SAP Extended Warehouse Management

Today’s complex supply chain realities continue to make it more important than ever for executives and managers to feel confident in their decisions regarding IT investments. Understanding the many options for selecting and optimizing a Warehouse Management System (WMS) is critical for meeting both present and future business requirements.

For companies that utilize SAP S/4HANA or ECC 6.0 with Extended Warehouse Management (EWM), BCC Distribution has robust, mobile RF barcode scanning, enterprise label printing, and RFID data collections solutions for Basic EWM or Advanced to meet the demands of nearly any business application that needs real-time inventory control, accuracy, and exceptional traceability.

Barcode Automation for SAP EWM

BCC Distribution has designed, automated, and optimized mobile SAP EWM software transactions and movement types via our TranASAP solution. TranASAP is purpose-built for software UI simplicity and with the latest rugged Radio Frequency (or RF scanning) devices using enterprise-grade Android operating systems. BCC Distribution’s optimized and native SAP RF transactions work in conjunction with existing EWM software functionality. TranASAP’s optimized software transactions utilize SAP and inventory best practice standards to create intuitive screens for the material handlers, with the backend logic to automate time consuming functions and tasks.

BCC Distribution’s TranASAP software and EWM RF transactions have been designed for agnostic device utilization through web-browser connectivity. Our mobile SAP barcoding solutions are certified for use with industry leading brands such as Zebra and Honeywell RF scanners. Thoughtful solution design minimizes on-screen words, fields, and use of a virtual or physical keypad on the device to make the system extremely easy to use for the material handler. BCC Distribution’s methodology is to utilize the concept of real-time data validation. Within every RF scanning transaction, TranASAP validates every scan against SAP data, in real-time, to validate that the correct item, quantity, and location is being used. Inherit SAP EWM warehouse complexity is minimized for the material handler, identifying errors immediately to ensure good data in and synchronized accurately within the SAP ERP software system.

SAP EWM Supply Chain Automation Considerations

Utilization of EWM, compared to standard SAP Warehouse Management, necessitates a thorough analysis of your operational as-is and future business considerations. Through BCC Distribution’s experience, and SAP recommendations, highlighted below are just a couple examples business process attributes that must be measured and understood.  Automation and advanced EWM technology require the ability to manage RF equipment, autonomous RFID automation, barcode printing equipment, and other advanced material-handling technologies in real-time and as modern warehouse resources.

When it comes to enabling speech-driven applications and voice communications in warehouses, manufacturing plants, and outdoor yards, you need a voice solution that is specially designed for the job. Bluetooth and corded headsets are loaded with features that offer everything you need in an industrial headset. Combined with BCC Distribution’s voice-enabled barcoding solutions, you can boost worker productivity with fewer errors than typical barcode scanning alone. Pairing Zebra’s wearable computer with a barcode ring scanner, headset, and our SAP-integrated voice data collection software gives your workers the hands-free mobility they need to boost productivity to a new level.

For manufacturing and warehouse environments, real-time inventory visibility and material movements matter. BCC Distribution’s advanced RFID data collection solutions give your business the visibility and real-time data you need to keep track of assets and inventory with minimized user interaction. You get greater visibility and true interoperability, all in a hybrid barcoding and RFID system that scales alongside your business and SAP environment. With a comprehensive, end-to-end RFID solution that delivers real-time insights, our solutions increase productivity from the plant floor to the finished product for:

  • Materials Management
  • Item-Level Inventory Visibility
  • Work In Process (WIP)
  • Vehicle and Yard Management
  • Asset Utilization, Tracking and Basic Metrics
  • Shipment Validation
  • Supply Chain Tracking / Management
  • DSD or Field Service
  • Fulfillment and Replenishment
  • Tools and Toolkit Tracking

 

Labor Complexity and Material Volumes

Smaller warehouse facilities can be operated by a few skilled and knowledgeable employees. Larger operations can require the efforts of dozens or hundreds of individuals, potentially with high turnover or seasonal worker fluctuation. With higher numbers of workers, it’s even more important to minimize training and have an easy-to-use barcoding system to maximize the operator’s ability to perform warehouse tasks. In order to maximize employee productivity, real-time execution of SAP EWM transactions must be performed using a mobile RF scanner directly at the point of execution, to validate accuracy and dynamically adjust the flow of the operation according to warehousing or production conditions.

The number of receipts, putaways, picks, transfers, and counts being performed within a warehouse must be measured in terms of order lines per day or units per day. Seasonality and other conditions cause volumes of orders and personnel to increase and decrease supply chain operations throughout the year. Additionally, the number of stock-keeping units (SKUs) is also a relevant indicator of volume and must be accurate to ensure inventory levels are optimized for both internal cost control and customer fulfillment.

Facilities, Scalability and Warehouse Complexity

The emphasis on pick-and-pack activity is typically much higher at distribution center facilities than at manufacturing sites, for example, while manufacturing sites require support for the staging of materials to production areas and in the finished goods warehouse. The supply chain network may also include one or more third-party logistics providers (3PL’s). The number and type of facilities will give you a sense of the overall complexity of your supply chain and provides a starting point for implementing a barcode scanning solution that (1) optimizes EWM as it is today, (2) is scalable to meet future changes and deployments, (3) is built on an architecture that supports EWM for one location and IM or WM for another, and (4) minimizes total cost of ownership (TCO) regarding necessary resources, maintenance, investment, and SAP long-term support.

Barcode Automation for Basic or Advanced EWM Applications.

Common Applications of TranASAP for SAP EWM

BCC Distribution’s TranASAP RF scanning and QuickPrint barcode label printing solutions for SAP software are built for nearly any industry applications and doesn’t require complex customization. The preconfigured baseline applications of our TranASAP solution have been enhanced, through real-world experiences and scenarios, to simplify warehouse logistics, tasks, and supply chain management. Common applications of TranASAP mobile SAP RF barcode scanning for the SAP EWM module, and for IM/WM, include but are not limited to:

  • Goods Receipt against a Purchase Order, STO, Delivery, or Reservation
  • User Directed or Guided Putaway of Inventory
  • One-Step or Two-Step Transfer Order (TR/TO) Putaways
  • Material Staging for Blocked Stock, Restricted, or Unrestricted
  • Initiate and Move Inventory IN/OUT of Quarantine or Quality Inspection
  • SAP-Integrated Material Label Printing for Receipts and Quality
  • Moving Inventory from Bin to Bin
  • Picking for and Performing Replenishments with or without SUM
  • Create, Confirm and Display Transfer Orders
  • KANBAN Processes
  • Goods Issue to an Order, Cost Center, Reservation, or Project
  • Goods Receipt from an Order, Cost Center or a Project (Reversals)
  • Back Flushing and Post Goods Issue (PGI)
  • Integrated Barcode Label Printing for Pick and Packing
  • Picking for Delivery with Automated Parts Move to Central Pick Location
  • Picking Utilizing Handling Unit Management (HU’s / License Plate Numbers)
  • Directed and User Guided Picking
  • TR’s and TO Confirmation
  • Handling Unit and Storage Unit Creation, Processing, Tracking and Display
  • Cross Docking for Hot Parts
  • Plant to Plant Transfers and Movements
  • Outside Vendor Tracking
  • Cycle Counting – Blind Count, Dynamic Count and Ad Hoc Count
  • Physical Inventory Counting
  • Inventory Inquiry (by Material and/or Location)
  • Inventory Take-Ons
  • Delivery Picking with Label Print, Staging and Load Confirmation
  • And much more!

Future Proofing Warehouse Management with SAP

Warehouse operations are difficult to manage, and future business ventures are near impossible– unless you use the right technology to do it for you. Both SAP WM and SAP EWM are powerful tools to help your company future-proof its warehouse operations. These features include cloud-based data accessibility and warehouse data analytics and logistics. 

Projecting Business Scale

Projecting business scale is critical in determining which SAP-enabled warehouse management type your company would benefit from the most. If your warehouse and operations are small- to medium-sized, either standard SAP Inventory Management (IM) or Warehouse Management (WM) would benefit your business the most. However, if your company is looking to expand and require advanced WMS capabilities, implementing SAP EWM can reduce WMS downtime when your company upgrades its operations and scale. In fact, the unique features of SAP EWM can help your business scale up even faster. And of course, if your company is large and has complex warehouse operations, we at BCCD recommend SAP EWM to facilitate these complexities and scale. Choosing the right SAP software solution for your current and future business needs is an effective way to future-proof warehouse management and operations.

Warehouse Data Analytics and Logistics

Both SAP WM and SAP EWM provide valuable warehouse data analytics and logistics for teams to review. However, information from SAP EWM is more comprehensive and requires a different SAP business system architecture. Teams can use EWM metrics and analytics to further optimize warehouse management and operations. This is exceptionally important when planning for the future. Over time, teams can observe how efficiency and productivity improve with SAP systems because these systems are designed to improve operations. Regularly reviewing SAP warehouse data analytics and logistics future-proofs any warehouses and allows companies to meet higher demand and volume, while staying in line with SAP’s long-term software roadmap. At BCC Distribution, we offer ended-to-end SAP barcode automation solutions that directly impact your company’s ability to maintain productivity efficiently and succeed far into the future using SAP ERP software. 

SAP Extended Warehouse Management with BCC Distribution

At BCC Distribution, we’re proud to offer mobility, barcode automation, and RFID solutions for SAP EWM Basic and Advanced business applications. We provide state-of-the-art data collection solutions for manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution so that your inventory operations can run as smoothly as possible. Contact us so we can start designing your SAP extended warehouse management barcoding solution today.