This article is about the automatic creation of packaging items. The option appeared in release 9.1. The feature is very useful if the warehouse uses packaging materials whose consumption has to be tracked.

In short, it works as follows:

1. In the warehouse the goods are packed into some packaging material that has to be accounted for (in system terms – packed into an HU)
2. At the moment of goods issue for the outbound delivery order (ODO), the system automatically determines the handling units being shipped and adds new items to the ODO that are not relevant for picking. The quantity in the item equals the quantity of packaging material used.
3. The packaging materials are written off from the warehouse (from a special storage bin specified in the configuration).

Now let us go through the system settings in more detail. All of the configuration sits in a single SPRO node:

Extended Warehouse Management - Goods Issue Process - Outbound Delivery - Automatic Creation of Packaging Items:

The settings are quite simple and split into three sections:

Activation for deliveries – here the automatic creation of packaging items is activated at document category or document type level:

Packaging relevance – here the automatic creation of packaging items is activated at packaging material type level:

Determination of the delivery item type – here you configure the parameters of the packaging item that is created for each packaging material type, namely the document type, the item type and the stock type:

You do not have to configure the item type yourself, you can take it from the BC set: /SCWM/DLV_OUTBOUND_PACK

Besides the settings in SPRO, you also have to configure, in SAP Easy Access, the determination of the storage bin the packaging material will be written off from.

/SCWM/GMBIN_DET - Maintain Storage Bin Determination for Goods Movement Posting:

Keep in mind that the packaging material has to exist as stock in the warehouse like any ordinary material. And on goods issue the stock quantity is written off in the ERP system as well.

If everything has been done correctly, then on goods issue the system creates additional items in the order according to the handling units that were shipped. In the example below, goods issue was posted for 10 HUs with the packaging material EUR:

As you can see, the system generated a new item (flagged as «manual») according to the settings that were made. It is also worth paying attention to the new field – «Process That Created the Item». Its value is set to: «1» Automatic creation of packaging item (when creating the outbound delivery). According to the domain, only two values are available for this field:

In this article I have gone through the process of automatically creating packaging items in an outbound delivery order. The settings are fairly simple and straightforward. If you still have questions – write in, I will certainly answer.