Freight Management in multicompany environments

In multicompany environments, freight orders can be generated from originating orders created in various logistic companies. The freight orders are planned or clustered and executed in one or more designated freight planning companies. When the freight order generation process is performed, the freight orders are allocated to a freight planning company.

Actual loads and shipments are sent to the originating companies where Warehousing can execute them. The actual shipping information is then sent back to the freight planning company. In the freight planning company, the loads can be completed and closed.

Most freight master data is shared across the logistic companies within the multicompany setup. All freight planning and executing information is only available in the freight planning company, this is the company of the freight order.

The freight planning company can be any logistic company in the multicompany structure. If any information is requested for a freight order line from an originating company, LN automatically displays or returns the required information from the freight planning company of the freight order line.

Similarly, if a process in Freight requires information from or sends information to the originating company, LN automatically goes to the originating company.

Freight supports these multicompany scenarios:

  • Centralized transportation planning
    All originating orders from multiple logistic companies are planned and executed in a single central freight planning company.
  • Centralized and local transportation planning
    The majority of originating orders from multiple logistic companies are planned and executed in a central freight planning company. Other originating orders are planned and executed in the local logistic companies. The local logistic companies are freight planning companies as well in this scenario. You can setup as many central freight planning companies as required.
  • Multicompany warehouse transfers

    Goods are transferred from a warehouse in one company to a warehouse in another company. In this scenario, not more than three logistical companies can be involved:

    • The company of the from-warehouse where the originating warehouse order creates the freight order. The from-warehouse ships the goods based on the freight planning.
    • The freight planning company, which plans and executes the transport between the warehouses.
    • The company of the to-warehouse, which receives the goods and sends actual receipt information to the freight planning company.

In multicompany environments, the Freight processes work as follows:

  • Create or generate freight order

    Freight orders can be generated for orders in other LN packages. When a freight order is generated, Freight selects a shipping office based on the originating order attributes. The freight planning company defined for the shipping office determines the company in which the freight order will be created, and in which it can be planned and executed. For more information, refer to Freight order grouping.

  • Generate load plan and freight order cluster

    The load building and freight order clustering processes are performed in the freight planning company, for these processes there is no difference between multicompany and single-company environments. For more information, refer to Freight order grouping, Introducing load building, and Creating freight order line clusters.

  • Actualize load plan or freight order cluster
  • Subcontracting

    The subcontracting process is performed in the freight planning company, for this process there is no difference between multicompany and single-company environments. For more information, refer to Subcontracting.

  • Receive or confirm shipments in Warehousing

    If a warehousing order line exists for a freight order line, shipments and loads are present in the Planned Loads/Shipments (whinh4180m000) session in Warehousing. These loads and shipments are created by Freight if the freight order line has status Actual, or by Warehousing if the freight order line is not yet actual.

    If inbound or outbound shipments are confirmed in Warehousing, this information is updated via the Planned Loads/Shipments (whinh4180m000) session to the freight order clusters, loads, and shipments in the freight planning company. The loads and shipments in the freight planning company are the counterparts of the shipments and loads in the Planned Loads/Shipments (whinh4180m000) session, see Planned Loads/Shipments (whinh4180m000) for further information.

  • Close loads

    This process is performed in the freight planning company, for this process there is no difference between multicompany and single-company environments. For more information, refer to Freight order statuses and Load plan, load, and shipment statuses.

  • Calculate freight invoice amount for sales

    When the freight invoice amount is calculated on a sales order line, the freight planning company is not yet known because a freight order is not yet created for the sales order line. In this case, a shipping office must be selected during the calculation process. Selecting a shipping office is performed in the same way as during freight order generation. The calculation of the invoice amounts takes place in the freight planning company of the selected shipping office. For more information, refer to Freight cost revenue calculation at order line entry

  • Freight invoicing

    Carrier invoicing takes place in the freight planning company. Client invoicing takes place in the originating company of the freight order line when the freight order line is released to invoicing. For more information, refer to The invoicing process

  • Multicompany warehouse transfer

    For more information, refer to Multicompany warehouse transfer

  • Lead time calculations

    This process takes place in the current company. For lead times in Freight, this is the freight planning company, for lead times in other LN packages, this is the current logistic company of the user. As freight master data is shared across companies, this should not lead to different results in different logistic companies.

  • Other integrations

    For more information, refer to Integrations in multicompany environments

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