All in one SAP MM: SAP WM

Warehouse Management Guide

Computer support for the organization and management of warehouses has become imperative for timely, effective

processing of logistic requirements within a company. The SAP Warehouse Management (WM) application provides flexible, automated support to assist you

in processing all goods movements and in maintaining current stock inventories in your warehousing complex.

WM supports warehousing processes by making it possible for you to

Define and manage complex warehousing structures

Optimize material flow using advanced putaway and picking techniques

Process goods receipts, goods issues and stock transfers quickly and easily

Selection Criteria

Although it is possible for you to manage warehouse inventories using the Inventory Management (IM) application

component, the primary difference between managing stock in WM and in IM is that in IM, the system can only display the total stock of a material for a

storage location. If a warehouse is small and easily manageable, then the use of IM may be sufficient to fulfill your needs.

WM, on the other hand, offers the capability to manage stock quantities in each individual storage bin in highly complex

storage facilities. This means that, with WM, you can optimize the use of all storage bins, mix pallets belonging to several owners in randomly slotted

warehouses and know exactly where a particular material is located in the warehousing complex at all times.

Integration

The Warehouse Management application is fully integrated into the SAP R/3 system. Transactions that are initiated in

other SAP components result in corresponding tasks in WM which activate the actual physical transfers within the warehouse.

A few of these activities include:

Material movements and changes in material status, such as releasing goods from inspection

Material staging to production supply areas

Picking and shipping goods for sales orders

Most activities that take place within WM are initiated in Inventory Management. For example, most goods receipts,

goods issues and posting changes are initiated in IM and subsequently processed in WM.

WM is also interfaced to Sales and Distribution (SD) through the Shipping module to process delivery documents for

both the integrated WM application and the decentralized WM system.

The WM interface to Quality Management (QM) allows warehouse administrators to track and manage inspection lots

that are stored in the warehouse.

WM is also interfaced to the Production Planning (PP) system to assist in providing materials to supply areas in

production.

Features

WM provides several features that support warehousing activities. These include the following:

Warehouse Structure

Management of complex warehousing facilities toinclude automatic warehouses, custom-designed storage areas, high rack storage, bulk storage, fixed bin storage and all other commonly used storageareas

Definition and adaptation of a limitless variety ofstorage bins for use in your specific warehousing complex

Goods Movements

Processing of all relevant warehousing activities, suchas goods receipts, goods issues, deliveries, internal and external stock transfers, automatic replenishment of fixed bins, material staging to production areasand stock difference handling

Utilization of random slotting for multiple owners ofgoods

Implementation of a variety of putaway and pickingstrategies including self-designed strategies

Processing of multiple goods movements with transferrequirements and deliveries simultaneously

Storage and retrieval of hazardous materials and allother goods that require special handling

Setup of "forward pick" areas and production supplyareas with automated replenishment from case or reserve storage when stock quantities reach a certain threshold

Controlling

Optimization of capacity and material flow utilizingstorage units in the warehouse

Monitoring and display of stocks on hand andsummary evaluations of all goods movements via warehouse controlling tasks

Inventory

Capability to maintain up-to-the-minute inventoryrecords with the aid of stock transfer confirmation

Archiving of records of all goods movements andinventory activity

With its inventory functions, WM ensures that book inventories in Inventory Management match the stock in the

warehouse at any time. Because SAP components are fully integrated, you do not need separate interface programs between IM and WM. Printing Tasks

Printing (of pallet slips, move orders, delivery slips,inventory documents, and so on) is available for all relevant transactions

Although it is possible to print material documents for each separate transaction in the warehouse, WM facilitates

automatic flowthrough warehousing tasks that are virtually paperless. Interface to External Systems

Support for the use of bar code scanners, RFtechnology, AS/RS and automated forklift systems for all stock movements through an automated ALE warehouse control interface

Lean WM

This warehousing structure makes it possible to createtransfer orders for deliveries when no storage bins are managed in the system. For Lean WM, no goods receipts or goods issues are processed as a subsequentprocess in WM. This means that no bin data and no stock is updated at the storage bin level using quants. Instead, this transaction takes place at the storagelocation level. It is used primarily to handle pick orders for deliveries.

All in one SAP MM

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SAP WM

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