Today I would like to share with you some guidance offered by one of our development teams that work on continuous improvements for the RF capabilities available in SAP EWM. This particular guide focuses on picking with RF.
When using radio frequency (RF) devices to carry out warehouse activities, you can scan bar codes to record and verify data such as storage bins, products, and handling unit (HU) numbers, or you can enter picked quantities.
Depending on your settings for verification fields, the system verifies the values entered when you scan a bar code, either automatically or when you press
Enter.
Prerequisites
- You've set up your RF device (see Setting Up RF Devices).
- You're logged on to the RF device with a dedicated resource.
- The resource has a resource type assigned to it.
Navigation
The RF menu is divided into process types to help you navigate to the transaction you need to carry out your warehouse activity, that is, inbound, outbound, and internal. Within the process types, you can then choose how you want to carry out the warehouse activity, for example, putaway by HU, pick by warehouse order, or create ad-hoc warehouse task. You can also simply enter the menu item number into the
Menu field instead of navigating through the RF menu. For example, if you want to pick products for a warehouse order, you can do one of the following:
- Navigate through the RF menu by choosing 04 Outbound Process > 01 Picking > 04 Picking By WO
- Enter 414 in the Menu field
The RF menu also allows you to be guided by the system or to manually select warehouse activities by warehouse order, HU, or warehouse request.
RF Transactions
Once you're in the RF transaction that you need for your warehouse activity, the system guides you step-by-step through your tasks, including where to go for the next step and which material to put away, pick, pack, or count.
You scan bar codes to verify that you're doing what you planned to do, for example, you scan a storage bin to confirm that you're at the correct storage bin or you scan a product to confirm that you've picked the correct product. You also enter quantities to confirm that you've processed the correct quantity. You can define which fields require verification in the configuration activity
Define Warehouse-Specific Verification (see
Configuration for RF Devices).
Up to four buttons are displayed on each RF screen. Use the
> button to scroll through all the buttons available for a screen. The following buttons are available for each screen:
- Clear: clears values entered in validation fields
- Back: navigates back to the last screen you visited
- List: displays possible values for a selected input field
- Message: displays the message text
You can specify where these buttons and standard function codes appear on the RF device in the
Maintain Presentation Devices app.
You use button
˄ and
˅ to page up or down through a list, for example, a list of warehouse tasks.
Exception Handling
If you can't process a warehouse task as planned, you can use an exception. For example, the system wants you to pick 5 pieces from a specific storage bin but you only find 4 pieces there. Therefore, you enter 4 in the quantity field and enter exception DIFS (
Diff. as Charges for Source Bin) to indicate the exception. You can get a list of available exception codes by choosing
Except or by entering LIST in the field at the bottom of the screen. You can only use exception codes defined for the RF transaction that you're using. For an overview of available exception codes, see
Exceptions.
More Information
Working with Mobile RF Devices
Configuration for RF Devices
Pick Goods
You can pick goods from your warehouse using a radio frequency (RF) device, for example, for an outbound delivery order.
You can use the following features in multiple screens within the picking transaction:
- Display warehouse task and warehouse order details by choosing Detail
- Perform various queries, for example, for stock, by choosing Queries
- Display the remaining open warehouse tasks of the warehouse order by choosing WTLst
- If you can't process a warehouse task as planned, use an exception by choosing Except or by entering LIST in the field at the bottom of the screen
Prerequisites
- You've made the prerequisite settings for working with RF transactions (see Working with RF Transactions above).
- The resource group that the resource is assigned to has a queue with pick warehouse orders.
Alternatively, you can assign a picking warehouse order to the resource in the
Warehouse Monitor app by choosing
More Methods > Assign to Resource for the pick warehouse order.
Process
- On the RF device, start the picking transaction in one of the following ways, as relevant:
- Choose 01 System Guided > 01 SystemGuided Select or enter 11 in the Menu
Alternatively, choose
04 Outbound Process > 01 Picking > 01 Picking Syst. Guid. or enter 411 in the
Menu field.
The system determines the warehouse orders to work on by first checking for warehouse orders manually assigned to the resource. Then the system checks for warehouse orders assigned to a queue that's assigned to the resource's resource group. The warehouse orders are sorted in ascending order by latest starting date.
- Choose 01 System Guided > 02 SystemGuided Queue or enter 12 in the Menu
Alternatively, choose
04 Outbound Process >
01 Picking >
02 Syst. Guid. By Queue or enter 412 in the
Menu field.
You enter a queue and the system determines the warehouse orders to work on in the same way as above - checking for warehouse orders manually assigned to the resource and then checking for warehouse orders assigned to a queue assigned to the resource's resource group.
- Choose 02 Manual Selection > 01 Selection By WO or enter 21 in the Menu
Alternatively, choose
04 Outbound Process > 01 Picking >
04 Picking By WO or enter 414 in the
Menu field.
Then enter the warehouse order number.
- Choose 02 Manual Selection > 02 Selection By HU or enter 22 in the Menu
Alternatively, choose
04 Outbound Process >
01 Picking >
05 Picking By HU or enter 415 in the
Menu field.
Enter a handling unit (HU) number involved in an open warehouse task. The system finds the corresponding warehouse order.
- Choose 02 Manual Selection > 03 Selection By WR or enter 23 in the Menu
Alternatively, choose
04 Outbound Process > 01 Picking >
03 Picking By WR or enter 413 in the
Menu field.
Enter an outbound delivery order number involved in an open warehouse order and the system finds the corresponding warehouse order.
- If prompted, select or create pick-HUs.
If creating pick-HUs, enter a packaging material and choose
Handling. On this screen, you can also display the warehouse order details by choosing
WODetl.
Proceed to the next screen to remove stock from the source storage bin by choosing
Next.
Note that you can control if you want to be able to select or create pick-HUs in the configuration activity
Control Display of Pick-HU Screen During RF Picking. For more information, see
Configuration for RF Devices.
- Verify the required fields to remove the stock from the source storage bin.
The system then posts the stock to the resource.
On this screen, you can also do the following:
- Specify that you want to withdraw the HU if the pick quantity is equal to the remaining quantity on the HU by choosing HUWd
- Scan single serial numbers for a serial-managed product on stock level by choosing SNo
- Change the unit of measure by choosing UoMChg
- Select a nested HU as the source HU by choosing HUs (only possible for storage types with Storage Bin specified for the Level of Available Quantity field)
- Confirm the open verification fields to confirm the warehouse task to the destination bin.
On this screen, you can also do the following, for example:
- Display HU details by choosing HUDetl
- Switch on a putaway physical inventory count by choosing EmBn
Then you can put away stock to an empty storage bin and create a physical inventory document for the putaway. If you switch on a putaway physical inventory count, the
Cnt. field appears on the screen.
Pick Goods: Examples
Some examples of picking goods using a radio frequency (RF) device.
Example 1:
You have a pick warehouse order with two pick warehouse tasks. You want to pick the goods using an RF device and put them onto a pallet as a pick-handling unit (HU), as follows:
- On the RF device, you start the picking transaction.
- On the first screen, you create a pick-HU by entering the packaging material and choosing Handling.
- You scroll by choosing the > button to the next set of buttons and then you choose Next.
The system displays the first warehouse task to remove the stock from the source storage bin and posts the pick-HU to the resource.
- To remove the stock from the source storage bin, you confirm the source storage bin and quantity for the first warehouse task.
The system posts the stock in the warehouse task to the pick-HU on the resource. The system then displays the second warehouse task to remove stock.
- You confirm the source storage bin and quantity for the second warehouse task.
The system posts the stock in the second warehouse task to the pick-HU on the resource. The system then displays the destination screen.
- You confirm the warehouse task to the destination bin, which is the goods issue area.
The system posts the pick-HU with the stock to the goods issue area.
Example 2:
You're using a pick cart with three slots to pick goods using an RF device. To be able to pick the goods in this way, in the configuration activity
Define Resource Types you've entered
1 Manual Position Management in the
Position Management field.
- On the RF device, you start the picking transaction.
- On the first screen, you create a pick-HU to represent the first slot on the pick cart by entering the packaging material and choosing Handling.
You specify 1 as the slot identifier.
- You repeat the previous step twice to create 2 more slots on the pick cart.
- To remove the stock from the source storage bin, you confirm the slot and position number as well as the source storage bin and quantity.
- You confirm the warehouse task to the destination bin.
