Simplified SAP EWM at an FMCG customer

Have you ever wondered in the period after go-live why certain smart and basic functionalities were not implemented in the project?

For a FMCG customer in the Netherlands producing infant formula, an initial SAP implementation was conducted and went “live” mid 2017. The scope comprehended one production site and the head office; from purchasing to production to sales. All these business functions are currently executed with the use of SAP. Following this go-live, a roll-out is planned to a newly built automated warehouse.

In the beginning of 2017, it became clear that the supply chain and warehousing part (SAP EWM) was understaffed. Over the next months, two experienced EWM consultants from McCoy & Partners came to fill this gap. With the experience they brought in, it immediately became clear that some of the design decisions that were made during the creation of the template, were not comprehensive for a roll-out for the new automated warehouse on EWM.

In order to make the roll out of EWM to this new automated warehouse a success, re-defining the scope for the project was required. The initially chosen template would not fulfill the business requirements for the automated warehouse.

A structured approach was used for this scope definition; it started off with training the customer by going through a global overview of the standard warehouse processes, and providing them with insight as to what extend SAP EWM could help with executing their processes. This approach gave the customer many new insights regarding functionalities they had never heard of before. After going into the detailed workshops, a list of functionalities with added value was conducted. Some of these new functionalities that will be used include:

• Shipping cockpit as a tool to monitor and execute outgoing processes is implemented.

• Simplifications on error handling in order to reduce technical support. I-doc monitoring and queue container change functionalities are implemented in order to facilitate this.

• Cross-docking in order to align the inbound and outbound flows. The opportunistic crossdocking functionality of EWM is used to facilitate this.

• Transfer of product ownership without stock movement in order to facilitate the sales of different plants from the same stock.

Next to the redetermination of the used functionalities, the consultants of McCoy & Partners went back to EWM basics in order to simplify the business process. The main consequence was to introduce the use of Handling Units for all warehouse operations in order to simplify the execution of warehouse processes.

Do you also want to make full use of the functionalities of your SAP system can provide? Are you interested in optimizing your current warehousing procedures for your company? McCoy is experienced in assessing your company’s needs; our seasoned consultants translate that into business cases, implementation projects and the tools selection. Please reach out to us for more information in order to use all smart and basic functionalities within EWM that add value to your business.