- SAP Managed Tags
Hi All, I have been planning to pen down articles on one of the most interesting topics in SAP EWM, Which is the Material Flow systems. This will be the first of the series. Before we begin with, I'm assuming you have very basic idea on what SAP EWM MFS is.
SAP EWM Material Flow System (MFS) allows SAP EWM to communicate directly with programmable logic controllers (PLCs) that operate conveyor systems, automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS), Cranes, AGVs and other material handling equipment through real-time telegram communication.
Fundamentally, MFS divides warehouse objectives/work by subdividing complex warehouse tasks into smaller segments that are executed step by step through automation. Going by the title of the Article, I’m assuming you already know the basics of MFS and would like to dig deep more into which strategy to use for your MFS implementation.
Pallet Conveyor systems and Case Conveyor systems:
Under MFS, SAP offers different choice of implementations depending on various factors of your warehouse. Lets see what they are, in the simplest of terms:
Pallet Conveyor Systems
Pallet conveyor systems are generally to handle large, heavy palletized loads weighing between ~150-1000kgs. These systems operate at slower speeds due to their weight and size of the units being transported. However, We do see the same strategy being used for general MFS implementations.
Movements:
Using pallet conveyor systems, We divide the warehouse tasks using LOSC by defining the source and destination with an intermediate point. Warehouse tasks are created and confirmed for each movement that takes place and the same can be tracked on the warehouse monitor or any other cockpits; Same is the case with telegram data as well.
Generally, From what I have seen, Industries usually prefer for Pallet Conveyor system due to their clarity for each movements, which can be tracked back using warehouse tasks at each steps.
How does Pallet conveyor system differ from Case Conveyor systems?
Case Conveyor Systems
Case conveyor systems handle individual cases, boxes and totes weighing ~1-80 kgs per unit. These systems operate at significantly higher speeds and can process 300-1000 cases per hour, making them ideal for high-throughput sortation and distribution operations. We can imagine a highly automated warehouse with high throughputs.
Movements:
Case conveyor systems in EWM MFS offer dynamic routing decisions based on current location of the handling unit. Similar to pallet conveyor system, this set up reads the telegram data containing source and destination for the handling units and trigger the required movements.
This high speed nature of case conveyors requires quick telegram exchange between EWM and PLCs. In most cases, Case conveyor system only displays the warehouse task for source and destination for the HUs due to the complex and fast movements for the cases/boxes. Unlike Pallet conveyor systems, We would not have tracking for each movements for handling unit movements since the task creation and confirmation would consume time, which is not ideal for fast automation systems.
Since Case conveyor systems may need complex routing, they use internal routing table provided by SAP (which consists of logical source, destinations for EWM & PLC), In case the system fails to find the logical destinations for EWM/MFS maintained in the routine table, System falls back to LOSC to take the routing decisions. This is the standard behavior for Case Conveyor systems
What's best for your warehouse?
There are common factors for both the approaches- Both the systems are flexible with exception handling, routing decision making, integration of robots, Automatic guided vehicles etc.
What separates them?
As hinted above, Major differences are with the Operational Speed at which the pallet/boxes/totes move inside the warehouse.
Few other factors would include the scalability, Maintenance of slow/medium/fast moving systems, load types, How much track and traceability you require for your movements at each handling unit level.
Thanks,
Aman
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