D365 Warehouse Management | Volumetric Solution Mapping | Outbound Operations | Part 1

Hello World,

In this blog series, I would like to share the outcomes of my experiments with Microsoft Dynamics D365 for the Volumetric feature available in Warehouse Management. The Warehouse Management module will be set up and configured to showcase the capability of "Volumetric" available out of the box in the system.

My this blog post is like "Medjool Dates", larger, darker, more caramel and sweet in taste. Grab few of them with cup of coffee and enjoy!

The blog series for Volumetric Solution for "Outbound Operations Part 1" will be based on the below Warehouse Layout.

Here, I am sharing links for all the parts, Feel free to read for a better understanding.

Part 1: Outbound Operations: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/d365-warehouse-management-outbound-operations-picking-ali-danish

Part 2: Outbound Operations for Batch(FEFO) enabled Items: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/d365-warehouse-management-volumetric-solution-mapping-ali-danish-1f

Part 3: Outbound Operations Zone Picking: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/d365-warehouse-management-outbound-operations-picking-ali-danish

Part 4: Outbound Operations Cluster Picking: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/d365-warehouse-management-outbound-operations-all-picking-ali-danish

Here is the agenda for today

Agenda

• Prerequisite setups for Outbound Operations
• Transfer order creation and inventory reservation
• Release transfer order to the warehouse and create work
• Complete the works created for the load
• Packing and Containerization
• Load the License Plates to the Truck(Final Shipping location)
• Confirm outbound shipment
• Receive the transfer order
• Conclusion and Recommendations

Here is the list of prerequisite setups

Prerequisite setups

• Warehouse Locations (Aisle, Rack, and Shelf)
• Define fixed locations for the item. 
• Create a location profile and associate the locations with the location profile. 
• Picking and bulk locations will be created, the system will first put the item at the picking location and if the picking location will be filled, the system will propose the next pick location and finally the bulk location. 
• Work Template
• Location Directives
• Wave Template
• Mobile Device Menu Item
• Mobile Device Menu

Warehouse Locations(Aisle, Rack, and Shelf)

I have created two aisles, one for dry food and one for Home.

The location will be named with the following details 01(Aisle) 01 (Rack) 01 (Shelf) = 01A01R01S

The Aisle 01 is for Dry Food and 04 is for Home.

Picking and bulk locations will be created, the system will first put the item at the picking location and if the picking location will be filled, the system will propose the next pick location and finally the bulk location. 

Here are the locations defined for Zone: Dry Food.

Physical dimension group 

Create an item DG(Dry Good) and define the physical dimension for an item in the "physical dimension group ID field, as mentioned in the below screenshot. I have created one Physical dimension group ID "Dry Food" and defined the dimension for this item (W:2, H:2, L:2 - Total Volume: 8-centimeter cube)

Note: Define the physical dimensions in the warehouse fast tab(released product form). These dimensions will be respected by the system for all warehouse-related operations.  

Item Fixed Locations

I have also defined the fixed location for this item, for aisle 01 and rack 02, shelves(01 and 02) will be my fixed default picking locations for Dry food item (DG)

For item DG2, the fixed default picking locations will be 01A02R01S and 01A02R02S.

I have defined the fixed locations for item DG2. This will be the default picking location(01A01R01S) for the item.

Location Profile

Location profiles will be used to set up and configure the policies for the locations. The location profile setup contains the location format, location type, dimension for the location, etc. I have created a separate location profile for all the zones(Dry food, Kitchen, Home, etc.)

Volumetrics configuration will be defined at the location profile level. I have created separate location profiles for picking and bulk. 

The Volume available for picking location is the 27-centimeter cube. I have linked all my picking locations(for Dry Food Items) with the location profile "Dry Food Pick LP"

I have also created one separate bulk location profile (Dry Food Bulk LP).

The Volume available for bulk location is the 1000-centimeter cube. I have linked all my bulk locations(for Dry food Items) with the location profile "Dry Food Bulk LP"

Note: I have created separate location profiles(bulk and picking) for each zone/category. This will be helpful if there will be any change in policy or modification required for a particular zone/category.

Work Template | Transfer Issue

I have defined one work template for the work order type: "Transfer Issue".

The pick and put pair is defined in the work template details. The objective of this setup is to create the work for the warehouse worker. Based on this work template, the picker will pick the item from the default picking or bulk location and put it at the "Packing" location.

Note: The pick and put instructions for the picker will be defined in the location directive setup.

Location Directive | Work Order Type" Transfer Issue"

Location directives will be configured to direct the warehouse picker to pick the item from picking or bulk location and put the item at the "Packing" location.

Location Directive Actions:

• Pick from Pick Location: First, the system will suggest the fixed location for picking based on the availability of the item.
• Pick from Bulk Location: If the item is not available at picking, the system will advise the non-fixed location(Bulk) location for the picking.

I have defined the following values in the Edit query

Zone ID for Heavey house hold, FMCG dry food and Home Sweet Home.

Wave Template Setup

We need to set up the wave template for the outbound operations. The purpose of waves is to generate the Work for the outbound operations.

Waves can be processed manually or automatically.

Path: Warehouse management > Setup > Waves > Wave templates

Wave template "Shipping" will be used to ship the items for sales orders and transfer orders.

I have enabled the following checks.

• Automate wave creation
• Process wave at release to warehouse:
• Automate wave release

Mobile Device Menu Item | Open Work

I have created the menu item named "Open Work". This will display al the open work for the warehouse worker. I have defined the following Work classes for this menu item.

Work class ID:

• Replenishment
• Sales Order
• Transfer order

Note: To display all Open Work for Replenishment, Sales picking, and transfer picking we need to create one more menu item for "User Directed" and make sure to assign this to the menu item. If you will not create the User Directed(Mode: Work - Use existing work) menu item, Mobile Device will not display the "Open Work".

Mobile Device Menu Item | Load to Truck

The menu item "Load to Truck" will be used to Pick the items from the Packing station and Put in to the "Truck".

Select the Work Class ID "PackContPik" for work order type "PackedContainer Picking".

Prerequisite Setups for Packing and Containerization

Container Type

Container type will be configured to set up the physical characteristics of the containers. Based on business requirements, we can configure different container types to pack the items. the packing type can be a pallet, bin or custom packaging, etc.

I have only created one default container for this demo "Pallet". In my business scenario, our containers will be our pallets. Each pallet with a target license plate, which will transfer to the destination store will be considered as a container in the system.

Container Packing Policy

The packaging of the container will be managed by the container packing policies.

Path: Warehouse Management > Setup > Containers > Container Packing Policy

I have created one default container packing policy, in the container packing policy form we need to define the following

• Warehouse: 100
• Weight: kg
• Container closing policy: Automatic release (The container status will be released and the Container Release Policy is initiated)

Packing Profiles

I have created one packing profile "Default", this packing profile will be used to pack the items at the packing location.

Path: Warehouse Management > Setup > Packing > Packing Profiles

Final Shipping Location type

I have defined "Outbound" in the Final shipping location type. This location type "Outbound" is linked with the location "Truck".

Note: If the location is linked with the final shipping location type, it means once the inventory will put at this location it will be considered as out from the system. I have linked all the truck number plates with the location type "Outbound" which is my final shipping location.

Path: Warehouse Management> Parameter> General> Location types>Final shipping location type.

Step by Step Process | Outbound | Transfer Order

• Create one transfer order for the item "DG2".
• The system will automatically reserve the items in the transfer order line.

• Now release the transfer order to the Warehouse
• Click> Release to the warehouse as mentioned in the below SS

• This release to warehouse functionality will create the Work and shipment.

Work Created

• In the below SS, we can see that the work is created, the work status is "Open. The warehouse manager/supervisor can assign this work to the Picker.

Login to Mobile Device

Log in to the mobile device, enter the ID and Password created for the worker.

This is the main menu designed for the Mobile App, select the Outbound menu as highlighted in the below SS.

First, click on Openwork

The picker will select the work ID "ADCS-001294" for picking

Pick the item from the fixed picking location, scan the License Plate for the item "DG2".

Override location: The picker can override the picking location, the system will propose the next location for picking.

Press OK.

Work Status "Closed"

The work has been closed, check the work status "Closed" in the below SS. Also, the target license plate ID has been assigned to the closed work.

The target license plate "TLP29" is now available at the location "Packing".

Packing Process

The next task is to pack the items available at the "Packing" station.

Path: Warehouse Management> Packing and containerization> Pack

The packing profile ID has already created for the Packing.

Press ok.

Packing Items

In the packing form, scan or enter the target license plate. The system will display all the information available on the target license plate.

Create new Container

In the Packing form, create a new container. Enter the container ID, I will keep the container ID the same as a target license plate. We can also auto-generate this container ID.

Press Pack or scan all the items one by one. This will complete the packing process. complete.

We can also press "Pack" in the action pane, this will pack all the items in the container.

At this stage, the container status will be "Open".

Once all the items will be packed, press "Close Container".

Get system weight, this will bring the default gross weight for the packed items.

Press ok to close the container.

In the below SS, the container status is "Closed".

Here, we can print the container content report, this report is displaying the number of items packed in the container along with the shipment ID and transfer order number.

Load Status

Once the container is closed, the load status is "In Process" and 50% of work(pick from picking and put at packing location) is completed for the load.

Work | Pack container picking

The system has also generated one more work for loading the container to the truck. The loader will pick the item from the "Packing" station and put it into the "Truck".

I have created the truck number plates as locations in the main warehouse. The location type is "Outbound" which is my final shipping location for all the items.

The loader will decide from the mobile device to put the items in the correct Truck at the time put away the items from the packing station.

Log in to the mobile device and process the work.

Select menu item "Load to Truck"

Scan the License Plate

Pick from packing location and press ok

Put into the truck, scan the location "Truck". This is the truck number plate.

Scan the license plate "TLP29" and Press ok.

Now all works for the load have been closed.

Load status: loaded

Once all the works for the load have been closed, the load status will become "Loaded".

Also, the work status "100% work completed" for the load.

The next step is to confirm the "Outbound shipment".

Load status: Shipped

Once the shipment is confirmed, the load status will be "Shipped".

Transfer order Receiving

Finally, the destination store "02" will post the transfer order receiving. Once the transfer order will be received, the status will become "Received".

Conclusion and Recommendations

• In this blog, we have listed all the prerequisite setups required to set up and configure the Outbound operations.
• We have created an Outbound Transfer Order for the Outbound operations. Inventory will be reserved automatically for the transfer order line items.
• Transfer order then released to the warehouse, since the wave has been configured, this has created the work, load, and shipment for the transfer order.
• We can assign the work to the warehouse pickers, the picker will pick the items from fixed picking or bulk locations and put them at the Packing location. Once the picker completed the work for picking, the first work for the load(50% work) has been completed.
• Items have been packed at the packing station. Here, we have created the container for the items on the target license plates.
• Once the container closed, the system has created one more work for the load, to pick the items from the packing station and put them in the truck.
• Finally, the transfer order will be received by the destination store.
• The prerequisite to the "Display open Work" menu item is the "User Directed(Mode: Work - Use existing work)" menu item. We need these two menu items to display the "Open Work" in the Mobile Device. If you will only create the "Display open Work" menu item, the mobile device will not display the openwork.

If you have any feedback feel free to share.

Cheers!

Ali Danish

Dynamics 365 Consultant