Kanban is a procedure for controlling production and material flow based on a backward chaining of operations in production. With Kanban, the replenishment or production of a material is triggered only if or when a manufacturing level actually requires the material.
With Kanban, the impulse to deliver a material can be triggered by the work center that needs the material sending a card to the vendor who manufactures the material. This card describes which material and how much of it is required, and where it is to be delivered. These cards (in Japanese, "kanbans") have given this procedure its name.
A further advantage of Kanban is that the replenishment data can be transmitted automatically. In other words, the reading of the bar code is sufficient to transmit the data necessary for procurement and to post the goods receipt when the materials arrive.
Using the Internet Application Component Kanban , the vendor can call up information about empty containers directly over the Internet. This type of replenishment transmission is thus an alternative to sending the vendor the kanban (i.e. the card) or giving the vendor kanbans for empty containers when the latter delivers the requested containers. In addition, the vendor can confirm planned deliveries directly over the Internet.
For more information on Kanban, see PP - Kanban .
Business-to-Business
If, as a customer, you offer a supplier company the chance to work with the Internet Application Component Kanban , you have the following advantages:
The vendor has a clear overview of product stocks in all relevant control cycles and can determine which quantities of which products must be delivered. The vendor can also send notifications of delivery quantities directly via the Internet from within the same view.
The evaluation of your product stocks by the vendor, the compilation of the delivery due lists, and the confirmation of delivery quantities can all take place round the clock. In addition, these functions are available worldwide.
The Internet environment has a simple structure and the layout can be adjusted to suit the vendor’s business requirements. The vendor does not require any knowledge of SAP.
The user who is to check and replenish product stocks must have the authorizations to access the following data:
Authorization object |
Description |
---|---|
F_LFA1_APP |
Creditor: Application authorization |
To start the application component on the Internet, the following prerequisites must be fulfilled:
The vendor must be entered in the vendor master of the SAP customer system.
The vendor requires an Internet user master record of the user type BUS1008 and a password in the SAP customer system.
You can use transaction SU05 to create, change, and delete passwords for Internet users. To clearly identify the vendor, enter the object type BUS1008 next to the vendor number.
In the customer system the data necessary for Kanban with the replenishment strategy “external procurement” must be maintained. This includes control cycles, corresponding replenishment strategies, purchasing info records, and contracts and/or scheduling agreements.
Caution
Control cycles having a replenishment strategy with the control type 5 (“Processing via Source List”) are not taken into account.
The Internet Application Component is a special supply-source view of the kanban board tailored to the requirements of the vendor.
The following differences exist between the ERP standard transaction (Kanban Board: Supply-Source View for Vendor) and the Internet Application Component:
In the Internet Application Component, the control cycles can be compiled online according to various criteria. In addition, the vendor can compile a delivery due list and confirm it directly. As a result of the confirmation, the vendor receives an overview of successful or faulty postings.
In the Internet Application Component, the status of the kanbans can be set to “In Process” only. In the ERP transaction, other statuses are available.
For the Internet Application Component Kanban, you can enhance the data displayed from the control cycle. To do so, the standard transaction must be adjusted slightly.
Caution
Any changes to the ERP development objects that are used for the Internet Application Component count as modifications.
Therefore you should not change the development objects of the standard system under any circumstances. Instead, copy the necessary programs and templates to create your own objects in the customer namespace.
In the Internet Application Component there are four tables. In each table there are more program-internal fields available than are displayed in the standard version in the Internet. In order to display further fields in the tables in the Internet Application Component, you must add the table field analogically to the already displayed table fields in the step loop of the associated dynpro and the associated template.
For the table in the frame |
Variable name of table |
Dynpro |
Template |
---|---|---|---|
Kanbans |
LIST1 |
1101 |
SAPMMPKW_1101 |
Delivery due list |
LIST2 |
1102 |
SAPMMPKW_1102 |
Successfully updated in customer system |
LIST5 |
1201 |
SAPMMPKW_1201 |
Not updated in customer system |
LIST6 |
1202 |
SAPMMPKW_1202 |
The data exchange over the Internet takes place on the ERP side via transactions and function modules. The following development objects are necessary for Kanban on the Internet:
Development class: MDW2
Transaction: PKW1
Module pool: SAPMMPKW
Function group: MPKW
Function modules:
BAPI_Kanban_GETLISTFORSUPPLIER
BAPI_Kanban_SETINPROCESS
BAPI_CREDITOR_CHECKPASSWORD
Data output takes place using the Internet Transaction Server. Here, the data determined is mixed with output forms and made available to the Internet/Intranet in HTML format.
The output forms can be found in subdirectory PKW1 of the TEMPLATES directory. The following forms are used:
SAPMMPKW_100.HTML
SAPMMPKW_110.HTML
SAPMMPKW_120.HTML
SAPMMPKW_1001.HTML
SAPMMPKW_1101.HTML
SAPMMPKW_1102.HTML
SAPMMPKW_1103.HTML
SAPMMPKW_1104.HTML
SAPMMPKW_1201.HTML
SAPMMPKW_1202.HTML
SAPMMPKW_1999.HTML
PKW1_D.HTRC
PKW1_E.HTRC
The figures in the names of the forms correspond to the associated screen numbers.
The service name of this Internet Application Component is PKW1. You will find all the associated files in the SAP@Web Studio under this service name.