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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:
- A sort field with which, for example, the shipping materials can be
displayed in order of size.
- An output determination procedure which can be used to define shipping
unit output.
- A shipping unit category which divides up the shipping materials. For
example, for shipping units with the shipping material category 'Means of
Transport', the category controls that additional fields such as driver and
co-driver, are ready for input.
- A plant determination rule, which specifies the plant from which stock of
the shipping material is to be debited in delivery processing, if delivery
items are to be generated from shipping units in the delivery.
- Material grouping for shipping materials
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.
- Tolerance for exceeding specified volume
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
- Changing the shipping unit
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.
- Division of items over several shipping units
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.
- Reaction when weight or volume limit is exceeded
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.
- Display the allowed shipping materials
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.
- Packing of shipping units (packing levels)
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.
- Unpacking of items that have already been packed
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.
- Deletion of 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.
- Displaying different overview screens
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.
- Changing the packing quantities
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.
- Creation of delivery items from shipping units (as of Release 3.0)
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:
- An item category group must be stored in the material master of the
shipping material. This is used together with the new item usage 'PACK' and
the delivery type to determine the item category of the delivery item to be
generated.
- A plant must be defined in the shipping unit. It can be determined as
folllows:
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.
- Creating packing information from subsystems
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.
- Packing proposal in scheduling agreements with delivery schedule
(component supplier) (as of Release 3.0)
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.
- Total weight of 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.
- Packing list output control (as of Release 3.0)
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').
- Check for allowed shipping materials (as of Release 3.0)
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:
- Delivery items, which were not packed or classified as requiring packing
in the delivery, can be packed.
- The highest level shipping units of the deliveries can be loaded into
shipping units for the shipment.
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:
- A sort field which is used for sorting the shipping units during shipping
unit processing. In this way, the shipping materials can be displayed, for
example, in order of size.
- An output determination procedure which must be allocated to the new
application V6. In Release 3.0, it is possible to define shipping unit output.
A material tag is delivered as a sample (form SD_PACK_ETIK, program SDPACKDR
and output 0001).
- A shipping element category divides the shipping materials into means of
transport, transport equipment, packing and packing material. These categories
are predefined. For shipping units with the shipping material category 'Means
of transport', additional fields such as driver, co-driver and travelling time
are ready for input.
- A plant determination rule which specifies from which plant the stock of
the shipping material is to be taken in delivery processing, if delivery items
are to be generated in the delivery from shipping units.
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.