Managing Containers - own vs. LSP's

[former_member194343]

Dear all,

we as a shipper have different scenarios concerning Containers, and I wonder how to handle them in SAP TM (and maybe ERP) in the easiest way:

a) LSP provides a container - we don't care about availability in planning. Guess this could be easily managed with Equipments, we can assign a container number to the equipment which can then be used for printing on documents, tracking etc. - is that true?

b) We use our own (rent) container - these are dedicated to special products and their number is limited, so we have to take care about availability in planning. In this case, we might have to model the container as a transportation unit ressource, using maybe the same equipment types as in scenario a). Would this lead to the same result like in scenario a), i. e. having a freight order with one or more containers, making printing of the container number(s) and tracking via container ID possible? Can I

Maybe I can sum up the problem this way: In Planning, it's completely different whether we use our own container or not, but in Execution both should work in the same way.

Unfortunately, the TM documentation (library as well as book) is, in my opinion, very confusing when it comes to concepts like transportation units and equipments...

[former_member194343]

Guess I answered the question myself by checking in the system:

For own containers, a resource of type Transportation Unit has to be created for each container (though the TM book says that those have no functionality anymore - apparently this is wrong/has been changed). There you can specify an equipment which provides physical properties to the resource.

In planning, you have to create Container Units (which, according to documentation, is a kind of Transportation unit, which is quite confusing because this is something different then the Transportation Unit ressource type mentioned above). For own containers, you assign a TU resource. For containers provided by the LSP, you just assign an equipment. Result is in both cases a container unit which can be "filled" with freight units, one having a link to a resource, the other not. Guess you can proceed equally from there on.

The connection between Event tracking of Container (as well as Trailer and Railcar) Units and assigned resources (of type Transportation Unit in the container case, of type Passive Vehicle in the other two cases) is explained in the EM guide on Ressource Tracking, which can be found here:

Still, please correct me if I'm wrong somewhere, and feel free to make additions!

[Dragoș]

Michael, you got it right: "For own containers, you assign a TU resource. For containers provided by the LSP, you just assign an equipment. Result is in both cases a container unit which can be "filled" with freight units, one having a link to a resource, the other not" .

I agree, there is a potential for confusion between the Transportation Unit resource, maintained in SCMB Master Data, and the Transportation Unit document, an entity in SAP TM. The former represents the physical container with its characteristics, while the later represent the movements of goods between two locations.

The TU documents can be Container Units (which can, but not neceesarily have to, refer to a TU resource) but also Trailer Units and Railcar Units, which are based on vehicle resources.

[former_member193027]

Hi,

For the TU set up, is there any speciifc config which we need to do in sequence to implement this functionality

[former_member194343]

Hello everyone,

thought that this was solved, but when I actually tried it, I encountered the following problem:

When I create a container unit without reference to a TU resource (i.e. for containers provided by the carrier), I can use this for planning without problems. The container appears in the freight order position hierarchy just below the vehicle resource, which is fine. However, I am not able to enter the container number into the corresponding field in "Container Details" - the field is greyed out. The only thing I can change is the equipment group/type. But: Entering the container number (during check-in or after loading of the container) is vital because, for example, it has to appear on several documents.

Does anyone know why this field is not editable (maybe it is under certain circumstances?)?