The goal of the integration of production and warehouse management is the staging of products in time, the proper posting of the consumption of the components from the production process, and the receipt of the final products in the warehouse.
Integrating Manufacturing Processes
Objective
After completing this lesson, you will be able to understand the integration of production and EWM.
Production Integration with SAP EWM
Manufacturing Integration Options
SAP EWM offers different ways to integrate production processes. They depend on your production processes, your organizational setup, and your system setup.
For the delivery-based integration, the ERP system creates deliveries for materials to be staged, and also for materials that are consumed, and sends these deliveries to EWM. Quantities to be staged and consumed are entered in ERP, while in EWM, only the physical movement is triggered and confirmed.
In the Advanced Production Integration, a production material request (PMR) for a manufacturing order is created in EWM when ERP sends a message containing the information from production. Details about quantities for staging and consumption are controlled with entries in EWM.
Material Execution System (MES) driven options require the additional connection to an MES system for communication with production resources.
Automotive specific Just-In-Time (JIT) processing has a special integration option, which is limited to embedded EWM.
Note
In this course, the focus is on the topics of delivery-based integration and advanced production integration.
Delivery-Based Production Integration Process
For the delivery-based production integration scenario, more information flows between the ERP and the EWM system. Several deliveries can be created (for staging pick parts, staging release order parts, goods issue posting) and most steps are triggered from ERP.
Note
The preceding figure shows only one outbound delivery for staging, and the complete process is for the scenario with two storage locations and one warehouse number. During a production process, several deliveries might be created, and the details look different when using another organizational structure.
There is no difference if this is a decentral or an embedded EWM.
Advanced Production Integration Process
With the advanced production integration, the ERP side has no delivery documents and all steps between the initial request for the material staging and the completion of the manufacturing order are controlled in EWM.
Note
There is no difference if this is a decentral or an embedded EWM.
Note
Embedded EWM in SAP S/4HANA offers special integration options for kanban and just-in-time (JIT) calls. These options are described in separate lessons.
Solution Comparison
Solution Comparison
The following table provides a comparison between the two possibilities, and their advantages and limitations:
| Delivery-Based Production Integration | Advanced Production Integration | |
|---|---|---|
| Supported Processes | Production Orders Process Orders Kanban Repetitive Manufacturing | Production orders Process orders With embedded EWM: Kanban Repetitive Manufacturing |
| Informing SAP EWM about requirements from production | You use the standard SAP ERP functionality to trigger staging. SAP ERP creates outbound deliveries and sends them to SAP EWM. Depending on the combination of storage locations in the SAP ERP control cycle, SAP EWM creates outbound delivery orders or posting changes. | You use the standard SAP ERP functionality to trigger staging. SAP ERP sends a message to SAP EWM. SAP EWM creates a PMR. |
| Quantities for Staging | The system uses the full quantity of a reservation item (pick parts) or multiple reservation items (release order parts) for staging. | The system creates a staging proposal based on the current stock on the PSA bin, the open warehouse tasks for this bin, and the current requirements for the product. You can define how much of a product is to be staged at a time, for example, you always stage a full pallet. You can also decide to stage a different quantity to the quantity proposed by the system. |
| Planning Staging | You create warehouse tasks for the outbound delivery orders and posting changes that SAP EWM has created from the SAP ERP messages. | You create the warehouse tasks directly from the Staging for Production screen. You can also schedule regular creation of warehouse tasks for staging for production using the report Schedule for Production. |
| Overview | Not available. | You can display an overview of the current stock on the production supply area bin, the open warehouse tasks for this bin, and the current requirements for the product. |
| Typical scenario | Mechanical Engineering. | Consumer products or process industry. |
SAP Note 2352810, FAQ: Using the PMR - Differences Between PMR and Deliveries, also lists some details and differences between the delivery-based and the advanced production integration.
Summary of Solution Comparison
The advantages of PMR-based production supply are as follows:
When the PMRs are created, you can work independently of SAP ERP.
You can use the warehouse management capabilities to organize the staging for production.
You can split a high quantity of a component into smaller quantities that fit into your PSA. This is useful when space in your PSA is restricted, or when production runs manufacturing orders over longer periods.
Your production users work in SAP EWM to post the goods issue of the components. However, if the same users also have to enter additional data - for example, time tickets, they have to work in both applications.
You can post goods issue for more of a material than was planned in the PMR.
PMR-based production supply performs a lean system communication by sending just goods movement messages to SAP ERP instead of creating several delivery documents. When the number of goods issues is high, the usage of system resources is much lower.
The advantages of delivery-based production supply are as follows:
You can continue to work in SAP ERP.
When you work with a typical pick parts scenario, you can put all or most parts of the bill of material together in a container before you bring it to the work center. The user at the work center enters all his or her production data and goods movements in SAP ERP.
You can transport the materials from the warehouse to the production location in a shuttle scenario.
You can use the shipping functionality.
You can use Kanban functions.