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Shipping: Packing

Shipping: Packing

Description

In Release 3.0, the packing function has been changed to a Screen Painter interface and its functions have been extended.

Master data and conceptual basics

A shipping material can be used for the packing or shipment of materials and products. Shipping materials include boxes or pallets. A material master record is created for shipping materials. In the standard SAP R/3 System, the material type VERP contains new, additional data fields (sales/plant data). These additional fields can be made ready for input for any material type by field selection.
The material type VERP is now also delivered with the Inventory Management view. The net weight and volume in the material master record are particularly important in packing, since they are copied when a shipping unit is created and become the tare volume or tare weight of the shipping unit.
The material master for the shipping material contains the following data which is relevant for packing:
The shipping material type is a grouping of shipping materials which is defined in Customizing. It controls the following:
Grouping of materials which require similar shipping materials and are defined in Customizing. Group 0005 can, for example, group together small parts which are to be packed into small parcels.
A maximum total weight for a shipping unit can be entered in this field. If the allowed weight is reached during packing, a corresponding system message is issued.
A maximum volume for a shipping unit can be entered in this field. If the allowed volume is reached during packing, a corresponding system message is issued.
The stackability factor specifies how many shipping materials (for example, pallets) can be stacked on top of each other. This specification has no controlling character and is used for information purposes only.
The filling level specifies the percentage up to which a shipping unit should be filled. This specification has no controlling character in Release 3.0 and is used for information purposes only.
In this field you can enter the percentage tolerance limit by which the allowed packing weight of a shipping unit can be exceeded.
In this field you can enter the percentage tolerance limit by which the allowed packing volume of a shipping unit can be exceeded.
A shipping unit is the group of materials that are packed together in a shipping material at one time, or are transported in a shipping material. Shipping units are stored in the system as independent documents with separate internal number assignments.

Packing in the delivery

In the delivery, items can be packed into shipping units. It is also possible to allocate shipping units to a delivery without actually packing the items (free shipping units). Shipping units can be edited on the shipping unit screen for the delivery and for the shipment (new in 3.0).

You can branch directly into the packing function from the overview screen of the delivery (Edit -> Packing ). Here, you mark the unpacked items that you want to pack together in one shipping unit. If only a subset of an item is to be packed, you must specify the subset to be packed on this screen. Afterwards, enter a shipping material for the selected items. The selected delivery items are packed into the corresponding shipping unit by the function "Packing" as before.

After filling, only the unpacked or partially packed delivery items can be seen on the list. The packed items appear on a separate list.

Functionality

If selected items could not be packed into one shipping unit due to a weight or volume limit, for example, a system message will tell you this. In this case, for example, the maximum packing weight or volume can be changed and the affected items can be repacked into the changed shipping unit. If you have selected several shipping units for packing, the contents are packed into the next selected shipping unit if the weight or volume limits have been reached for the preceding one.
It is possible to automatically pack a certain quantity in several shipping units. If you select an empty shipping unit and specify a partial quantity to be packed in the item to be packed, then shipping units are created with this partial quantity as their contents until the entire quantity of the items to be packed has been packed. This simplifies data entry if, for example, you want to pack two items into a box 50 times.
If the weight or volume limit is reached when the items are packed into shipping units, only the maximum partial quantity which can be packed is packed. If a further shipping unit is selected for packing, packing continues in this one.
If you want to pack items or shipping materials, you receive a list of the shipping materials allowed for the selected materials to be packed with the function "Allowed shp.materials". From this list, you can choose a shipping material from which a shipping unit is then created.
You can pack one shipping unit into another. This function can be repeated. In this case, the packing function is carried on several levels. The number of packing levels is displayed by the number of asterisks "*" in the field "Level" on the total contents screen and is not restricted.
Items that have already been packed can be unpacked again. This also applies to shipping units packed on multiple levels. This function can be executed from the packing content overview screen. Using this function you can remove something from a shipping unit.
This function can be executed on the packing content overview screen. Using this function, you can completely unpack shipping units.
You can delete shipping units with this function. The shipping unit to be deleted is first unpacked completely and then removed from the higher-level shipping unit before it is deleted.
On the packing screen, you can display different overview screens, for example, with the tare weight of the shipping unit, the loading weight and the total weight. In the document flow, you can see which items have been packed into which shipping units.
It is possible to change the packing quantities on the packing overview screen. Once you have posted the goods issue, no further change to packing is possible. You can record additional situations in which no packing is to take place.
As of Release 3.0, delivery items can be generated from shipping units. It is therefore possible to manage stocks for shipping materials, for example, company's own stock or special stocks and to bill shipping materials.
To do this, two requirements must be met:
o The plant can be manually entered in the shipping unit.
o The plant is proposed from the shipping material.
o The plant is determined from the plant of the first packed item.
In Release 3.0, you have the option to send packing data from subsystems into the delivery. There is a separate release note for this.
It is possible to enter packing requirements in scheduling agreements with delivery schedules (LZ) (Edit -> Packing ). These requirements automatically result in a packing proposal in the delivery, if a data transfer routine is maintained in the copying control table for sales document type to delivery type. The packing proposal can be changed. The delivery copying control specifies which shipping unit data is copied from the scheduling agreement to the delivery.
The total weight of the delivery is not increased by packing weights. However, the function module SD_DELIVERY_VIEW contains information on the total packed weight.
There is a new screen for single entry, on which you only need to specify the shipping unit identification and the material to be packed with the partial quantity to be packed (in sales units) if the shipping unit already exists with this identification. If it does not yet exist, you must also specify the shipping material.
You can print the packing list. A new SAPscript layout set (SD_PACKING_LIST), a print program (SDPACKLI) and output type (PL00) have been set up to do this. Furthermore, there is a new output requirement ('Something has been packed in the delivery and goods issue has been posted for the delivery').
This checks whether the shipping material is defined for packing. In Customizing, you can control which shipping materials are allowed for packing.

Packing in transportation processing for more than one delivery

You can carry out packing for more than one delivery in transportation processing. Here, you can pack on the basis of a shipment as follows:

Since packing depends on the shipment, a subsequent shipment for the same deliveries can be packed differently. Free shipping untis can be allocated in the shipment, just as in the delivery. If a shipping unit for the delivery is packed into a shipping unit for the shipment, the entire contents of this shipping unit in the delivery cannot be changed as this could lead to data inconsistencies.

Installation information

If you want to use the function "Allowed shp.materials", you must create a database index in the table MARA with the fields MANDT and VHART.

Change system parameters in customizing

In Customizing, the following settings exist for packing:

1. Number ranges for each shipping unit
The system assigns an internal number for each shipping unit. With this setting, you specify the number ranges for shipping units.
2. Packing control by item category
For each item category, you can control whether an item can be packed, requires packing or cannot be packed.
3. Requirement for delivery
At this point, you have the option to create customer-specific requirements for packing items as form routines. A requirement can, for example, ensure that if a credit block exists, no packing occurs. If you define new requirements for shipping units, you must activate the new requirements so that they are taken into account.
4. Shipping material types
Shipping material types group shipping materials together and contain the following control elements in Release 3.0:
5. Allowed shipping materials
You can specify which shipping materials are allowed for packing by allocating material groupings to shipping materials and shipping material types.
6. Material grouping for shipping materials
The material grouping for shipping materials is a group of products and packing materials which are to be packed into similar shipping materials.
In a check table, you can store which material groupings may be packed into which shipping material types. This ensures that certain materials may only be packed into certain shipping materials.
7. Shipping unit supplements
Shipping unit supplements are reserve fields not assigned to specific functions which you can fill and use as you require. These fields are maintained from the packing screen.

Further notes

Please refer to the Implementation Guide under the section "Packing" for further information on configuring the packing function in Customizing.