FS 291257 SCR-290107-4 RF Receipt and Putaway Depalletise
Nightfreight Pacemaker
RF Receipt and Putaway Depalletise
CALIDUS 3PL
18th August 2011 - 1.0
Reference: FS 291257 SCR-290107-4
Contents
Functional Overview
Client Requirement
Almost all locations in the warehouse are marked as non-palletised. As the RF putaway process is predominantly for palletised stock, the CALIDUS WMS RF Receipt and Putaway processes must be checked that they will correctly de-palletise the stock when located in these locations.
Solution Overview
RF Receipt Process
The operation will ensure that all products are together (if in multiple pieces) and inspected before they are received on the RF gun.
The user will enter the Goods Receipt module from the main RF menu.
The user will be prompted to Scan or Enter the GRN or ASN. The RF unit is configurable in which item it will request, and the user can switch which item is used using the F5 function key.
Once entered, the user will be prompted to scan or enter the unique pallet ID. This will be through scanning the SSCC-ID on the new delivery labels.
The user will then be prompted to scan or enter the product. This will be through the scanning of the SKU barcode on the new delivery labels.
The RF unit will be configured to not allow re-receipt of any already-received SSCC-IDs on this receipt, will not allow over-receipt of any advised product and will not allow receipt of any unadvised product.
The RF unit will then display the entered information and request more details.
For MTO products, the user will be prompted to scan or enter the batch. Note that Stocked products will not request this entry. The entry of Batch is controlled by the Lot_Traceability flag against the product in Calidus WMS being set to 'None' for Stocked products and 'Cust Batch Only' against the MTO products.
The user will then be prompted for Quantity and Pallet Type - for this operation, the users will enter 1 in the quantity field and enter over the Pallet Type field.
Once all required details have been entered, the RF unit will display the details of the pallet to be received and request the user to confirm. The user can press F2 to amend the data entered, or F1 to confirm the pallet as received.
At this point, the details of the pallet received will be sent back to Calidus WMS, where the pallet will be marked as received. All normal audit trail records are maintained. The process will suggest a putaway location for the pallet, which will be a default floor location.
Note: It is possible to automatically suggest locations directly for some products (i.e. loose wood). This may also be set up for the Stocked products, as they will all be located in the same location (the mezzanine).
Once the message is sent, the RF unit will display that the receipt of this pallet has been completed, and request the user as to whether they wish to continue receiving pallets against this GRN. If there are more products, the user will continue to receive until all are completed.
Note: More than one user may receive against a GRN at a time.
If all the products on the preadvice are received as expected, the Calidus WMS process will automatically confirm the GRN as Received. If there is a discrepancy (i.e. products not received) the GRN will not be automatically confirmed.
Once the receipt is completed, the operator will check the GRN within Calidus WMS for completion. They will use the information on this screen to sign the delivery notes only for the items that have been received.
The user will check each delivery note against the Calidus WMS Goods Receipt Confirmation screen. In order to achieve this, the operation will position a WMS terminal in or near the gods in bay. The screen will show a line for each product and batch, showing the amount expected and the amount received through the RF system.
If the amounts match, the user will sign that delivery note and move to the next.
If the amount received is less than the amount on the delivery note, the user will amend the delivery note to show that less than preadvised was received.
If none of the stock was received, the user will not sign the delivery note for that product.
The user will then close down the receipt by using this screen to Receipt Confirm the GRN.
Note: The GRMK (Goods Receipt Confirmation) EDI is sent for MTO receipts at the point of receipt confirmation.
The GRMK EDI for stocked items is delayed until when a product has been picked. The reason for this is that a message to the client must always include a Buyer's Ref. A Buyers ref is received on the Order EDI regardless of whether it is for a stocked or MTO product, so when the product is picked the system then knows what the buyer's ref is and therefore can add it to the EDI.
It was noted that there may be potential to receive stock through a reduced number of barcode scans, by combining the scans of the delivery labels' UCC/EAN barcodes and extracting all the information as possible in one process. This functionality is being produced within the product at this time, but is not yet available. Once this is available, the process will be checked by the operation to see if it is suitable without modification.
RF Putaway Process
The user will enter the Putaway module from the RF main menu.
The user will be prompted to go to the receiving area and scan or enter the pallet ID. This will be scanned from the Delivery label SSCC-ID barcode. If there is no putaway for this product, then the RDT will display this.
The RF unit will direct the user to take to pallet to a default putaway location. The user can confirm the stock into this location or choose to reposition the product in a different location, using the F4 function key.
For standard putaway, the user will choose this Reposition option.
The RF unit will prompt the user to enter a new location for the stock. The user will scan the location barcode on the location into which the stock is being positioned. Note: For products that have automatically had a location other than a default putaway location suggested (e.g. loose wood, stocked products), the user can confirm the putaway of the product into this location by scanning the location barcode.
- For Stocked products, there is only one location (the mezzanine) and so these pallets will be confirmed as put away when the truck driver lifts the products up to the mezzanine and confirms that they are located there.
- For loose wood, the putaway will be confirmed using the Calidus WMS Goods Receipt Putaway Confirmation process.
Once the new location is scanned or entered, the RF unit will display that the pallet has been put away. The user can choose to continue putaway on other products or return to the main menu.
The products will be marked as putaway immediately in Calidus WMS and all standard audit trails will be maintained.
Once all products are put away in this fashion, the GRN will be automatically confirmed as putaway within Calidus WMS.
Note: Almost all locations in the warehouse are marked as non-palletised. As the RF putaway process is predominantly for palletised stock, the Calidus WMS RF Receipt and Putaway processes must be checked that they will correctly de-palletise the stock when located in these locations.
Scope
The changes will be made in version 7.70 of the CALIDUS WMS product.
Set-up
Pre-requisites
A valid CALIDUS Mobile system must be available.
Menu Structure
Data
WMS
FREE_LOCATIONS must be created for the default location suggestion to work. In order to achieve this:
- Create a palletised location type (or amend an existing non-palletised location type to be palletised) and add the valid pallet types.
- Create the locations of this type - this will create the Free Locations records. Alternatively, enter all the locations then run Free Locations Generation to generate the records.
- Change the location type back to non-palletised.
The Owner must be set to not strip pallet details when non-palletising stock (Remove Stock ID set to "N"). This can be found on the Owner Maintenance screen, Sales Order tab.
The Owner must be set up to require Customer's Pallet IDs. This can be found on the Owner Maintenance Screen, Goods Rec'd tab.
The Default Warehouse Location (Build Up Location 3 of WARE_PARAMS/OWNER_WARE_PARAMS) must be set up as a valid location.
Each Stock code requiring a specific default location must have a bulk anchor point set up as this location. This is done through the Stock Maintenance Screen, Stock Warehouse tab, Unbonded Stock Locations button.
The Owner rule RIAR (Remove Pallet ID when receipt to non-pallet loc) must be set up and enabled for this functionality to work.
WCS
The Owner/Warehouse Putaway rule 'Extended Reposition Validation' must be Disabled.
The Owner/Warehouse Putaway rule 'RDT Reposition' must be Enabled.
Functional Description
DP_WHS7872
The RF Receipt and Putaway process have been extensively tested.
- The RDT Receipt and Putway modules themselves work as expected and as described in this document.
- The WMS receipt update process, to create the pallets, works as expected - the process creates a palletised record in the suggested non-palletised location.
- The WMS putaway update process does not work as expected - the process depalletises the pallet upon confirmation. However, the process removes all traceability from the stock received, including the Customer Batch.
This process, DP_WHS7872, will be modified to correctly depalletise the stock when putaway.
The process should always remove the pallet ID, if the destination location chosen is a non-palletised location.
If the Owner has chosen to Remove Stock ID, the Rotation and Customer Batch will also be blanked (i.e. set to '+'). If not, these fields must be left as they were on the pallet during receipt.
The process will then check to see if there is any other stock in this location with the new pallet, rotation and customer batch, for the company, warehouse, owner and stock code specified. If there is, the putaway quantity will be added to this record.
Developer Note: The following procedures require this code to be modified:
- Blind_Receipt
- Swap_Pallet_ID
Note that the AdHocMove procedure seems to already deal with this.
Note also that this may be required in other procedures than those listed above.
Appendix A: TEST PLAN
| Test Script / Scenario Reference | RF Receipt and Putaway Depalletise | Call Number(s): 291257 SCR-290107-4 |
| Test Script / Scenario Description | Test the RF receipt and putaway processes where pallets are received into a non-palletised location. | PASS / ISSUES / FAIL |
| Menu Access | RF Main Menu, Putaway modules | |
| Pre-requisites | See the Setup section for details | Tested By: |
| Test Objective | To test that: Putaway of pallets received through RF are correctly depalletised if the location chosen is a non-palletised location. | Date: |
| Step | Action | Result | Remarks | P/F |
| 1 | RF Putaway | |||
| Ensure that a preadvice of stocked and MTO stock codes is created. Ensure that the stock codes are set up as required, with a default location of a non-palletised location. Receive all of the stock through RF. Ensure all locations used in this test start as empty. | ||||
| 1.10 | Put away a Stocked pallet into the suggested location | The pallet should have the Pallet ID set to zero. | ||
| 1.20 | Put away another pallet of that stock into the same location. | The stock on the second pallet should be merged with the first pallet. | ||
| 1.30 | Reposition another pallet of that stock into a different non-palletised location. | The pallet should be created in the new location with a Pallet ID set to zero. | ||
| 1.40 | Put away an MTO pallet (with batch 1) into the suggested location | The pallet should have the Pallet ID set to zero. The Batch code should be maintained. | ||
| 1.50 | Put away another pallet of that stock and batch into the same location. | The stock on the second pallet should be merged with the first pallet. | ||
| 1.60 | Put away another pallet of that stock with a different batch into the same location. | The pallet should have the Pallet ID set to zero. The Batch code should be maintained. The stock should not be merged with the first two pallets. | ||
| 1.70 | Reposition another pallet of that stock and batch into a different non-palletised location. | The pallet should be created in the new location with a Pallet ID set to zero. The Batch code should be maintained. |
Appendix B: Quote & Document References
| Cost Details | ||||
| Activity | Estimate No. of Days |
No. of Days | Rate per Day (£) | Cost (£ Exc. VAT) |
| Requirements | 0.00 | 0.00 | 600 | £0.00 |
| Change Request Evaluation | 0.00 | 0.00 | 600 | £0.00 |
| Functional Specification | 1.00 | 1.00 | 600 | £600.00 |
| Technical Specification | 0.00 | 0.00 | 600 | £0.00 |
| Development | 2.25 | 2.25 | 600 | £1,350.00 |
| Testing and Release | 1.00 | 1.00 | 600 | £600.00 |
| Implementation | 0.00 | 0.00 | 600 | £0.00 |
| Project Management | First argument to "number_format" must be a number. | First argument to "number_format" must be a number. | 600 | £First argument to "number_format" must be a number. |
| TOTAL | First argument to "number_format" must be a number. | First argument to "number_format" must be a number. | £First argument to "number_format" must be a number. | |
| Estimate excludes training, release to live and go live support. |
B.1 References
| Ref No | Document Title & ID | Version | Date |
| 1 | REQ 290107 Nightfreight RF Requirements | 1.0 | 15/07/2011 |
B.2 Glossary
| Term or Acronym | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Ad Hoc | A task instigated on the device (spec. Ad Hoc Pallet Move), rather than a task instigated from the WMS and Stock Control. |
| Advice Note Number | An external reference linked to a Goods Receipt. |
| Aisle | A component of a location; usually a space through rows of racking or storage locations; a collection of locations; |
| Anchor Point | A starting location for a search for a suitable storage location; auto-putaway location suggestion start point. |
| Area | A collection of aisles; an area in the warehouse for a particular purpose. |
| Batch | A production batch of a product; a quantity of product that is considered to have the same characteristics; |
| Bay (Warehouse) | A physical loading or unloading point for the warehouse. |
| Bay | A component of a location; usually a space between uprights in racking, comprising several levels (horizontal beams). |
| Block Stack | A stable stack of pallets. |
| Bulk | Bulk storage; Usually full-pallet storage areas, racked or stacked. |
| Cancellation | The facility to cancel a task due to some problem, identified by the user when performing the task. |
| Check Digit | A short code, usually randomly generated and stored against a location, used to help identify that a user is at the right location before they proceed with a warehouse task. |
| CSV | Character-separated values; a text file with multiple rows and values, usually separated with commas. |
| C-WCS | CALIDUS WCS, the name of the OBS Logistics Warehouse Control system |
| C-WMS | CALIDUS WMS, the name of the OBS Logistics Warehouse Management system |
| Dead Leg | A movement of a truck without a pallet; wasted resource. |
| Despatch | The final physical stage of an order; handover of goods to the haulier. |
| Drive-In | A drive-in location, typically multi-level, multi-deep location. |
| Dual Cycling | Processes utilizing P&D locations for interleaving tasks in and out of specific areas, reducing dead leg movements. |
| Exchange | Specifically Pick Exchange or Task Exchange. The process of allowing a user to select a different pallet in a multi-pallet location and exchanging the expected pallet for this one. If the pallet is planned for another task, task exchange will complete this task instead of the expected one first. If the pallet is not planned, pallet exchange will swap the pallet (if suitable). |
| GR; GRN | Goods Receipt; Goods Receipt Number or Note |
| High Bay | Typically tall (greater than 5 level) racking, usually full pallet storage, usually Narrow Aisle. |
| JIT | Just In Time; processes designed to trigger at the last instant. |
| KPI | Key Performance Indicator. |
| Level | A component of a location; usually the vertical compartments of an area, delineated by horizontal beams. |
| Loading | The act of loading pallets onto a vehicle. |
| Location | A uniquely identified space in the warehouse for storage of product. There are many types, most commonly Floor locations (for example, Marshalling, Inbound), Racking or Bulk Storage Locations and Pick faces. |
| Manifest | The contents of a vehicle or container. |
| Marshalling | The act of bringing pallets for an order or load together; an area to do so. |
| Multi-deep | A location with 2 or more pallets stored sequentially i.e. only one can be accessed at a time. |
| NA | Narrow Aisle; usually any area in the warehouse that is restricted access due to space limitations, Narrow Aisles have associate P&D locations. |
| P&D | Pick-up and Drop-off locations; locations used to control the handover of pallets between distinct areas, for example between chambers and the wider area of the warehouse. |
| PI; Perpetual Inventory | The act of continuously checking locations in a warehouse, identifying and correcting product quantity issues. Usually used in Bulk environments rather than Pick Faces. In pick faces, this process is called is called Residual Stock Balance and usually takes place after picking from a pick face. |
| Pick Face | A location designed for picking part of a pallet of stock. Usually a low- or ground-level location. |
| Pick List (order) | The instructions to pick pallets or cases from locations; the paper report associated to this; the stage of preparing these instructions; the sending of these instructions to WCS. |
| PO | Purchase Order. |
| Pre-advice; Goods Receipt Pre-advice | An advanced notification of what is being received. Part of a manifest. Pre-advices can be stock and quantity, or individual pallet level. |
| Putaway | The physical move of a pallet to a storage location as a result of receiving it into the warehouse. |
| RAG | Acronym for Red/Amber/Green, a traffic light colouration system depicting (in sequence) Errors, Warnings or Informational messages. Usually used in operational monitoring to effectively display when certain processes are not working as expected. |
| RDT | Radio Data Terminal. |
| Replen; Replenishment | The act of moving product (usually a pallet) from bulk storage to a pick face. |
| Reposition | The facility to change the location of a movement or putaway when at the final destination, sue to some issue discovered when performing the task. |
| RF | Radio Frequency; An RF device is an RDT, typically used by CALIDUS WCS for executing warehouse tasks. |
| SCR; CR | Software Change Request. |
| Short Pick | The process of not fulfilling an order due to failure to identify sufficient product when picking. May also be used as a term to indicate Short Allocation. |
| SO | Sales Order. |
| Truck Types | Plants, Mechanical Handling Equipment. For example, Reach trucks, Counter-balance trucks, pallet riders, etc. |
| UOM | Unit of Measure. |
| WA | Wide Area; usually any area in the warehouse that is not restricted access due to space limitations, for example, floor areas, not Narrow Aisle. |
| WCS | Warehouse Control System |
| WMS | Warehouse Management System |
B.3 Authorised By
Julie Scott | OBS Logistics Manager | _____________________________ |
Jonathan Davies | Client Representative | _____________________________ |
