Shipment Package

Abstract

Packages can be grouped within a shipment going to different customers but first passing through a common distribution center, drop box, or other place of unloading and reloading of goods. Shipment packages can also be used to group distribution order packages on shipments.

Packages are grouped per delivery to the same customer or warehouse. Packages can in turn be included in shipment packages that are grouped per shipment going on the same route.

Before you start

Using shipment packages is optional and is not parameter controlled. The only requirements are that transportation management (with shipments) is used, advanced packing is used, and that the intended content of the shipment package have the same (not blank) ship-via address.

Overview

Shipment packages make use of the ship-via functionality. Ship-via is an additional address on the delivery which the goods pass though on the way to the final address. Each delivery can have one ship-via address.

The packages from all deliveries on a shipment going through the same ship-via address are eligible for having its packages included in the same shipment package. There can be any number of shipment packages per ship-via address (including none) and any number of shipment packages per shipment (including none). Shipment packages are logically used to group packages for multiple customers going through the same physical ship-via address. Shipment packages can also be used to group packages for one customer or warehouse as well.

Shipment packages are intended to be used in the last parts of the outbound process for customer and distribution orders.

Picking and packing into customer packages are performed as usual. After normal packing has been reported, the packages can be included in shipment packages based on ship-via destination. The shipment packages start out unassigned, and are assigned a ship-via address when the first package is added into it. When assigned a ship-via address, packages bound for other ship-via locations cannot be included in the shipment package.

The shipment package can be moved to different locations in the warehouse such as pack and dock locations using options. When moved, the status of the shipment package and its contents is updated.

The shipment package has no limit on weight, volume, or number of included packages. To prevent further packages from being added to an existing shipment package, the shipment package can be closed.

When the goods on the shipment are about to be issued from stock, they can be issued on shipment package level, or any other level. For example, pick line, pick list, delivery, package, or shipment.

Shipment package documents

There are four documents related to shipment packages and these can be printed at any time:

Shipment package label - contains header information, including number and ship-via address.
Shipment package note - contains information about the included packages, and the respective customers, and customer orders. It is intended to be included in the shipment package to provide information about which packages are included, and for which customer they are included.
Loading list.
Unloading list.

Maintaining shipment packages

Use of shipment packages is strictly limited to outbound customer order and distribution order processing only.

'Shipment Package. Open' (DRS150) is the maintenance program for shipment packages, and the corresponding functionality is available in API DRS150MI.LstShipmentPck and API DRS150MI.GetShipmentPck.

(DRS150) allows you to create sorting orders and views, and comes with two standard sorting orders and two connected views. The first sort order displays all shipment packages sorted alphabetically. The second one displays all shipment packages filtered by shipment number.

Details of included packages

'Shipment Package. Display Detail' (DRS151) displays the packages included in the shipment packages. You can access this via related option 11 in (DRS150). The corresponding functionality is available in API DRS151MI. LstPckInShpPck.

The field 'Location' displays a location if all of the package content is in the same location, otherwise an asterisk '*' is displayed. If all the packages in (DRS151) included in the shipment package have the same location, that location is displayed in (DRS150), otherwise an asterisk is displayed.

Create shipment package

Shipment packages are created in (DRS150) using standard option 1. A shipment number and packaging are required. A shipment package number can be entered or left blank to be generated by the package numbering rule connected to the packaging type in 'Packaging Type. Open' (DRS080) through 'Packaging. Open' (MMS050).

The corresponding functionality is available in API DRS150MI.AddShipmentPck.

Delete shipment package

Shipment packages can be deleted in (DRS150) using standard option 4. Only empty shipment packages can be deleted.

The corresponding functionality is available in API DRS150MI.DelShipmentPck.

Move shipment package and content

A shipment package and its content can be moved to different locations in the warehouse using the related options 'Move to' (options 17-19) and 'Load/Unload' (options 34-35). These related options also affect the picking status for the included packages and lines. That is, 'Move to Packing Location' will move included packages and lines to the provided location, and update the picking status (PISS) to 50 = 'All lines reported as moved to pack location' on lines and packages.

The move operations available are:

Move to Packing location = 50, related option 17
Move to Docking location = 60, related option 18
Move to Standard location = 40, related option 19
Load onto Shipment = 65, related option 34
Unload from Shipment = 60, related option 35.

The updated status can be seen on packages in 'Delivery. Connect Packages' (MWS423) and on pick list lines in 'Picking List. Report Lines' (MWS422). The use of option 34 and 35 requires that 'Load building' is activated on the shipment.

The corresponding functionality is available in API DRS150MI.ReportShpPck.

Add packages to the shipment package

A package can be added to a shipment package by using related option 61 in (MWS423). Using the shipment package sort order 4, and entering the shipment number in the header, all packages and shipment packages on the shipment are shown.

Normal packages are populated in the 'Package number' field, and shipment packages are distinguished by having the number populated in the 'Package structure' field. The 'Shipment package number' field is populated for packages included in a shipment package.

Note: Only packages on the highest level can be included in a shipment package directly. That is, not included in another package; package level = 0. Packages in a structure are also implicitly included in a shipment package when the top package is included in a shipment package.

To add a package in a shipment package, go to the relevant package, specify the shipment package number you want to include it in, and select option 61.

The corresponding functionality is available in API MWS423MI.AddToShipmentPack.

Remove packages from the shipment package

Packages included in a shipment package can be detached or unpacked in two ways:

To unpack all packages from the shipment package, select related option 26 'Unpack' in (DRS150).
To remove a specific package from the shipment package, use related option 62 'Remove from shipment package' in (MWS423).

When unpack or remove is selected, the packages are disconnected and lose their reference to the shipment package.

The corresponding functionality is available in API MWS423MI.RemFromShipmentPack.

Close and open a shipment package

As long as a shipment package is open, more packages can be added to it. A shipment package can be closed from further addition by using related option 31 'Close shipment package'. A package can be reopened by selecting related option 30 'Open shipment package'.

Additional API operation

Another option is available using an API transaction which is not available as an interactive program.

When the cross-dock for a package is about to be confirmed the user can enter a 'To shipment package' in the transaction MHS850MI.AddPutAwayPack. When a value is entered the system will directly try to include that package in the shipment package. A set of checks are made to ensure that the package can be included in the shipment package and if the checks are passed, the pick list for that exact package will be released and processed and the package will be included in the shipment package. This option is available to give a one-touch process for handling packages at cross-dock receipt and included them in the outbound shipment package.

Archiving

Shipment packages are archived automatically when the connected shipment is archived through 'Delivery. Archive/Delete' (MWS820).

Route and ship-via setup

This section describes some hints and tips to simplify the route and ship-via address setup in combination with shipment package utilization.

The ship-via address is mainly for information, but since the shipment packages function relies on ship-via address, it is important to automate the setting of ship-via addresses on deliveries as much as possible. The ship-via address can be maintained and updated on 'Delivery. Open Toolbox' (MWS410) but setting it manually for each delivery is not efficient. Automatic Retrieval of the ship-via address for new deliveries should be set on 'Dispatch Policy. Open' (MWS010).

The ship-via address can be retrieved automatically from the customer/customer order address, the route, or the generic object control table 'Available Object Ctrl Parameters. Open' (CMS016). The generic object control table gives the most flexibility on how the ship-via address should be retrieved. For example, the dispatch policy, delivery terms, delivery method, or a combination, can be used as selection rules.

Note: We recommend that the final address is entered as the customer order address and not the ship-via address. By entering the final address as the customer address it gives the ability at the unload/reload location to separate the goods by customer and customer address. This functionality is especially important where the final customer has many addresses that are serviced by the same ship-via address. The final address is also printed on the shipment.

In a situation where a distribution center is the ship-via address, you might want to give information to the final customer when the goods will arrive at the distribution center, or when they will be delivered to the final address. To better provide an overview of the delivery, it is advised to also enter the ship-via addresses as dummy unloading places in 'Route. Connect Unloading Places' (DRS021).

If many unloading places are connected to the same ship-via address, we recommend having the route retrieval set up by generic object control. If only one or a few unloading places are connected to a ship-via address, you can use retrieval per route and enter the ship-via address per unloading place.

Note: This setup may require a lot of changes (one per unloading place) if the ship-via address is updated. If the generic object control table is used instead, the changes are likely to be very few when a ship-via address is updated.