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Monday Knowledge Snippet (MKS) – 104 Package Building from simple to complex scenarios (part IV)
Today I would like to add another dimension to our packaging scenario started with MKS101: Cartonization. So far we worked on products going directly onto a pallet, we checked this without and with package material and also used layer definitions already. Now I would like to demostrate how we can easily add a product that first goes into a carton (actually 2 different types) and those cartons go onto the same pallet type like our first two products.
So I create the new product:
I already tell the system that 12 peices make a full (stock) carton.
So here is the stock carton package material:
I use the generic unit of measure CAR, but of course depending on the variety of the carton types used I could also be more specific here using a custom unit of measure. Of course important is to mark this a closed package material.
I complete the unit of measure definitions:
My scenario includes that remaining product quantities not filling a complete stock carton go into a pick carton to consolidate together with other products.
To make the packaging work, new package type assignments are required:
For the product, I set the standard target package material (CARTON_STOCK), but also the mixed package material (CARTON_PICK). For both cartons I define that they go on the pallet. Here it is currently required to explicitly define this for each package material. It is not possible to use pattern entries and also the usage of a material hierarchy is not supported.
When I run now a very basic packaging, I see already a reasonable result:
I tested with a quantity filling a single stock carton and one remaining piece. System correctly created the cartons and also put them correctly onto the pallet.
Let’s check the full package quantity for the stock carton:
Great! Now let’s combine all of our 3 products:
This new dimension of cartonization brings a lot of new questions: How can I separate cartons from directly palletized products? How can I consider the content of a carton when determining the next level packaging?
Here is the link to the LinkedIn discussion: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6690867194017918976/
Hi Marcus!
The question is rather not about this MKS release.
Is the palletizing sequence of the cartons supported by the volume based package builder?
The question is that we need to transfer the sequence of boxes to the EWM, where the products must be strictly grouping by customers. As I know, detailed packaging does not support grouping by client, so maybe based on volume - supports Sequence?
And is there a way out where we can use detailed packaging and group by customer?
Best regards!
Hello,
no, volume based mixed package building does not determine any sequences for product / carton loading.
And also no, the PBO was not designed to do this kind of grouping. The customers who defined the requirements for the detailed mixed package building are running a different scenario when delivering to multiple customers. They have many different products, many customers in the same tour AND it can happen (for example due to traffic) that the planned location sequence can not be fixed. They build mixed pallets using towers, so any product can be reached from the top of the pallet and taken off. The driver collects in this way all items for the customer. The available layer mode supports only the product grouping.
The only business partner grouping that is available is when all items to a specific BP fill a pallet sufficiently and make it final. As soon as this is not the case, the BP is not considered any longer when defining what goes together.
Regards,
Marcus
Thank you for your detailed answer!
In this case, is it possible to set up the sequence rules somewhere?
To indicate which corner of the pallet is to be taken as a reference point?
Or indicate that the count (sequence) should first go through the rows, then fill the layer and only then go to a higher level?
You mean when using the PBO? No, not possible and not on the road map as far as I know.
Hello Marcus,
Thank you so much for such detailed PB test procedures. It helped me a lot in PB configuration and testings. I am trying to add layer configuration into our PB configs on S4B system. Since the system does not have layer Unit of Measure by standard, I defined my own layer UoM by assigning an existing ISO code "LR" which has "Layer" as its description. I also tried to create my own ISO code and assigned it to the layer UoM. However, so far neither option has given the expected results for layer to work in package building. So, I suspect that the customized layer UoM is not correctly defined. Could you please lay out some detailed steps for creating layer UoM? Thank you!
Best regards,
Tracy
So what is not working? Could you not save the Layer Unit of Measure? Could you not use it to define the layer quantity in the products? Could you not enter it in the package type assignment? Did the Package Builder not pick it up?
Hi Marcus,
Thanks for the questions. In the cases in which we place product on pallet, layer UoM was working (Shown in the /SCMB/TEST_PB messages, for example: "Item GSG_MAT_5 4.000 EA: split into 6 layers (layer quantity 4.000)"). No mixed packaging is working too in my test case. That means the layer UoM was not the issue. When I asked the question last week, I was trying to test product layer within a carton. And I see your test cases are to place cartons onto pallet, which is similar to my test case (product onto pallet).
However, so far I haven't been able to see the layer working inside of a carton. Is it because carton is closed package? Will layer work for package building within a carton? Thank you!
Best regards,
Tracy