A storage type is a storage area, facility or zone that can be defined for a warehouse number in WM. It is a unique area within a warehouse or warehouse complex that is characterized by the space it occupies and the way it is organized. It is a type of storage area that consists of one or more storage bins.

You can define several storage types for each warehouse number. The following illustration depicts five storage types assigned to a single warehouse number.

Typical examples of storage types that you can define using WM include:

• Bulk storage

• Open storage

• High rack storage

• Picking area

• Shelf storage

The storage types in the above list are physical storage types.

You can also define storage types in WM that are shared by both the IM and WM applications. These are called interim storage areas and include the following:

• Goods receipt area
• Goods issue area
• Interim storage area for differences
• Posting change area

The Inventory Management (IM) application communicates with Warehouse Management through these interim storage types. For example, goods issues and goods receipts posted in IM are updated in interim storage areas. These storage types can have characteristics that are not normally defined in purely physical storage types. For example, they can have negative stock, no capacity check is required and no putaway or picking strategies are defined for interim storage areas.

These storage types make up the warehousing complex and can be located in a single building or in several warehousing structures. They are all managed using a single warehouse number.

You need to define important control indicators at the storage type level that determine the material flow (putaway and picking activities) and the way inventory is handled in each storage type. These control indicators are only meaningful when they are implemented in a particular combination. Not all indicators are allowed in every situation. Once defined, some of these indicators can only be changed with great caution. Some control settings can only be implemented based on strict prerequisites. For example, storage unit management can only be implemented if no stock at all exists within a storage type. Certain capacity checks can only be activated if all factors have been configured that pertain to that particular type of capacity check. You should be especially cautious when changing control indicators that pertain to stock placement strategies.

There are indicators in the storage type record that can be overwritten in the movement type. That is to say, certain functions, such as confirmation requirement for putaway and picking or allowing posting changes in the same bin, are valid in general for a particular storage type, but not for a particular posting (for example, goods receipts from production do not need to be confirmed).

In the standard Warehouse Management application, for example, various complete storage types have been configured for use. Among these are a high rack storage area, a bulk storage area, a picking area, an open storage area and a pallet storage area. These have all been defined with various control parameters for putaway, picking and inventory.

You can use or modify the standard storage types already available in the system or you can create your own storage types customizing them to fit the needs of your company.

• For stock removal (picking)

• For stock transfer, blocking and inventory procedures

• For printing transfer orders that affect each storage type