SAP S/4HANA – Transforming Logistics

Logistics Overview

Today, logistics is the management of the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet the requirements of customers or corporations. The resources managed in logistics can include physical items such as food, materials, equipment, and liquids as well as abstract items, such as time and information.

In terms of an SAP solution, logistics is the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. It includes transportation and warehousing undertaken by the logistics provider for efficient and effective delivery. In the past, supply chain systems used ERP systems that were supported by separate applications for Transportation Management and Extended Warehouse Management.

SAP S/4HANA Logistics 

SAP S/4HANA Logistics is also known as SAP S/4HANA Enterprise Management.  It covers both financial and logistics operations and supports almost all core operations as much as a traditional ERP system would do. SAP S/4HANA Logistics provides simpler, faster and more efficient approaches to solve logistics and supply chain problems. It provides a range of choices in deployment models: cloud, on-premise, and hybrid.

SAP S/4HANA  provides a single source of truth for all operations. These include functions like material management, production planning, supply chain management, as well as sales and distribution for organizations with medium to large infrastructure.

Enter the SAP EWM

SAP Extended Warehouse Management (SAP EWM) is now part of SAP’s new enterprise management suite. Its integrated functions and business processes help to efficiently plan stock-picking processes, imparting inventory transparency, and streamlining processing of goods movement.

SAP Extended Warehouse Management provides you with real-time intelligence on warehousing operations from put away and picking to goods receipt and goods issues. It covers advanced activities like cross-docking, kitting and value-added services. Moreover, businesses can integrate their warehouse processes with SAP Transportation and SAP Global Trade Service (SAP GTS).

Large enterprises handling a high volume of goods can run on a decentralized warehouse system. Smaller and mid-size warehouses can rely on embedded Extended Warehouse Management in this version of SAP S/4HANA.

SAP Extended Warehouse Management Functionalities  

Businesses can now monitor and execute customer delivery promise promptly for omnichannel retail with the Advanced Available-to-Promise (ATP) business function. Based on resource availability, the system creates a customer response that provides information about the available quantity of the requested products and their estimated delivery dates.

The one-size-fits-all concept does not work for product segmentation that targets different categories of customers. A product may be targeted at a specific customer base for a specific price. The ATP functionality enables systems to perform product availability checks based on the customer segmentation attribute. For instance, the system differentiates between online and sales created through other channels by maintaining different available to promise quantities.