse Management Put-away techniques
Fixed bin – Fixed bin allocation per material (data keyed in Material Master, kept in one fixed
bin). Storage of fixed bin is 005 in standard SAP. Technique Indicator is F for Put-away and it is
necessary to choose Addition to the present stock Indicator- X. find out the Maximum Quantity
per storage bin in a type of storage. There are many options. Fixed Bin defined in Material
master is not modified unless there are changes to Material master. In our case after water bottles
and helmets arrive they can both be stored in fixed bin (Kappauf, Koch & Lauterbach, 2011).
Open storage – single storage bin per storage zone (Materials kept in open Floor, per the type of
storage divided in to zone and single storage zone is represented by single storage bin).
Generally, people can enquire on how to access stock in open storage techniques in any
particular report. LTO (Lease to Own) can be generated using LT01. 501 type of movement, type
of Interim storage is 902 and obtained in open storage bin WE-ZONE. technique Indicator is C.
Storage is unclosed and no limitation as rack storage. It is necessary to set Mixed Depository
Indicator-X and Addition to present stock- X in the type of Storage control for method screen.
However, this type of storage is not applicable in our case (Murray & Akhtar, 2016).
Addition to the present stock – this is trying to add material to an existing stock. In this case only
water bottles can be added to an existing store but this storage type is not appropriate for road
helmets since they are delicate.
Next Empty bin – look for next storage bin that is empty in the storage zone. In production
industries manufacturing electronic devices, the parts are normally delicate, small, and exposed
to static damage. These devices are kept in warehouse in containers that are secure for all
Products. Several warehouses that keep these components utilize carousel storage where the
component are stored in similar containers in carousel system that issues new components in the
next available empty bin. Material can be kept in any next empty bin available. Different sizes of
container can be used to store different Materials. The stock can be checked using LS04, type of
storage – 001 and method Indicator is “L”. It is necessary to select the check box with Stock
Placement require confirmation. And Storage Unit Type check active should stay active and
select Storage section check active, this is because the strategy is to look for the storage bin that
is empty. Helmets can fit in this kind of storage since they are vulnerable to breakage if not
handled carefully (Uppuleti, 2010).

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Bulk storage – look for bin in the bulk storage section. This is for materials that are stored in
large volumes mainly food and beverages industry. A beverage industry may manufacture many
products. Once these beverages are packed and kept in pallets, it will be kept in bulk storage
type. Transaction to describe Bulk strategy- OMM4. We have series of configuration operations
for Bulk. First activation of strategy is required, then defining the type of storage control thirdly
describing indicator of Bulk storage and lastly defining Block design. SAP standard type of
storage used is 004, indicator for Bulk strategy is B. it is necessary to activate the stock
placement requires confirmation switch since this permits addition of more materials to the same
Material that in the Bulk storage type currently. Activation on Addition to existing stock should
be done. And finally select Storage Unit Type check active. This storage type is not applicable in
our case (Carter, 2010).
Near Picking Bin – This method fits materials that have undergone continuous Picking in
Warehouse. As such it is good to store material that are nearer to picking area. Mostly
Warehouse can utilize this method to see if the materials can be kept in the fixed bin, if not the
system will attempt to preserve an area and lastly try to look for a bin which is nearer to Picking
area. OMLA is the transaction used to configure. The following steps also need to be configured;
activation for put-away strategy, definition of storage type control, definition of search per level,
assignment of row and shelf, generation of storage bin, and check for consistency. Indicator for
strategy is K. type of storage this strategy is 035. It is necessary to select Stock placement
requires Confirmation Indicator. It is advisable to allow only one setting for configuration, this
will carry out put-away in reserve storage bin, without looking for Fixed bin or performing a
search for a bin that is relevant. This storage type is applicable to both water bottles and road
helmets depending on the urgency of distribution. (Agrawal, 2014).

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Figure 3 SAP WM Process Flows
Storage unit management (SUM)
This unit is normally activated in the warehouse due to the following reasons:
Mixed pallets movement as one unit within the warehouse, use of storage units allocated either
internally or externally to identify and manage materials, and lastly the ability of warehouse
management to interact with fork lift control systems through an interface without necessarily
maintaining material information in the external system (Kannapan, 2016).

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Figure 4 Storage unit management
Objective of Storage Unit Management (SUM)
SUM in Warehouse Management allows you to improve the capacity of the warehouse and
manage the flow of the material by using storage units within the warehouse.
A storage unit is a logical classification of one or several quantity of material like a pallet or a
container that can be controlled within a warehouse as a unified unit. Storage units can contain
one or more material items, that is can be homogeneous or mixed (Vallespir & Alix, 2010).
All storage units are allocated an identifier, whether the materials are kept on wire baskets,
standard pallets, or any other containers. An identifier is a number which is sustained as the
storage unit number in the system. As such, it is possible to know warehouse location of every
storage unit, the quantity of material contained in the warehouse, and the processed operations at
any given time. When SU management is inactive in a storage type, all stock is controlled
separately at the storage bin stage. When SU management is active, stock is controlled at the
storage unit or pallet level. A storage bin can contain one or several storage units. Similarly,
every storage unit can have one or several quants (Murray & Kimmatkar, 2016).

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Conclusion
In conclusion the two products that is water bottles and road helmets can be both stored in fixed
bin, next empty bin and near picking bin. In addition, using Warehouse Management together
with SAP, offers benefits to warehouse managers: implementation of SAP warehouse
management is at a reduced cost as compared to the initial implementation expenses, WMS
integration means complex interfacing is not necessary between different system, SAP
warehouse management is stable, high-end systems for instance routing and tracking
technologies are supported by SAP WM, and it facilitates quick and easy stock transfers, good
issues and goods processes.

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References
Murray, M., & Kimmatkar, S. (2016). Warehouse management with SAP ERP: Functionality
and technical configuration.
Kannapan, B. (2016). Warehouse management with SAP EWM.
Carter, M. B. (2010). SAP extended warehouse management: Processes, functionality, and
configuration. Bonn: Galileo Press.
Uppuleti, V. (2010). Customizing extended warehouse management with SAP ERP. Bonn
[Germany: Galileo Press.
Murray, M., & Akhtar, J. (2016). Materials management with SAP ERP: Functionality and
technical configuration.
Kappauf, J., Koch, M., & Lauterbach, B. (2011). Logistic Core Operations with SAP: Inventory
Management, Warehousing, Transportation. Berlin: Springer Berlin.
Boeder, J., & Groene, B. (2014). The Architecture of SAP ERP: Understand how successful
software works. Hamburg: tredition.
Zoellner, P., & Halm, R. (2016). SAP EWM architecture and programming.
Kurbel, K. (2012). Enterprise Resource Planning and Supply Chain Management: Functions,
Business Processes and Software for Manufacturing Companies. Berlin: Springer Berlin.
Agrawal, P. K. (2014). Sap mm inventory management. Place of publication not identified:
Prentice-Hall Of India.
Wood, D. C. (2007). SAP SCM: Applications and modeling for supply chain management (with
BW primer). Hoboken, N.J: J. Wiley & Sons.
Vinay, S. (2015). Real Time Analytics with SAP HANA. Packt Publishing.
Knolmayer, G. (2008). Supply chain management based on SAP systems: Architecture and
planning processes. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

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Daithankar, J., & Pandit, T. (2014). Transportation management with SAP TM 9.0: A hands-on
guide to configuring, implementing, and optimizing SAP TM.
Ray, R. (2011). Enterprise resource planning. New Delhi: TATA McGraw Hill Education.
Vallespir, B., & Alix, T. (2010). Advances in production management systems: New challenges,
new approaches : IFIP WG 5.7 international conference, APMS 2009, Bordeaux,
France, September 21-23, 2009 : revised selected papers. Berlin: Springer.