SAP SCM Planning

Not The Typical White Paper

White papers and sales literature tend to be a bit wrote and unoriginal. However, every now and then you come across one that is really good where the author has the background and ability to educate. This is the case with Steven Grant’s paper called SAP Supply Chain Execution Solutions IM, WM and EWM. Which Solution is Right for You? This is one of the best explanations for the differences between the different SAP solutions for warehousing.

Actually Ciber has a number of good white papers which we discuss at our Supply Chain Innovation blog:

http://supplychaininnovation.wordpress.com/2009/06/05/innovative-thinking-at-ciber/

The Ciber Paper

This paper brings up some interesting points, which we wanted to provide a synopsis of here. The paper compares three different SAP modules (or submodules in the case of IM), WM, EWM and IM.

Inventory Management

This is considered the lowest complexity and functionality of the options. It has the following characteristics:

• Stock managed at the storage location level (i.e. not bin)
• No placement strategies used
• Little to no RF used
• No pick path, instead only sequence picking (except by decisions made on the floor)
• No cycle counting
• No space optimization

Warehouse Management

• Stock quantities can be managed at the bin (lower than the stock location) level
• Unit management allows for pallets and cartons to be managed as individual items
• Physical inventory processes are supported
• Controlled putaway
• Different strategies for stock removal (FIFO, Expiration Date)
• RF

Extended Warehouse Management

We will not provide a synopsis of the capabilities of EWM, as they are covered in this post.

http://sapplanning.wordpress.com/2008/05/30/extended-warehouse-management/

Also, more coverage of the difference between EWM and WM is offered here.

http://sapplanning.wordpress.com/2008/08/09/ewm-versus-wm/

Reference

http://www.ciber.com/downloads/whitepapers/CIBER_SAP_SupplyChain.pdf?CFID =12837792&CFTOKEN=67924036