Products in a warehouse can be used for different purposes, for example they can be:
- Sold to customers. Sales order and deliveries are created and the goods are picked from the warehouse for those deliveries.
- Used in production processes to manufacture more valuable products for sale.
Manufacturing Order
The production process, which occurs in ERP, is based on a production order. In batch-oriented process manufacturing, it is called a process order. In the manufacturing order, the following details are specified:
- What will be produced
- When production will happen
- What resource will process the order
- How much the production will cost
When a manufacturing order is created, it is necessary to specify the components required for production. These components are listed in the bill of material (BOM) or a master recipe, and that is defined as master data in production. If a BOM or master recipe exists for the product to be produced, the BOM or master recipe is exploded when a manufacturing order is created, for example the quantity of each item that is required is calculated.
Delivery-Based or Advanced Production Integration
There are two models for production integration available in SAP EWM, a delivery-based model (where deliveries are sent as information from ERP to SAP EWM for requirements and goods issues) and the advanced production integration model (which does not use deliveries). Both models have specific features and the model used depends on the customer’s requirements.
For a comparison of the integration scenarios, please see note 2352810 — FAQ: Using the PMR – Differences between PMR and Deliveries.
Comparison Between Delivery-Based and Advanced Production Integration
The two production integration models have different features, which make them suitable for different production processes.
| Delivery Based Production Integration | Advanced Production Integration | |
|---|---|---|
| Integration with ERP | Deliveries Separate documents for staging and consumption | Production Material Request One document for staging and consumption |
| Typical Scenario | Mechanical engineering | Consumer products or process industry |
| Supported Processes | Production orders Process orders Kanban Repetitive manufacturing | Production orders Process orders |
Kanban and JIT Calls in Embedded EWM
In a decentral EWM setting the production supply for kanban is done using the delivery based production integration. For embedded EWM kanban can directly create warehouse tasks in EWM, not delivery is required.
Since the SAP S/4HANA 2023 release a new replenishment strategy ("9 - Stock Transfer with Warehouse Tasks (decentral EWM)") is available for a decentral deployment. This requires that the Kanban control cycle is set up on the decentral EWM system and that also the complete Kanban process is running in this system.
Just-In-Time (JIT) is a logistics concept of providing material at the exact point in time when it is needed in the production process and is commonly used in the automotive industry. A JIT call is sent from the production supply area to the warehouse, external supplier or to the internal production, requesting replenishment of materials. For embedded EWM a relevant JIT call creates synchronously an EWM stock transfer.
Production Supply Areas
To stage products for a production order, a warehouse must know the location that products need to go.
The production supply area (PSA) is an area in production or in the warehouse where products are staged or withdrawn. When SAP EWM is used, production supply areas are defined in ERP and in SAP EWM. These are then mapped to each other.
PSAs can be created manually in SAP EWM or they can be replicated from ERP. If they are replicated from ERP, the mapping is done at that time. If the PSAs in SAP EWM are created manually, they need to be mapped manually to the corresponding PSAs in ERP.
In SAP S/4HANA embedded EWM, a PSA which is relevant for EWM is automatically replicated to EWM.
Staging Methods
When staging products for a production order or process order, the products are transported to the production supply area (PSA). It is necessary to distinguish on the ERP side between the delivery based and the advanced production integration. But also in the delivery-based production, integration products can be staged differently, depending what type of materials you have and how they can be used in different manufacturing orders. The different ways are described by the staging method. The following staging methods or types are available.
| Staging Method | Definition |
|---|---|
| Pick Parts | The materials are picked according to the required quantity that is specified in the production order. |
| Release Order Parts | The pick quantities for release order parts are based on the requirements of several production orders (not individually as for pick parts) and on the stock levels in the scheduled production supply areas. |
| Crate Parts | A crate part is a material that is staged independently of manufacturing orders. The material is used continually and it is usually stored in a crate or another standard container. Kanban is a special method for managing crate parts. |
| EWM staging | These materials are staged directly in SAP EWM using a production material request. If a material is staged with single-order staging (similar to a pick part) or with cross-order staging (similar to a release order part) is assigned in SAP EWM. |
For the definition of the staging method, you maintain control cycles in ERP. You also need to maintain a control cycle in SAP EWM for further details (especially for pick parts and for SAP EWM staging) and to assign the bin for staging.
Note
