How Firestone Industrial Products Used Handling

Unit Management and Mobile RF Technology to

Improve Customer Satisfaction

John Fearnow Firestone Industrial Products
John Gardner Dickinson + Associates
AGENDA
Who is Firestone
Who is Dickinson + Associates
Business Problem
Handling Units
Solution
Wrap Up
LEARNING POINTS
How Handling Units can be used for
Load validation
Generating customer specific label formats at the point of use
Using Handling Units and Standard Transfer Order
functionality to help pickers report correctly as they
pick
Corporate Profile
4
Firestone Building Products
5
http://www.firestonebpco.com/
Ipad App
http://www.firestonebpco.com/Tools/iPad_App/
Firestone Industrial Products Markets
http://www.firestoneip.com/
Firestone Industrial Products HD Truck &
Trailer
Potentially up to 18 air springs on a class 8 truck & trailer application
31 U.S. Locations
Headquarters
Carmel, IN
Brussels, Belgium
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Rotterdam, Holland
Wolstzyn,Poland
Beijing, China
Mississauga, Ontario
Woodstock, Ontario,
Turrialba, Costa Rica
Singapore
Gurgaon, India
Monterrey, Mexico
Firestone Industrial / Building Products
Global Reach
8
Firestone Business Technology Vision
To provide innovative, comprehensive,
dependable solutions that support and align
with the objectives of the business.

9


10
We Are:
Focus: Delivery of quality SAP ERP, BI/Analytics, Mobility
consulting services to customers across North America,
Europe, and Asia.
Our People: A team of 140+ full-time SAP professionals reflects the
ideal mix of years of relevant business knowledge, very
strong SAP credentials, and solid communication skills.
Our team has an average of 15 years SAP and 19 years
business experience.
Offices: Chicago, IL (Headquarters)
Satellites: New York, NY | Scottsdale, AZ | Cincinnati, OH
Consistent Growth: 15 years revenue growth

We are:


11

Service Offerings
SAP Strategy +
Implementation
Process
Optimization
Services
SAP
Upgrade
Services
Support
Desk
Professional
Staffing

ERP
Mobility
Analytics
Customer Labeling Requirements
New labels
Carton Label, Shipping Label, Mixed Load Label
Unique Packaging ID for each carton/pallet printed on the label
Shipment ID printed on label
Specific requirements for applying labels to packaging
New Packing List
Sorted by packaging ID
Contents of each packaging ID listed on pack list
Changes to EDI ASN (need to transmit packaging ID structure)


12
Label to EDI Synchronization

13
Requirements for Applying Labels
Requirements for Applying Labels
Business Challenges
Weak print infrastructure
Existing labeling infrastructure was on legacy systems
Picking was in SAP but packing / load verification was a
manual paper based process
Labels were printed after the fact from the legacy system
Multiple pallet picks appeared on a transfer order as 1 line
item / pick
Inventory discrepancies where noted when found and then
addressed after the fact in SAP
Customers require customer specific labels on the pallets
Customer shipments contain individual piece picks and
multiple pallet picks
Customer requires labels and EDI information to reference a
shipment number
Label data and ASN EDI data needs to be aligned


Obstacles for Printing Labels
Label formats vary based on
Customer
Packaging material
Device type
How do you manage the complexity without a
complicated program?
Handling Unit Management (HUM)
Definition Process used to identify structures of packages and its
material contents
Used to simplify logistics processes
Inventory Management
Production Execution
Warehouse Management
Delivery Processing
Shipping
Handling Unit (HU) contains
Materials
Other Handling Units (Nesting)
Key Attributes
Unique Identification Number
Dimensions, Weights, & Volume
Status
Materials and quantities
Packaging materials

18
Handling Unit Structural Overview
123456
3000000051
1000000199
1000000203 1000000205
1000000206
1000000207
1000000208 1000000209
1000000210
Phased Approach
Implement packing functionality for label generation
Validate process and approach
Replace after the fact labeling with real time labeling
Implement Pick Pack into 1 operation to eliminate QA
steps after pack
Final Design Full SAP Solution

21
TC/IP Print Service
BFDP SAP Print Server
ins140printsap
Smart
Form
Print Program
Output Determination Logic
Output Type
Shipment
Packing
RF
SAPConsole
Packing
RF
SAPConsole
Pick + Pack
Customer
Specific
Label Table
PC Label Design
Application
Std
Text
Label design with standard
tool (Bartender)

Load Label format into SAP
as standard text

Output determination logic
setup for different packaging
materials (box, pallet, mixed
load, etc)

Z table links customer label
design to packaging material
output
Shipping location
Ship To Location
Device type

Pick and Pack To-Be Process Vision
SAP Console
3
User Selects HU
Type.
User picks and packs
material.
User confirms activity.
Pallet Carton
User accesses Shipment.
4
5
6
7
123456
User prints labels.
Attaches to the HU.






Nest HUs as required.
User stages
complete HUs to
outbound Staging
Lane.
TOs
Delivery
SAP Delivery Processing.
1
Transfer Order Creation.
Shipment Creation.
2
Assign Deliveries (Link TOs)
Delivery
Delivery
Delivery
TOs
TOs
TOs
5
Business Process Flow
Pick and Pack Process Flow
Pick and Pack Start Screen / Dashboard
Provides overview of shipment

How many picks remain
Status of pack operation
Total Number of Handling Units on the
shipment
Total number of Parent Handling Units
Expected total weight of the shipment
# of handling units that have been packed but
not capped
General Operation
Enter the
Packaging
Material
being packed.
Press Enter
Handling unit is
created.
Confirm the
bin and
quantity.
Press enter to
Validate
Confirm
becomes
active.
Confirm to
pack item
into Handling
unit
Item 1 is
complete
Select Diff. Indicator
Press F1 Confirm
User is routed accordingly
F1 Item is confirmed and packed
F7 User is routed to Full Pallet
Screen
Enter bin and
shortage quantity.
Press F1 or F7
Pick / Pack item Short Pick Process
Diff. Indicator Shipment being packed
1 Theft Difference will be posed to
Storage Type 999
Storage Bin LOST&FOUND
2 Source
Storage Bin
Difference will be posted back to
the source Storage Type and
Storage Bin
(i.e. Stype F1F Bin D1031019)
3 Pick
Difference
Difference will be posed to
Storage Type 999
Storage Bin DIFFERENCE
New Post Processing Feature:
When a short pick occurs, RF will
automatically attempt to create another
pick to fulfill the shortage quantity.
IF a new item is created, it is added and
sequenced in the list.
IF not, a warning message will be
displayed.
Picking short and less material in the BIN
than the system
System says pick 4,
but only 1 in the bin
Tell system there is a
quantity difference in
the bin.
System will post the
difference quantity to
the differences bin. It
will then create a new
TO if there is more
material available in
the warehouse
For full Pallet, a shortcut
Selecting New HU
prints out a label
for the current
handling unit and
allows creating a
new handling unit.
Multiple handling
units of the same
type can be created
in 2 steps.
Confirm Bin and
Quantity and select
FulPal
Enter how many
handling units the
quantity
represent and
how many of
parts in each HU.
Confirm and Cap
creates the
Number of
handling unit
labels
Handling Unit Management Screen
This shows detail of what should be in
Handling Unit, Reprint of labels and
deleting an uncapped handling unit.
Capped handling units must be deleted
using the SAP GUI

Enter the selector number for the handling
unit and F1 Sel to move to the packing
screen


Lessons learned
Have to use gun and labels to design and test. This is a
case where you have to do it exactly as an operator
would
Work closely with people that do this every day during
design and testing
Have a good partner and developer
BEST PRACTICES
Leverage standard SAP BAPIs and Function Modules
Design the screen flow to enhance the physical flow
Look for creative ways to simplify processing and data maintenance
Dont over engineer or under engineer, make it just right!
Too much information can be an overload
Not enough feature / functionality causes additional overhead
Partnership
Extensive SAP Experience
Right resources with the right skills
Project methodologies and tools
Transparent Communication
Cost-effective Solutions
A REAL partnership
Shared approach to risk management
Dedicated to IT and Business Success
Commitment to strategic SAP Roadmap
Lets just do it!!! Because its the right thing to do!!!
THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING

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SESSION CODE: 1003

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