Loading in SAP EWM is the process of recording that packed goods have been loaded onto a means of transport. Only handling units holding stock that is assigned to an outbound delivery order can be loaded.

 It is not possible to load:

• A product (without an HU)
• An empty HU
• An HU with stock that is not assigned to an outbound delivery order 

In terms of the loading method, you can load:

• with a warehouse task (WT), which SAP EWM calls "complex loading". To use the complex loading activity, the POSC loading step has to be configured in SPRO.
• or without a warehouse task, which is called "simple loading". 

For loading with a warehouse task, the task can either be created in advance or created automatically at the moment loading is confirmed. These warehouse tasks are only created from the GUI, in transaction /SCWM/LOAD or /SCWM/ADHU:

Loading warehouse tasks can also be created automatically by using the automatic creation indicator for the POSC step:

 Creating the warehouse task in advance may be needed if you want to apply certain rules to the loading warehouse order – for example, to load three HUs at a time. Also, if you load with a warehouse task, there is always a source location and a destination location. The source location is usually a storage bin in the staging area for shipping, and very rarely a resource. The destination location can be either a door storage bin or a transportation unit (TU). When such a warehouse task is confirmed, the HU is moved from the source location to the destination location and the system status "LOAD" is set on the HU. 

With simple loading (without a warehouse task), the moment the loading is recorded in the system, the loading system status (LOAD) is simply set on the loaded HU. In the system the HU stays in its current storage bin.

Both complex and simple loading can be carried out either with an RF device or on a desktop computer. 

 The following HU loading options are available on the RF device:

• Loading by delivery. Here the number of the outbound delivery order is entered on the initial loading screen. The system proposes the numbers of the HUs that are assigned to the delivery. Only those can be loaded.
• Loading by shipment. This loading method is possible when SAP EWM is integrated with SAP TM. 
• Loading by TU. Here the number of the TU into which the HUs are to be loaded has to be entered on the initial loading screen. The restriction is that the HUs must have been assigned to that TU beforehand. The system does not allow an arbitrary HU to be loaded, in order to prevent an HU from being sent out on the wrong vehicle by accident. When loading is confirmed, in the system the HU is moved into the TU. The HU is assigned not directly to the TU but through a delivery item or the delivery header.
• Loading by door. Here the door number is entered on the initial screen, together with the date range of the deliveries that are relevant for loading. For complex loading by door, a storage bin must have been assigned to the door beforehand. At the moment complex loading is confirmed, the HU is moved into that bin. With simple loading the HU stays in its original bin and only the loading status changes. A general prerequisite for using loading by door is that the order item contains a date of type SLOAD that falls within the range entered on the initial screen.
• Loading by HU. This method works well when the employee at the door has no information at all about what goes where. They simply scan the barcode of the HU standing at the door and load it into the proposed location (in the case of complex loading) or just record the fact of loading (in the case of simple loading). 
• Loading by route. The route is entered on the initial screen. SAP EWM then looks for HUs that are ready for shipping, using the following logic: 
  • it reads the warehouse number the resource works in, and selects all outbound delivery orders whose location with the role "WH" equals the location of that warehouse number.
  • among the selected orders it takes those whose header contains the route entered on the initial screen
  • among those it selects the order items whose picking status is not equal to "Not Started" (DPI <> 1)
  • among those it selects the ones whose order items have the loading status "Not Started" or "Partially Completed" (DLO = 1 or 2)
  • among those it selects the ones for which goods issue has not been completed yet (DGI <> 9)
  • For the order items it found, SAP EWM determines the assigned HUs and displays them on the screen for loading.

What other details are there in the loading process in SAP EWM:

1. If a TU is assigned to the outbound delivery order, then with complex loading the warehouse task is created with the TU as the destination, not the door bin. That is, once the task is confirmed the stock is recorded as being in the transportation unit. 

2. Picking up a loading warehouse order in system-guided mode is not supported, just as it is not supported for unloading HUs from a TU.