Handling Unit (HU) 

Definition

A handling unit is a physical unit consisting of packaging materials (load carriers/packing material) and the goods contained on/in it. A handling unit is always a combination of products and packaging materials. All the information contained in the product items, for example, about batches, is retained in the handling units and is always available.

Handling units can be nested, and you can create a new handling unit from several other handling units.

A handling unit has a unique, scannable identification number that you can construct according to industry standards such as EAN 128 or SSCC.

Fig. 1: Example of a Handling Unit

Structure

The object ‘Handling Unit’ contains the following attributes:

●      Identification number

●      Dimension

●      Weight

●      Volume

●      Status

●      Products and quantities

●      Packaging material

●      Packaging specification

A handling unit consists of a handling unit header and handling unit items. It receives a unique number that is used for identification purposes.

Handling Unit Header

The header data of a handling unit is divided up as follows:

●      Weight/volume/dimension

●      General data

●      Storage-specific data

For more information about the different detailed information, see Packing at the Work Center.

Status

The handling unit is connected to general status management. This enables you to document the various physical statuses (such as planned or realized) and other attributes (such as, weighed, loaded, blocked, or posted for GI) for a handling unit.

If you want to use your own status, you can store a user schema for the packaging material type.

Handling Unit Item

The items of a handling unit can consist of products, auxiliary packaging materials, or other handling units, which are displayed in an overview. For more information about this overview, see Packing at the Work Center.