Vijayakumar Selvaraj
Background
Whenever shippers send a small load of shipment, it gets expensive to transport it across geographies assigning an entire transport carriage. Similarly, on many occasions, many carriers transport loads, not to their full capacity. In such scenarios, it is a loss for both as the shipper will have to bear the cost of the entire container for a small shipment. Similarly, carriers end up wasting fuel on transporting loads, not to their fullest capacity.
To overcome such scenarios and provide a win-win opportunity for both the shipper and the carrier, SAP TM has introduced a new unit of transportation – Package Unit. In this blog, we explore more about it.
SAP Transportation Management 9.6 introduces Package Unit (PU)
A new transportation unit category – Package Unit, has been put in place. A package unit helps to consolidate packages. In other words, the transporter can transport packages together across several transportation stages and capacity documents.
A package unit is akin to a container unit and presents the following special features:
- allows assigning package units to other transportation units such as container units, trailer units, or railcar units.
- allows creating the route of a package unit to transport them together across several transportation stages and unconsolidated on the last stage of a tour called “delivery tour.” The route entails a special (virtual) stage representing a group of distribution stops. And, these stops are displayed as sub-stops of the virtual stage. The sequence, however, is not fixed.
- On creating package units from a freight order, the system thereafter assigns freight unit items to several package units. This signifies that items and sub-quantities in a freight unit can be alloted over several package units.
When multiple package units to which a freight unit is assigned are transported with the same freight documents, the freight unit is not split. Else, the freight unit is split by the system and distributed relevantly to the freight documents.
If you create package units from a freight order, the system can also assign a freight unit to several package units. This indicates that the items of a freight unit can be divided among several package units. Individual items can be subsets of an item besides being capable of being assigned to several package units. For example, if an item of a freight unit contains 12 units, 8 units can be assigned to one package unit and the remaining 4 units to another package unit.
It is feasible to define in the system that a PU represents a single package/pallet. This gives the planning process more flexibility. But in cases where all packages should be kept mandatory, the creation rule can be set to a single PU representing all package items.
How can Krypt help you?
Krypt is a ‘one-stop shop’ for supply chain & global trade solutions with a global footprint. Our in-house solutions and pre-packed solutions for SAP TM, SAP IBP, SAP EWM, and SAP GTS, are an outcome of our long-term innovation, technology know-how, and sustained customer engagement across 35 countries.
Our team of SAP TM experts can help you with a rapid & cost-effective integration/implementation of SAP TM and if you wish to know more, please request a free demo or contact us.
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