Understanding Transportation Unit in SAP EWM

 

Every Distribution Center follows Shipping & Receiving functions based on their core business processes. In general, A Truck will arrival/departure at checkpoint with planned yard movements and then the truck units will unload/load with goods movements (Goods receipt and Goods issue). All these functions can be processed from Transportation Unit in SAP EWM. This blog post will explain the important functions of SAP transportation Unit.

SAP Transportation Unit is very important in Shipping &Receiving function. SAP SAP Transportation Unit (TU) will allow you to process many complex functions in a single transaction code. A SAP transportation unit is a smallest loadable unit of a vehicle that is used to transport goods. The TU can be a fixed part of the vehicle. 

Receiving hundreds of handling units/deliveries at one time from a TU is possible.
Posting goods issue of hundreds of Handling units/deliveries at one time from TU.
Set up Bill of Lading outputs from TU with with different status points with PPF-post processing frame work.
The easiest way to GR/GI large volume of delivery items is possible through transportation Unit.

You map transportation units as handling units (HUs) and assign packaging materials to them. By linking these packaging materials to means of transport and you also define the direction activity either Inbound or Outbound TU.

Prerequisites to Create a SAP Transportation Unit (TU)

Process Transportation Unit (/SCWM/TU) Create a means of transport. Below you can see configuration points and master data required to create a TU.

Define number ranges for vehicles, TUs, and shipping and receiving activities.

Customizing under   SCM Extended Warehouse Management  > Extended Warehouse Management  > Cross-Process Settings  Shipping and Receiving  Number Ranges.

Define whether the means of transport is relevant to shipping and receiving (assignment as TU, vehicle, or both) and define additional parameters, for example, number ranges and action profile.

For more information, see Define Control Parameters for Forming Vehicles/Transportation Units in Customizing under   SCM Extended Warehouse Management > Extended Warehouse Management > Cross-Process Settings  > Shipping and Receiving  > General Settings  Define Control Parameters for Forming Vehicles/Transportation Units

Define a packaging material type with the packaging material category A (Means of Transport, Transport Element, Transport Unit).

For more information, see Define Packaging Material Types in Customizing under   SCM Extended Warehouse Management > Extended Warehouse Management  >Goods Receipt Process  Slotting  Influencing Parameters >  Packaging Material Determination  >Define Packaging Material Types  .

Create a packaging material with the packaging material type defined previously.

To do so, on the SAP Easy Access screen, choose   Extended Warehouse Management> Master Data   Product Maintain Product.

Link the packaging material to the means of transport.

To do so, on the SAP Easy Access screen, choose   Extended Warehouse Management > Settings Shipping and Receiving Link Between Packaging Material (TU) and Means of Transport  .

 

TU Process

Load & Unload: You use this process to load and unload your SAP vehicles and SAP transportation unit (TUs). For simple loading and unloading processes, you load or unload your deliveries (outbound delivery orders or inbound deliveries) or handling units and thereby automatically trigger a status change.

For complex loading and unloading processes, you create warehouse tasks (WTs) and move the handling units into or out of the warehouse. For example, during unloading you bring the goods from the door (source storage bin) to the staging area or to a deconsolidation area or inspection area (destination storage bin).

You can post a goods receipt or a goods issue at different times during the loading and unloading process. For example, you can post goods issue without loading, or you can post goods issue after loading. The above TU transaction screen shows the Actions like Load,Unload,Block,Unblock,Door,Checkpoint and Goods movement.

You can post stock receipts and stock issues that result from goods receipts and goods issues and stock is with TU.

The above SAP TU transaction screen shows the Actions like Assigning deliveries/HU’s/ASN’s to a TU and Arrival/Departure &Yard movements for the TU can be performed. The below TU status screen contains all the Status types with status display

 

 

Printer and Form Determination in Shipping and Receiving

/SCWM/SR_PRINT – Set Up Printer and Form Determination

 

You can use printer and form determination to control which printer is used and which type of form is to be printed.

Printer determination :You can use criteria to define which printer is to be used. If you do not define any criteria, the printer that you have specified in the user profile in your system is used automatically. Printer determination is the same for transportation units (TUs) and vehicles.

Form determination : For automatic printing, you can use criteria to specify which form, in other words, which Smart Form, is to be printed.

Example :You can print freight lists on a carrier-specific basis. A separate form determination is available for TUs and vehicles.

 

Example: By default, form determination via the Post Processing Framework (PPF) is used.

Activities: To configure printer and form determination, on the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Extended Warehouse Management ® Settings ® Shipping and Receiving  ® Configure Printer and Form Determination.

see below mandatory fields that required to create a TU from n/scwm/tu

now see below important configurations for the above TU mandatory fields

Define Packaging Material Types

This task allows you to define the packaging material types for transportation. In this IMG activity, you define the packaging material types that will be matched with the Means of Transport values defined. The packaging material type needs to be defined in the R/3 system and in EWM. Packaging material types are set up for each type of truck or trailer that will be tracked separately in the system and, for consistency, the entries in EWM should match the entries in R/3.
SPRO>EWM>Cross-Process Settings>Handling Units>Basics>Define Packaging Material Types

Maintain Means of Transport

This task allows you to create and set values for a Means of Transport. A Means of Transport contains values for dimensions, volume, and weight related to TUs. Also, it contains values used for transportation planning. A different Means of Transport should be created for each different type of TU that will enter the Yard.
SPRO>Advanced Planning and Optimization> Master Data>Transportation Lane>Maintain Means of Transport

Packaging Material Master Data Records

The EWM product master data record for the packaging material should contain the same packaging material type and HU Type as in ERP. Changes made in ERP will be automatically communicated to EWM, however changes in EWM are not communicated to ERP. For this reason, all maintenance of the packaging material for these fields should occur in ERP.
Create a Link Between Packaging Material and Means of Transport

This task allows you to assign which Packaging Material will be used with a specific Means of Transport.
/SCWM/PM_MTR
SAP Easy Access>EWM>Settings>Shipping and Receiving>Link Between Packaging Material (TU) and Means of Transport

 Transaction Codes:

Maintain Vehicle (/SCWM/VEH)

Maintain Transportation Unit (/SCWM/TU)

Arrival at/Departure from Checkpoint (/SCWM/CICO)

GI LOADtransaction (/SCWM/LOAD)

GR Unload transaction (/SCWM/UNLOAD).

Define Packaging Material Types

This task allows you to define the packaging material types for transportation. In this IMG activity, you define the packaging material types that will be matched with the Means of Transport values defined in section 3.6 below.
The packaging material type needs to be defined in the R/3 system and in EWM. Packaging material types are set up for each type of truck or trailer that will be tracked separately in the system and, for consistency, the entries in EWM should match the entries in R/3.
SPRO  EWM  Cross-Process Settings  Handling Units  Basics  Define Packaging Material Types

Tables:

/SCWM/TU_DLV              Assignment of Deliveries and HUs to Transportation Units

/SCWM/TU_STATUS      Status of Transportation Unit Activities

/SCWM/TUNIT                TU &other GUID’s

PPFTSFPRT2     PPF triggered printer related details.