Stock Picking Using Storage Unit Management (SAP Library

Stock Picking Using Storage Unit Management

In this section we explain how transfer orders are processed for picking storage units whenever materials are picked for goods issue. Also, you will learn how to set up storage types with picking strategies for Storage Unit Management (SU Management).

For each of the primary methods used in SU management to process transfer orders, an example is presented to clarify what happens both physically and in the Warehouse Management (WM) component itself.

For information on goods issues using the standard WM component, see Goods Receipt and Stock Picking Strategies.

Picking Strategies Used in SU Management

For warehouses in which storage unit management is active, the manner in which picking strategies are carried out in the system is basically the same with or without storage unit management – they are material-oriented and quantity-oriented in WM.

When you create a transfer order item to pick a certain material, the system searches for storage bins with the required quants based on the strategies defined in the system. How the system automatically attempts to find requested materials is also carried out in the same manner.

For stock picks, the difference between SU-managed storage types and storage types without SU management are described as follows:

When a specific quantity is removed from an SU-managed storage type, not only the storage bin information is updated, but also the storage unit involved.
When you create pick transfer orders, you can display storage units on selected screens. This allows you to manually select storage units proposed by the system.
In SU-managed storage types, complete stock picking is defined differently. Also, the respective functions have been changed.

Complete Stock Picks in SU-Managed Storage Types

You should activate complete stock picking when you cannot pick stock from the storage bin itself.

You define how complete stock picks are handled in the system at the storage type level. For information on how to define storage type default values for SU management, see the Warehouse Management IMG documentation.

For storage types that are not SU-managed, the system always removes the entire quant. After the required material is picked, the system finds a return bin for the remaining part of the quant. A return item is created within the transfer order item that specifies where the partial quant will be placed. For a description of this process, see Releasing Stock from Inspection.

For SU-managed storage types, complete stock pick does not refer to the picking of quants but to storage units. When only part of the materials in the storage unit are required, this means that the entire storage unit must be removed from the bin.

Returning Stock to the Same Bin

If you have defined "complete stock pick" for a storage type, regardless of whether it is SU-managed or not, you also have the option of activating the Return same bin field.

"Return stock to the same bin" means that, whenever a quant or storage unit is partially emptied by picking only part of the materials contained in it as the result of a complete stock pick, the remaining materials are returned to the same storage bin from which they were removed.

For storage types that are not SU-managed, remaining partial quants are normally returned to their original storage bins; for SU-managed storage types, partial storage units can also be returned to their original bins or they can be returned to a storage type specifically designated for partial pallets.

Options for Complete Stock Picking

Based on the definition for complete stock pick and returning stock to the same bin described above, there are three options available for configuring your SU-managed storage types:

No complete stock pick
Complete stock pick with return to the same bin
Complete stock pick using a pick point

These three processes are described in Partial Stock Picks.

Life Cycle of a Storage Unit Number

A stock pick has a destination storage type in WM – normally, this is the interim storage type for goods issues. As mentioned in SU-Managed Storage Types, interim storage areas cannot be SU-managed.

What happens then, when an entire storage unit is moved from a SU-managed storage type into a storage type that is not SU-managed?

Storage Unit Transfers into Storage Types that are not SU-managed

What occurs is exactly the opposite of when a storage unit is moved from a storage type that is not SU-managed into an SU-managed storage type. If you have a stock putaway into an SU-managed storage type, the system creates a storage unit number for the storage unit concerned. If you have a stock pick from a non-SU-managed storage type, on the other hand, the storage unit number of the storage unit is lost.

This means that the storage unit no longer exists in WM after an entire storage unit is moved to a storage type that is not SU-managed and the transfer order items for that storage unit are confirmed,.

Storage Unit Transfers into SU-managed Storage Types

For optimization or other reasons, there are some situations in which you create transfer orders to move storage units from one SU-managed storage type to another SU-managed storage type within the warehouse.

For these types of movements, the following options are available:

When a complete homogeneous storage unit is removed and transferred to another SU-managed storage type, the SU number is not changed.
When only part of a storage unit is removed and sent to another SU-managed storage type, this "part" receives a new SU number if it is not included as part of an already existing storage unit.