Inspection of In-bound truck - multiple POs

[Former Member]

We have a requirement whereby the receiving department inspects the truck delivering multiple materials.  There are many different materials on board, and they are from multiple different Purchase Orders.

Receiving evaluates the condition of shipment by ensuring the seal is in tact, taking temperature, checking for debris, checking for pests, etc.  The goal is for a rejection of this evaluation to prevent the receipt of any PO on this truck.

Is there a way to incorporate this into the SAP QM system?

[Former Member]

An update on this requirement:

The customer communicated the requirement that every material/batch must be able to be tied to an inspection that validates the safety and condition of the truck that the product arrived in.  They have to enter specific results as well.  A couple Y/N type answers, but also record a seal number and temperature.

So one inspection is applied to every PO/line item combination on the truck.  They basically create a record in a table with the key fields of PO, line item, material, vendor batch, and seal number.

Since they enter results for every PO and line item, my thoughts turned to source inspections.  But that has three serious cons in my opinion. 

1.  This has to be done on every shipment, so if the same PO line item is delivered on two different trucks, then they couldn't get another inspection lot unless schedule lines were maintained, and they don't think that is a realistic expectation.

2. There is no way to tie the carrier to the inspection.

3.  Now they just enter the PO and line item in on a handheld device and create a new record.  If we use inspection lots, the lot has to be created in time and in REL status to be able to enter results.  That is a level of control that I don't think they are used to.

I also considered audit management with the carrier set up as a business partner, but I don't think that has the ability to tie to material and batch (if we went this route we could probably lose the PO/line item reference).

I just thought I would throw this out to some of you experts and see if anyone had faced similar requirements or had any creative ideas on this before I went down the path of re-creating their process in a Z-table.

[former_member42743]

I'm not very experienced with this but have you looked at handling units?

I've never worked with them on the receiving side but I would think the concept is the same as on the shipping side.

Can the truck somehow be received in as a single handling unit?  Not unlike a modular ocean going shipping container?

Once "packed" as a single handling unit, the inspection is done on the handling unit and then later "unpacked" into its various pieces of inventory.

Just a SWAG but I'd look into.

Craig

[nitin_jinagal]

Hi Nick,

I think you can use inspection type 01 for this. I understand you receive, let say, five different items against five different PO in one truck. And you need to inspect these materials in SAP QM.

When you receive the materials, they will be posted to blocked stock (103 movement). Then you do GR Blocked stock (105 movement). Inspection lot would then be raised against 105 movement.

You can also mention the truck number in Transport details tab of the material document during 105 movement (This would only indirectly help you in tracing the truck details for a specific date by using material doc number). 

If this is applicable, you need to activate 01 inspection type for all the materials.

But before mapping this, you definitely need to run a check on the business process as suggested by Mr Craig. You really cannot ignore the business understanding before mapping it into SAP.

Please check.

Rgds,

ntn

[former_member42743]

Not without customization. It would be difficult.

The issue is how does SAP know what PO/items are on the truck?  Do you get a shipping notification or something in advance?  Who puts this in the system?  How is the truck shipment  to be uniquely identified, (i.e. the same truck delivers a few times in the same month).

First you need to figure out how all that will be handled.  Than maybe you can tackle the QM side. 

Craig