Suppliers, who would like to operate successfully in the future as well in a dynamic business environment driven by digital transformation, must process the logistics sequences with cus- tomers, vendors, as well internally at their own locations con-sistently and smoothly. At the same time, they must be able to adjust them quickly, flexibly and with low effort to new market and customer requirements.

SPEEDI extends the SAP standard without modificationsFor this purpose, companies deploying SAP ERP must supple-ment the application with seamlessly integrated, widely auto-mated, stable and reliable logistics processes. Special process requirements such as material planning of reusable packaging material (= returnable packaging) are not reproduced by the SAP standard. An ABAP-based, modular integration platform, such as SPEEDI made by WSW Software GmbH can be used for this purpose.

SPEEDI is release insensitive and fully integrated into SAP ERP and provides numerous configurable, reusable ABAP function blocks – monitors, reports, solutions, and forms – that supple-ment and extend the SAP standard process without modifica-tions. At this point in time, there are more than 1,400 of such individually configurable and parameterizable blocks that pro-vide “out-of-the-box” standard solutions for certain processes and can be almost freely combined.

Advantages of standardized SPEEDI solution packagesBeyond that, SPEEDI contains proven standardized solution packages that reproduce processes such as Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI), the analysis of release order behavior, or mo-nitoring and material planning of packaging material in an in-tegrated and SAP-conform manner. Depending on practicality, these packages consist of solution blocks, monitors, and forms. They are integrated into the respective SAP module using the SPEEDI Process Architect as central and powerful infrastructure. The advantages of standardized SPEEDI solution packages can be presented particularly well using the Packaging Material In-formation Cockpit (PMIC) as example:

To ensure that a supplier or system vendor can deliver his parts, components, or goods at the specified date, the proper packa-

ging material – small load carriers, pallets, auxiliary packaging material, pallet cages, or special load carriers – must be availa-ble at the proper time and in the proper quantities. A respective material planning check is more difficult, as a supplier usually does not procure packaging material by himself, but from any possible sources: from other locations, from customers, ven-dors, forwarders, or service providers that are specialized in pooling of load carriers. As packaging materials travels conti-nuously back and forth between the partners, the determinati-on of stock at the time of need is extremely complicated.

Material planning not possible in SAP for packaging materialIt cannot be determined in the SAP standard, which packaging material is required when by what partner and in what quan-tities. The returnable packaging accounts in SAP ERP merely allow the – in terms of accounting separated – creation and display of packaging material stock for each individual partner.

For this reason, packaging material is usually planned manually outside of the SAP software, which is often based on empirical values or complicated Excel calculations. Alignment is by phone, e-mail, or on demand. Data is copied manually copied back and forth between SAP and Excel. This is cumbersome, prone to er-rors, and extremely inefficient. Transparency suffers the most.

The result is excess stock or shortages that cause high costs: If too much packaging material is held, the expenditures for sto-rage and rent increase unnecessarily. Vice versa, if not enough returnable packaging is available, problems occur in production and picking, as the number of production and delivery batches must be reduced, while alternative packaging is procured un-der high time pressure and at high costs.

PMIC: finally, a clear view on packaging materialThe proven SPEEDI Packaging Material Information Cockpit (PMIC) stops this once and for all: Using the PMIC, packaging material can be planned for external partners or vendors con-sistently and without manual intermediate steps in SAP ERP – easily, quickly, reliably, and mainly efficiently as well as trans-parently. It is thus possible to determine and clearly show the current stock for every individual packaging material as well as the requirement per customer (debtor) and vendor at any time.

SPEEDI ADD-ON: EFFICIENT AND TRANSPARENT PLANNING WITH THE PMIC PACKAGING MATERIAL INFORMATION COCKPIT

Complex logistic sequences, such as material planning of reusable packaging material, can often not be reproduced adequately using the standard SAP ERP functions. A modular and flexible SAP-based add-on solution such as SPEEDI, which is fully integrated into the SAP soft-ware and extends the standard with ready-made solution packages, can help here. The SPEEDI Packaging Material Information Cockpit (PMIC) for the determination of packaging material requirements is a great example.

Author: Stephan Eckert, SAP Product Manager at WSW Software

The WSW solution package that extends the SAP standard without modifications proves its business benefits quickly: Packaging material that is required at a vendor’s within the scope of a forecast delivery schedule, a planned or production order or for provisioning, can be planned using the PMIC at the proper time and in the proper quantities. Furthermore, shorta-ges are recognized early so that suitable actions can be taken promptly during packaging material planning. This leads to smoother processes in production and during picking. The pro-curement of expensive replacements as well as excess stock are drastically reduced.

The high transparency provided by the PMIC is also beneficial for the collaboration with customers and vendors, as reliable information can be provided regarding requirements, stocks, or schedules. As time-consuming manual tasks and alignments are omitted and material planning is noticeably streamlined, professional users have also more time for their core tasks, such as packaging material monitoring, the determination of missing returnable packaging accounts, or the identification of slow-moving items.

Proactive material planning with configurable traffic lightsBeyond that, SPEEDI PMIC supports proactive material planning: Meaningful traffic light functions signal acute needs for acti-on immediately. For example, if the range of coverage or the planning date is exceeded, a packaging material requisition (purchase order, schedule line, purchase requisition) can be cre-ated immediately for a customer or returnable packaging sent to a vendor. Every document number created in this context is immediately displayed in the input screen. The respective SAP document is thus available at any time.

A great plus of these traffic light functions is that they can configured individually – this increases their flexibility and meaningfulness. A “red traffic light” can be adjusted such that it does not only light up, as soon as ranges of coverage are exceeded, but that it also indicates, when purchase orders are overdue, the safety stock is undercut, or the packaging material requirement is greater than the stock in the returnable packa-ging account.

The core of PMIC: calculation engine and monitors The central calculation engine and thee monitors form the technical core of SPEEDI PMIC. The calculation engine determi-nes the current packaging material requirements and stocks. To achieve the best possible performance, the complex calcula-tions that translate the current data from the SAP tables using the applicable material requirement settings into a packaging material requirement, are decoupled from the monitors.

The individual monitors that can be used for accessing the re-sults of the calculation engine, clearly visualize the packaging material requirement from the point of view of the customer (SD), production (PP) or the vendor (MM), as well as all relevant information. If needed, subsequent processes, such as a packa-ging material requisition can be triggered from the monitors.

The proper packaging material for every customerThe “Packaging Material Information SD” monitor (SD monitor) provides an overview of the packaging material situation per packaging material and customer (debtor). It indicates the cur-rent requirement situation for every packaging material, either

Using the SPEEDI Packaging Material Information Cockpit (PMIC) that is fully integrated into the SAP ERP application, all packaging materials as well as returnable packaging requirements needed by partners or to be provided to vendors can be determined and planned transparently and efficiently.

with respect to range of coverage, planning date, current stock, total of inward and outward movements, total requirement or requirement per customer. A weekly requirements summary provides the user with a quick overview. Clicking on the “De-tailed Requirements View” tab displays the detailed values for individual packaging materials.

The criteria for determining the packaging material require-ments are defined in the selection screen of the SD monitor – by debtor, sales document, shipping point, sales organization, or customer group. There, it can also be defined, whether di-rect (empty) or indirect (filled) incoming packaging material mo-vements should be considered in the calculation of the planning dates. Similar to that, the selection criteria for the requirements determination from the PP and MM view can be determined in the other monitors.

Knowing the requirements in production and for vendorsThe SD monitor is optimally supplemented by the “Packaging Material Information PP” monitor (PP monitor), which indicates

the requirements from the point of view of production plan-ning (PP), however without reference to debtors. This way, the required packaging material can already be provided at the planned production date of the goods. The PP monitor is also used for material planning based on the quantities and dates from the planned and production orders. Already defined advance production, a possible block production and safety stocks of finished material are considered.

The “Returnable Packaging Vendor Requirements” monitor (MM monitor) indicates, when and in what quantities return-able packaging must be delivered to the own vendors. The re-quirements are calculated based on the returnable packaging account per vendor.

Practical enhancementsRegardless of the industry of a supplier: Using SPEEDI PMIC, ma-terial planning for packaging material can be completed easily, efficiently, transparently and proactively. Similar to all solution packages offered by WSW Software, the PMIC is enhanced and improved consistently and practically based on precise require-ments. An extension is currently under way that checks auto-matically, whether a sufficient quantity is available of circulating containers that were procured for a certain project and are not used otherwise, or whether additional containers are required.

Using the PMIC as an example, it can be shown, how standard SAP processes are supplemented and extended using SPEEDI solution packages. Companies benefit in several ways: The agi-lity and flexibility of their operational sequences increase, as soon as certain process requirements can be fully integrated into the SAP standard. At the same time, the SAP ERP landsca-pe is streamlined, simplified, and optimized. The result is a solid foundation for intelligent, networked, and smart logistics pro-cesses, quite in step with the digital transformation.

The traffic light functions in the PMIC can be flexibly configured by every user according to his individual requirements. This increases their meaningfulness.

The SD monitor of the “Packaging Material Information Cockpit (PMIC)” SPEEDI solution package indicates the situation per packaging material and customer (debtor) clearly in a tree representation. Using the traffic light functions, the end user recognizes acute needs for action immediately.

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