You can use cartonization planning to improve the creation of shipping handling units (HUs) based on information from product master data and outbound delivery orders, such as quantities, volume, and weight. Cartonization planning results in the creation of planned shipping handling units (PSHUs) that you can use as templates for creating shipping HUs during picking or packing.

A PSHU is an object similar to a shipping HU, describing a packaging material and the items it contains. In contrast to a shipping HU, a PSHU does not physically exist in the warehouse and is only used to plan shipping HUs. You can create PSHUs manually or automatically in cartonization planning. You can create nested PSHUs for cartonization planning of deliveries where HUs are packed into larger HUs.

Automatic cartonization planning uses algorithms to create PSHUs. Algorithms are defined as implementations of the Business Add-In BAdI: Cartonization Planning Algorithm. The default implementation aims at minimizing the number of HUs. The default algorithm uses a heuristic approach. It is not an optimization. For more information, see Customizing for Extended Warehouse Management under  Business Add-Ins (BAdIs) for Extended Warehouse Management Goods Issue Process Cartonization Planning BAdI: Cartonization Planning Algorithm .

To use this feature, you must activate the business function EWM, Essential Foundation Functions (SCM_EWM_FND).