Definition

Certain vehicle attributes, such as the dimensions of the vehicle are defined when creating vehicle master data.

A vehicle is identified with a vehicle number that you can enter when creating the vehicle master record, or which is automatically generated by the system using an internal number range. The vehicle number is used throughout the system to refer to the vehicle. A brief text description is required for the vehicle master data.

Structure

You enter the characteristics of a vehicle on the Create Vehicle: Details screen in the following screen areas:

Vehicle Details

The vehicle type and vehicle mode of transport are attributes which are defined in Customizing and are automatically proposed by the system. These entries cannot be changed.

The vehicle may be assigned a status of available , not available , or to be deleted . The status to be deleted means the transport unit or vehicle is no longer needed and is blocked from being used in new shipments. When the re-organization program is run, the master data for the item is deleted from the system or archived , provided it is not assigned to any active shipments. A vehicle can only be used during scheduling if it has a status of available .

The number of transport units is calculated from the number assigned to the vehicle in the Transport Unit Assignment screen.

The vehicle is assigned to a transportation planning point and to a carrier (used when the vehicle is owned by an external company). The carrier must exist as a vendor in the system.

You can enter an identifier for the vehicle to represent an external reference number, for example, that of a dispatch optimizer.

A compatibility group can be assigned to the vehicle. The compatibility definition is checked during scheduling to determine if the selected vehicle meets the customer requirements defined in the customer master data.

An equipment number can be entered which links the vehicle to the Plant Maintenance (PM) application component. This number identifies a piece of equipment for which master data has been created in PM.

Vehicle Attributes

The physical dimensions of a vehicle are entered in the Vehicle attributes area of the screen. The unladen weight, maximum weight, and maximum volume are calculated from the assigned transport units.

The vehicle width, length, and height fields are not filled from the assignment of transport units. In examining the total length for example, the total length of the vehicle consists of both the assigned transport units as well as the coupling mechanisms. Thus, a direct calculation from assigned transport units might be inaccurate.

The vehicle units of measure are also stored in the Vehicle attributes section. When assigning transport units, check that their units of measure are the same as those for the vehicle.