Capacity Checking (SAP Library - Warehouse Management Guide)

Capacity Checking

Use

For some putaway strategies, it is advantageous to require that the system check the capacity of the storage bin when it searches for an available bin. If the capacity check is active, it means that during the process of transfer order creation, the system checks whether the storage bin you selected has the capacity to store the quantity that is to be put away.

Prerequisites

You can implement capacity checking on the basis of a storage type when you define the putaway strategy or the storage type in the Warehouse Management section of Customizing. For more information about activating the capacity check, refer to the Implementation Guide (IMG) for Warehouse Management under Master Data ® Define Storage Type. To activate the capacity check, enter the number that represents the checking method in the Capacity check method field for the putaway strategy in the storage type record.

In order to control the capacity check according to capacity indicators, the following basic prerequisites must be met:

Each storage bin must have a capacity that is independent of dimension or unit (simply a number).

Each material can use a specific capacity for each unit of measure.

Each storage unit type can have a specific capacity for each storage unit.

Features

There are six options available for capacity checking in the Warehouse Management (WM) component. The capacity of a bin can be checked on the basis of:

Weight

The weight of the material that is being transferred to the storage bin is checked against the remaining weight capacity of the bin.

Storage unit type

You can stipulate that the storage bin can contain only one standard storage unit type. This is taken from the first SUT field under Palletization data in the material master record.

Maximum quantity for a bin in the storage type

You can define the maximum quantity of material that can be stored in a bin for each storage type. This is often used for the fixed bin strategy.

Capacity indicator (see below)

- Usage check based on material
- Usage check based on storage unit type (SUT)
- Usage check based on material plus SUT

We recommend that you implement a capacity check for the "fixed bin storage" and "addition to existing stock" putaway strategies. For bulk storage, capacity checking is carried out in the block definition.

Capacity check according to capacity indicator

You can also use the capacity indicator to control the storage of materials in a storage bin. Depending on the capacity check you select, the system calculates the capacity usage differently.

For the material, the capacity usage is calculated based on the quant (the quantity of a single material with the same characteristics), as in example 1.

For SUT checks, the system calculates the capacity usage based on the storage unit type. (Example 2)

For mixed storage situations, we recommend using the capacity check that is based on the sum of the material and the storage unit type. In SU-managed storage types, each storage unit counts as a separate SUT; in non-SU-managed storage types, each quant counts as a separate SUT.

Since the capacity usage is dependent upon the quantity of the material, it is characterized as a variable in the system and is updated in the quant. The capacity usage of an SUT is characterized as a constant capacity usage and is updated in the storage unit in SU-managed storage types and in the quant in non-SU-managed storage types.

Data from quants and storage units are updated for each storage bin as a remaining capacity. This remaining capacity is recorded in the empty bin index. This makes it possible to efficiently find an occupied storage bin with a specific remaining capacity by using a customer exit, for example.

For a full explanation of the three Customizing options using a neutral indicator, see Capacity Checking Based on a Neutral Indicator.