Purpose

Storage unit (SU) management in Warehouse Management (WM) enables you to optimize warehouse capacity and control material flow by utilizing storage units within the warehouse.

A storage unit is a logical grouping of one or several amounts of material such as a pallet or a container that can be managed within a warehouse as a unit that belongs together. Storage units can be either homogeneous (containing one material item only) or mixed (containing two or more material items).

All storage units, whether the materials are stored on standard pallets, wire baskets or other containers, are assigned an identifier — a number — which is maintained in the system as the storage unit number. Therefore, it is possible at any given time to know where each storage unit is located in the warehouse complex, the amount of material contained in it, and which operations have been processed or planned for it.

When SU management is not active in a storage type, all stock is managed as separate quants at the storage bin level. With SU management, stock is managed at the pallet or storage unit level. A storage bin can have one or more storage units. Similarly, each storage unit can consist of one or more quants.

Storage unit management is generally activated in the warehouse for the following reasons:

• Movement of mixed pallets (with more than one material) as a single unit within the warehouse
• Identification and management of materials using storage unit numbers assigned internally or externally
• WM can communicate with fork lift control systems via an interface without having to maintain material data in the external system.

Before using storage unit management, you must first set up the default values for your warehouse. This initial configuration is accomplished using the customizing function.

For information on how to configure WM for Storage Unit Management, see the Implementation Guide (IMG) for Warehouse Management.

In addition to the capabilities already available in WM, the activation of storage unit management in your system enables you to access several functions that are specifically designed for working with storage units.

Using SU management, you can

• Create homogeneous and mixed storage units
• Place materials into storage using an identification (ID) point
• Create transfer orders and confirm stock movements for storage units
• Transfer whole storage units internally
• Add stock to existing storage units
• Display the contents of storage units
• Print documents to accompany storage units
• Plan goods issues, for example, to stage materials in replenishment storage bins in production

All storage unit management functions are fully integrated with WM.