Creating Stock Transfers for JIT Calls

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. Therefore, material buffers are reduced to a minimum to meet the current needs of the production line. JIT relies on streamlined processes for supply chain planning and operations.

JIT processing is commonly used in repetitive manufacturing and discrete manufacturing, specifically in the automotive industry. It is used when large quantities of products are required on the production line and when the demand is known beforehand, which allows accurate forecasting for replenishment. JIT processing allows tight alignment between suppliers, both external and internal, and production warehouses, which often operate the last segment of replenishment to the production line.

A JIT call is sent from the production supply area to the warehouse, external supplier or to the internal production, requesting replenishment of materials. The JIT call specifies the quantity, date, time, destination production supply area, destination storage location, material and partner information, scheduling agreement for each requested material.

In the Supply to Production process from Warehouse, the recipient of the call is the intra-company production warehouse. It is located close to the production to ensure short lead times.

A relevant JIT call creates synchronously an EWM stock transfer. This is a warehouse request with the document category WMR. Usually, warehouse requests with this document category can only be created internally. To enable this integration, SAP S/4HANA 2020 offers a new interface for the JIT Supply to Production.

The warehouse request created for the JIT call can be relevant for wave management, but warehouse tasks can also be created manually, or automatically using a PPF action. Exceptions during the warehouse task creation or picking can be used to update the JIT call. Furthermore, updates of the quantity, supply date and time, or the priority in the JIT call can be used to update the warehouse request.