Executing an Inspection at the End of Production

Instead of monitoring the quality of manufactured goods during production, the quality technician now wants to conduct an inspection at goods receipt, after production.

Review the process in the example that is illustrated in the following figure.

1. If an inspection type for a goods receipt from production inspection is active in the respective material master, the system automatically creates an inspection lot. The inspection lot contains information about the production order, the material document, the material (and batch if applicable), the goods receipt quantity, and so on.

2. To ensure that materials, which are currently inspected, cannot be used in subsequent processes (for example, production), you usually post the goods receipt to inspection stock.

3. The quality technician executes a quality inspection.

4. Then the quality engineer executes a usage decision (UD).

Some customers prefer to record inspection results for the goods receipt inspection lot already during production. However, in the scenario shown previously, the inspection lot is only created when the production order's the goods receipt is posted. This occurs typically at the end of the production process. However, this timing is often too late to capture results obtained earlier in production, such as before packaging or closing the case. The following figure shows an alternative approach.

SAP S/4HANA offers the option to create the goods receipt inspection lot that would normally be created when the warehouse clerk posts the goods receipt (A) already when the production engineer releases the production order (B). This allows the recording of inspection results during production. When the goods are received, the inspection lot becomes stock-relevant and can be used for stock management.

It's important to note that early lot creation has both advantages and disadvantages. Some advantages include the creation of the inspection lot upon order release, an independent inspection plan, and the ability to start inspection at an early stage. However, there are also drawbacks, such as having only one inspection lot for each order and the early goods receipt inspection lot number not being displayed in the production order.