We are now in the final third of 2019, which has so far to be an exciting time for the SAP Extended Warehouse Management Application (SAP EWM), which enables companies to optimize warehouse and distribution operations. Over the year we have constantly worked on enhancing usability and user experience, as well as offering new functions and scenarios, so that our customers have new, easier and more efficient tools at their disposal to fit their needs and improve asset utilization, minimize inventory costs and maximize service levels through fulfilment acceleration and inbound-outbound processes coordination.
And now our most exciting update of the year, the 1909 EWM release, is out since September 20
th. In order to best cover the myriad of features and enhancements this release brings, we have published a 4-part series of blogs, each covering a specific topic of enhancements. These topics are:
- Improved User Experience
- Enhanced Integration
- Innovation
- Simplification
In this 3
rd installment, we take a closer look at some of the new functions SAP brings to its Extended Warehouse Management solution.
Using Transportation Equipment in Production Supply
With this release, we have added a new functionality by which a customer can distribution equipment to support multi-step supply of components to the Production Supply Area. The process starts with a warehouse request for a KANBAN (card) or an outbound delivery order for components or a production material request. A picker comes along and picks the goods into a rack which type is predetermined in the warehouse order. During picking confirmation, the picker is asked to specify the position within the rack where he drops the product. Afterwards, the picker moves the filled racks to the loading preparation station. From there a loader assigns the racks to a physical route train. The route train driver then starts delivering to Production Supply Areas where he is forced to confirm the location and is guided to pick the product from a dedicated rack and position within the rack. The main benefit of this new function is the increased control over the supply process, as it provides full visibility on the process and the location of the picked products.
Enhancements to Stock Consolidation
Stock consolidation proposes warehouse tasks to combine scattered stock items into full stock keeping units. With this release we enhanced this process with new modes of operation in which packed or unpacked stock items are moved to other less-than-full occupied storage bins. For example, consolidating stock items with different batches shall be proposed if certain attributes match in the different batches, such as:
- Expiration Date
- Date of Manufacture
- Country of Origin
- Next Inspection Date
- Vendor Batch
- Status of Batch
Another mode is to free up occupied bins by moving the products to other bins with the same stock attributes.
CDS Analytics for Warehouse Order/Warehouse Tasks
With this App, users can take an overview of key performance indicators (KPIs) relevant to their warehouse operations, for example, the total number of open warehouse tasks to be processed on the current date. On the overview page, a user can see different types of
KPI cards that provide high-level insights for the warehouse clerk. For the warehouse clerk, these cards help the user better manage and process daily tasks as well as understand key number and drill down to action. To ease navigation and support task processing, the app supports navigation to “
Process Warehouse Tasks – Picking” and “
Process Warehouse Tasks – Putaway”
Enterprise Search Functionalities for Bins and Warehouse Products
We also provide the possibility to search for storage bins or warehouse products directly from the SAP FIORI launchpad, and to navigate to master data maintenance for storage bins and warehouse products.
Public API to Process Tasks and Resources
We are also increasing our API Business Hub catalogue with two new API’s: Operations for Warehouse Resource API, and Operations for Warehouse Order and Task API. With the Warehouse Resource API, it is possible to create, retrieve and delete a resource, as well as log on or off from it. Through the Warehouse Order and Task API, users will have access to some basic picking and putaway processes. Furthermore, it will be possible to set some basic internal movements and make confirmations with exception codes.
FIND OUT MORE!
Please do not forget to check out our other articles about the 1909 release ->
Part 1 – Improved User Experience
Part 2 – Enhanced Integration
Part 4 – Simplification
For more information about SAP Extended Warehouse Management, please follow us on social media, our YouTube channel or our community pages:
SAP EWM Community ->
https://www.sap.com/community/topics/extended-warehouse-management.html
SAP Digital Supply Chain Channel ->
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCELmE2CEAkcwqpBLnuZHufA
EWM LinkedIn Community ->
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/1952257/