Replenishment on Min max levels without RF

[Former Member]

Hi,

Has anybody attempted to implement replenishment on min max levels without RF? 

I have a client who wants to do this and my concern is that if they are not confirming the picks immediately then replenishments will not be triggered in a timely fashion.

Regards,

JAConsultant

[MANIS · Accepted solution]

Creating Replenishment TR / TO and confirming the same using RF or GUI(Paper based) are two different process steps For Replenishment TO creation system take into consideration of Max and Min quantity from material master (WM2 view) and create TR then using LB13 or LT04 you create TO with regard to Execution(TO Confirmation)

you can do with(paper based) or without RF. Even if, if you use without RF (Bin quantity is more then min quantity) and TO is not confirmed if you will run the Replenishment system won't create TR

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Manesh,

When I run the program to create a fixed bin replenishment LP22,  the program will create a replenishment TR even if there are unconfirmed pick TOs in the system.  Is there a way of stopping this?

Regards,

J

[MANIS · Accepted solution]

For fixed bin replenishment t-code is LP21 which works on min and max quantity from the material master.

e.g. Min 10 pc  , Max 20 pc ,

scenario 1 - Available stock in bin is 0

in this scenario if you will run LP21 then system will propose TR for 10 pc

Scenario 2 - Available stock in bin is 2 and no open TR or TO

In this scenario system will propose TR  for 18 pc

Scenario 3  - Available stock in bin is 2 and open TO for 18

In this scenario if you will run LP21 system won't create any TR

Hope this is clear

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks Manesh,

Following on from your example:

Min 10 pc, Max 20 pc, current bin stock 20 pc

Pick TO created to remove 12 pc but pick TO not yet confirmed.

Run LP21 and replenishment TR will be created for 12 pc. If replenishment TR converted into a TO and 12 items from pick TO not yet removed, bin may get over stocked.

Do you have a solution to this?

Cheers,

J

[MANIS · Accepted solution]

Using replenishment process you make sure that you have enough stock in pick face location (Fixed bin) to avoid any loose order sales loss or delay in picking

As an standard Warehouse operating procedure you are supposed to perform the replenishment before start of the shift or end of shift (Depend on business process)

In your case if you have enough stock and you create a picking TO (from Fixed bin to 916) for 12 pc but  TO is not confirmed in that case the Available quantity in the bin is (20 pc - 12 pc) = 8 pc

at the same time if you will run the LP21 since available stock is 8 system will trigger the TR for another 12 pc (As mentioned earlier frequency of running replenishment is more towards specific to business process and it is more towards planning rather than execution)

[Former Member]

Hi J,

What is the MMR?  If I remove the reserve from OMLY, the system will not know where to go for the full pallet pick?  or have I missed something?

Cheers,

J

[Former Member]

Ooops sorry J, I was confusing large/small with the config setting in the stype config for a return stype

MMR = Material Master Record

You could try and define your own strategy via a user exit or your client will have to accept the risk of small pick TO's being created from the reserve area and put a Business process in place to ensure pick TO's are confirmed immediately after the stock has been removed from the bin ................. or invest in RF

Cheers

A

[Former Member]

Hi A,

So I guess what you are saying is that trying to implement small/large pic with a three tiered pick face together with replenishment on min/max levels might be a bit difficult without RF? and would probably require a user exit to ensure that small quantities were not picked from the reserve area.

Cheers,

J

[Former Member]

Hi J

No I'm not saying it's difficult in fact, it sounds fairly straight forward. All I would say is that you are correct, in that the critical part of the process is the pick TO confirmation. Without RF, the client need to have a robust Business process for ensuring the prompt confirmation and accept that if this doesn't happen, there is a risk of small qty picks being generated in the reserve area.

Cheers

A

[Former Member]

Thanks so much for all of your help - I really appreciate it. 

Just wondering with min max levels how you plan your picks so that you give time for replenishment and do not exhaust the pick face?  I assume that you still need to run the picks  in waves?

Also with the replenishments of pickface using LP21, there is potential for the pickface to be replenished with more stock than can be physically held in the location because a pick list TO does not need to be confirmed prior to the bin location being replenished.  Have you found this to be an issue?

Cheers,

J

[Former Member]

The way I did it was to set the min stock level to equal 'X' number of hours pick for example so that there was sufficient time for the replenishment to be actioned. You're right about the risk of the replen pick being greater that the physical capacity of the bin, which is why I am such a fan of auto replen

Cheers

A

[Former Member]

Hi A,

Where do you set the number of hours?

Also, how do make auto replen select more than one pallet to replen up to the max quantity?  Does this need to be coded?  If, according to FIFO two part pallets are required to replen up to the max, only the first pallet is selected.

Cheers,

J

[Former Member]

Hiya

Didn't 'set the number of hours' more calculated it from stats lol.

As I said, this was at a previous clients site so I can't test sorry, but am surprised that only one part pallet is selected rather than the total qty required to replen to the max !! Sounds like it could be master data or something;

Are your materials batch managed ?

Cheers

A

[Former Member]

Hi A,

Materials are batch managed. 

When you say that you calculated from stats -  did you generate you picks and then after X hours run the replenishment program manually, thus creating a bit of a pick wave?

So - generate pick, wait x hours, run replenishment, generate pick and so on.

Cheers,

Jacque

[Former Member]

Oh, I seem to be adding to your confusion sorry

When setting up the material masters, the Business knew from the legacy system how many of these items were issued in a day (for example 40ea per shift). As such, we set the min stock level to 10ea thus allowing 2 hrs for the replen to be processed.

40ea per shift

8hrs per shift      =     5ea per hour

Not very scientific I know, but it gave us a starting point which could be adjusted.

There is something in the back of my mind about batch managed stock and bin replenishments (or poss mixed storage) in that it wont replenish a bin with a qty form a different batch until the batch in the fixed bin has been totally ....... that might also be down to SU management.

I will try and dig out any other info on this is I can.

Cheers

A

[Former Member]

Hi A,

Does that mean that you set the replen to run in background roughly every two hours. 

Would it work if we generated our first round of pick lists, waited a while, (possibly looked at percentage completion), then ran the replenishment program, waited a while and then generated out next round of pick lists?

Cheers,

J

[Former Member]

Hi

I was actually talking auto replen however, I have also set LP21 to run as a periodic background batch job.

Yes of course your proposal would work but it is very much a 'finger in the air' solution, but that doesn't mean it's the wrong way to go, as you just adjust the timings to suite as the Business knowledge and data increases with time.

As with every solution, each is unique based on the individual clients requirements, physical space, workforce etc.

Cheers

A

[Former Member]

Many thanks for all your help.  Would give you more points if I could. 

BTW how to you see the questions that are being asked so that you can make a response if you know the answer?

Cheers,

J

[Former Member]

Your welcome

http://scn.sap.com/community/erp/scm-logistics-execution/content

[Former Member]

Hi A,

What would you recommend as a starting point for the frequency of running LP21 in back ground - every 1 hour?

Regards,

Jacque

[JL23]

>>>Would give you more points if I could. <<<

You certainly can, read:

Beside of making a web address a favorite in your browser you have the option to follow spaces and people, you can then see all posts by clicking the Activity button on top right of SCN.

By tracking spaces or people you can find all the new posts behind the Communications icon, here you get also direct messages and shared content.  The green number next to the icons actually tell you that there is something new for you.

You can set the follow and track option from the overview page of a space

Tracking is in the action box on the right.

Be careful at the beginning, there have been many people who got flooded by mails as those settings interact with your settings made in your profile too.

[Former Member]

Hi J

That's your call sorry, I have no knowledge of your clients business, processes, stock turnover etc. to make any sort of recommendation.

You need to look at all of this (and more) and then decide how often you need to run it in the background

Good luck

A

[Former Member]

Hi A,

They definately want to do small/large pick - in fact they want a three tiered pick face - unit, carton and full pallet.

The way that this works is the system will first attempt to removed stock from the unit pick area (depending upon the control quantity of course).  If it cannot find stock in the unit pick area it will then attempt to pick from the carton pick area and if it cannot find stock in the carton pick area it will then attempt to pick from the reserve area. 

The only solution that I can think of is to force an error via a user exit, if the pick face concerned does not contain sufficent stock quantity - they say that they don't want this either - but they will change their mind when they have a shed full of half pallets.

All very complex I know?

Thanks,

J

[Former Member]

Hi J

That all sounds ok. like I say though, just remove the reserve area from the system search in OMLY (no need for a user exit). Then if there is insufficient stock in the unit pick area the system will attempt to meet the requirement from the carton area. If it cannot fulfil from there, it will give an error rather than go to the reserve area.

This would not impact on the large/small functionality as any requirement greater that the control qty in the MMR would still go direct to the reserve area.

Cheers

A

[Former Member]

Hi A,

They would prefer auto replenishment only because with this method of replenishment - only one pallet is removed from reserve storage - even if this does not satisfy the full requirement. I suspect this might be a bug but it actually suits their requirement. 

My concern about auto replenishment is that the replenishment does not kick until the pick TO has been confirmed.  If another pick TO is created (using small large pick - which is what we are using), the system will them progress to the reserve area to satisfy the pick.  This could result in a whole lot of small picks being carried out from the reserve area.  Because we are specifying return location - we could end up with a warehouse full of part pallets (not what we want).

Do you have any thoughts on what else we could do?

Regards,

J

[Former Member]

Hi J

Where applicable, I'm a big fan of auto replen, but you are right in that there is a risk if the pick TO's are not confirmed immediately

I don't have the scenario set up in the system I am using now so cannot test, but I don't think it is the large/small setting that would cause lots of small picks in the reserve area, more the removal strat set via OMLY, which I suspect lists the stype search as fixed stype / Res stype ?

You could try changing this so that the system only looks in the fixed bin stype. That way if there were insufficient stock, no pick TO could be generated thus forcing the client to confirm the pick TO's and replen the bin ? They would soon get into the habit of confirming pick TO's immediately

Cheers

A

[Former Member]

Thanks for your prompt reply A.

I have noticed the following:

1. If you trigger the replenishment of a fixed bin using LP21, a replenishment TO can be generated without the confirmation of a pick.

2. If you use the auto-generated TOs - a replenishment TO will only be generated once the pick TO has been confirmed.

I guess you are familiar with this. 

Regards,

J

[Former Member]

Hi J

Yes this is correct although for No2, the replen TO will only be created when the pick TO that takes the stock below the replen level, is confirmed.

Which process is you client looking to implement, auto replen or manual ?

Cheers

A

[Former Member]

Hi

Yes, but it was a long time ago.

Like you say, the trick is confirming the picks so that the replen is triggered before the bin is empty. If your client already has the Warehouse Activity Monitor implemented, they should use it to closely monitor the pick confirmation process. If not , you might want to suggest implementing it along side the required functionality.

Cheers

A