Using shop floor warehouses

A work center can have a unique warehouse for short-term storage of the materials that are used in the work center. This type of warehouse is called a shop floor warehouse. No difference applies between the process to issue materials from a standard warehouse or from a shop floor warehouse.

If you use shop floor warehouses, the following procedure applies:

Material allocation

All materials are allocated in the warehouses specified in the bill of material (BOM), reflected in the Estimated Materials (ticst0101m000) session. If you define a shop floor warehouse for the operation's work center, the allocation of the material shifts from the warehouse defined in the BOM to the shop floor warehouse. The allocated material shifts to the shop floor warehouse during generation or release of the order, depending on the setting in the Move Allocation to Shop Floor Warehouse parameter in the Shop Floor Control Parameters (tisfc0100s000) session.

Issue of materials

When production starts, the materials for an operation that is performed in a work center to which a shop floor warehouse is linked are issued from this shop floor warehouse. You can perform this process manually or by means of backflushing, depending on the parameter setting.

Replenishment of shop floor warehouses

Shop floor warehouses can be replenished from the warehouse specified in the Estimated Materials (ticst0101m000) session. By default, this warehouse is the warehouse specified for the material in the Bill of Material (tibom1110m000) session (the BOM warehouse).

The way in which a shop floor warehouse is replenished depends on whether a push system or a pull system is used:

Transfer orders

If the supply system of a shop floor warehouse is Order Controlled/Single, transfer orders are generated during production order release. For material that is shipped from the central warehouse to the shop floor warehouse, a transfer order is generated for every applicable material cost line. Every transfer order consists of two parts: an Issue (outbound) line and a Receipt (inbound) line.

If changes occur in material requirements during production, these changes are reflected in the transfer order. For example:

  • If the material quantity has changed, the quantity on the transfer order is updated.
  • If a new material is used, a new material line is added to the transfer order.
  • If a material is partly or completely canceled, the warehouse transfer can be partly or completely canceled if shipment is not executed yet. If the material is already shipped to the shop floor, you must return the material. A return transfer order is created to ship back the material to the central warehouse.
  • If there is a shortage during the picking process, the remaining quantity is added as a new sequence line on the transfer order. Also if a shipping variance occurs, which means that more material is shipped then received in the shop floor warehouse, a new sequence line is added.
  • If a specific revision, a lot, or a effectivity unit of a material is modified, this is mentioned on the transfer order so that the correct revision, lot, or effectivity unit is picked.

Use the Production Warehouse Orders (timfc0101m000) session to view transfer orders in relation to SFC orders.

You can modify a transfer order manually by adjusting the properties on the Issue line. The transfer Receipt line is then automatically changed. In the Inventory Handling Parameters (whinh0100m000) session, you can use the Correct Outbound Quantity for SFC upto and including fields and the Correct Outbound Dates for SFC upto and including fields to indicate until when you can still modify a transfer order.

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