Handling units

A handling unit is a uniquely identifiable physical unit that consists of packaging and contents. A handling unit can contain items registered in Warehousing and can contain other handling units.

Structure

A handling unit has a structure of packing materials and items. A handling-unit structure can vary from a simple box that contains a particular number of items, to a more complex structure such as a pallet with a number of boxes, which in turn can contain smaller boxes that contain a number of items. A handling unit structure can consist of various handling units related in a parent-child fashion. You can manually create a handling unit structure for a given number of items, or you can define a package definition in which you set up a template that determines the handling unit structure for particular types of items. For further information, see Package definitions and Handling unit structures.

The use of handling units

A handling unit is a single entity that is used to process goods in the warehouse. As a result, you can use a handling unit to receive, store, and issue goods.

To use a handling unit for warehouse processing, you must link the handling unit to the entity that represents the applicable warehouse movement:

• Inbound or outbound warehousing order line
• Receipt header or receipt line
• Inspection line
• Inbound or outbound advice line
• Shipment header or shipment line

By linking handling units to warehousing order lines, receipt lines, and so on, the handling units will represent both administrative information, as well as physical information about the contents. For more information, refer to Inbound procedures and handling units and Outbound and shipment procedures for handling units.

To link a handling unit to any of these types of headers or lines, generate a handling unit for this line. For example, if you generate a handling unit for a shipment line, you establish the link between the handling unit and the shipment line. For further information, see To maintain handling units.

Because users must be able to control item movements with as few keystrokes as possible, automatic identification of handling units is possible. For this purpose, you can attach a label to a handling unit. Defining handling unit structures and scanning labels enables you to have a highly automated execution of warehousing activities at receiving and shipping.

You can use both warehouse processing based on handling units and warehouse processing based on order lines.

Status

A handling unit status reflects the progress of a handling unit in the inbound, storage, or outbound flow of the warehouse. Handling units are often included in handling-unit structures in which the handling units are related in a parent - child fashion. The status of a handling unit is determined in this way:

• If a handling unit node has no children, the status of this handling unit is determined by the progress of the handling unit in the warehousing process.
• If the handling unit has children, the status of the child handling unit with the earliest status determines the status of the top level handling unit. For further information, see Inbound procedures and handling units, Outbound procedures for handling units, and The shipment procedure for handling units.