Chainging Warehouse Put Away Strategy

[Former Member]

Hi all,

Our business is considering a change in putaway strategy because we feel our current set up doesnt suit the needs of 1 or more plants.

Whilst we have identified the more suitable setting (A change from 'P' to 'I'), can anyone advise if this can be done within an opertaional warehouse whithout any major issues?  Additionally, can setting 'I' accomodate different batches? (i.e. add stock to an existing bin ONLY if the batch number is the same)

(I appreciate everyone may have SAP setup slightly differently, but generally speaking is this possible)

Currently SAP allocates a new location each time a part is goods recipted without considering any empty capacity within an existing bin.  This is resulting in man locations per part and increased picking times.  In addition, we currently manually consolidate these bins when the staff have time, and this potentially results in human error if people miscount/mistype when moving the stock. 

Thanks,

Stephen

[JL23 · Accepted solution]

In my opinion the addition to existing stock strategy is even more restrictive than the strategy P., it cannot accommodate mixed storage, as mixed storage is contradictory to addition to existing stock 

With strategy I SAP  only puts together what is really equal, Material 123 with batch A is not equal to material 123 with batch B, hence next empty bin is suggested.so yu can never have a situation with mixed quants in one bin.

Of course it is possible to change the strategy of a storage type. From that moment on SAP will use the new putaway strategy with the next TO.

You are talking about empty capacity in a bin. How do you define capacity? with strategy P, pallet, you only have empty capacity when another pallet still fits into this bin. It does not matter if the pallet is fully packed or has just some dust left on it.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Jürgen,

We have a warehouse which operates with with standard rows of bins which are handled manually.  The bins contain small/medium sized items which for the most part are not life-limited.  In addition, they will all typically have the same batch with only the small exception - and for these exceptions we're happy to have SAP allocate to a new location to keep the batches separate.  We do have pallet racking, but this is only for one row - 95% of the warehouse utilizes manual bins.

We define capacity using the appropriate fields in the Material Master where we stipulate the bin type and max qty per bin type (Warehouse Management 2).

Our Head Office warehouse uses automated picking machines and all products are handled in pallets - I believe this is why our additional UK plant has been automatically allocated the same P strategy - however, we have different requirements, and it would seem that ' I '  would suit us better. Our requirements are only simple and straight forward.

Thanks,

Stephen

[JL23 · Accepted solution]

as already said, it is certainly possible to switch the strategy for a storage type even after go-live

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks Jürgen - and there would be no other obstacles from changing the strategy?  For example - stock wouldn't move locations as a result after the change - SAP would simply adopt a different set of rules for booking stock in to the warehouse?

[JL23 · Accepted solution]

to clear your doubts you have to do serious testing (I would not just activate some setting just because a stranger in a forum said so)

From experience there is no major change that does not cause the one or other obstacle.

In general SAP would simply use the new rules and determine the target bin.

But looking at the existing stock per bin, you may have some situations that could never have happened with the new strategy. e.g. mixed storage in one bin  is impossible with strategy I  addition to stock. But for picking it does not cause any problem.

How the system does with a new putaway in such a situation has to be tested. if it is able to add the same material into this bin, or if the bin is ignored because of having 2 or more quants with different materials. I can't say it without test.

[pablo_marn · Accepted solution]

I think change strategy P to I is not so easy. SAP will not allow you to change it if the storage type is not empty. An error message occurs if you try to do it.

You must remove all quants in the storage type, then change the strategy and finally place again all quants in the original storage bin (if it is possible according to the new strategy). Maybe it could be convenient develop a program to do it manually.

As Jürgan sais, you have to do several tests before of implement it in your real environment.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thank you both for your feedback - its been a big help.

Of course, we would put any proposed changes through our test system first.  We just have only limited experience within our UK office of changing Picking/Put away strategies and we are trying to establish realistically what our options are or what some of the issues could potentially be.

Thanks again

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

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