Westernacher Consulting and Services · Westernacher Consulting and Services ... SAP EWM Is the Right System for All Warehouses and Industries ... Labelling, Tagging, Kitting, Value

ARE YOU EFFECTIVELY TALKING TO YOUR WAREHOUSE SOLUTION?

Westernacher Consulting and Services Are You Effectively Talking to Your Warehouse Solution?

© Westernacher │ www.westernacher-consulting.com │ Version 2.2

Knowing where to go is important, but reaching your goals is the real achievement.

Neil Wightman

© Westernacher │ www.westernacher-consulting.com


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• You will get to know the basics of Pick by Voice (PbV) functionality as well as the benefits and

advantages of pick by voice functionality compared to mobile picking with screen-based devices

• We will also introduce some of the unique features of SAP EWM and process control options to

run picking process

• You will learn how PbV systems are integrated into SAP Extended Warehouse Management

• We will demonstrate a voice-picking process

In This Session



2

What We’ll Cover

Why should you consider it? Benefits and advantages of Pick by Voice functionality.

Picking process control with SAP Extended Warehouse Management (EWM)

Integration aspects of Pick by Voice functionality with SAP EWM

Configuration of SAP EWM for Pick by Voice functionality and live demo

Basic aspects of voice-controlled picking

Wrap-Up



3

What Is Pick by Voice About?

Basic Aspects of voice controlled picking

Why should you consider it? Benefits and advantages of Pick

by Voice functionality.



Configuration of SAP EWM for Pick by Voice functionality and live

demoWrap-Up

• Pick by voice primarily is about voice-driven order picking

• Pick by voice makes use of speech recognition and speech synthesis to interact with the operator

• The minimum equipment:

– A mobile computer connected via WLAN to the warehouse management system

– Headset with a microphone connected via radio frequency like

bluetooth to the computer

• And you can connect optionally:

– Scanner devices, e.g., finger scanners – keeping hands free

– Screen devices for multi-mode user experience

– Mobile printers to print labels during operation



4

• Picking tasks are transferred in real time to the mobile computer

• The task data is read to the operator

• The operator confirms commands by talking confirmations like “okay”

What Is Pick by Voice About? Continued







demoWrap-Up

Notes

• “Real time” does not mean that there is a real time connection to the WM system

– PbV systems sometimes make use of batch processing

– Batches of work are transferred via IDoc and confirmed via IDoc

• Of course, SAP EWM can be connected with PbV devices in real time

– Real time is helps a lot to optimize resources and to manage exceptions



5

A Very Simple Process Flow







demoWrap-Up

Instruct

operator to go

to picking

location

Ask to pick the

planned

quantity

1 2Instruct

operator to

go to

packing

3

Check

Digit of

Location

Quantity

OKAY

Check

Digit of

Location



6

Some “Complications” for PbV Processes







demoWrap-Up

Picking

Preparation

Difference

Handling &

Physical Inventory

Multi Order

PickingOther

Prepare boxes,

cartons, pallets,

pick & pack

Assign boxes to

positions on

picking device

Apply preprinted

labels or print

labels

Skip orders

Information

Number of

items/open items

Weight and

Volume

Update actual

picking quantity

Confirm empty bin

Confirm quantity

after picking

Exception

execution, e.g., go

to clearing

Split quantity into

different picking

boxes

Assign or print

item labels

Skip itemsMultiple picks from

source bin



7

Traditional mobile device processing versus PbV

• Traditional mobile device processing accepted to save cost and to improve quality

• But many success stories prove that PbV is often “faster” than mobile device

processing

How to valuate the performance benefits of PbV: Is it 5% or 50%?

• Test it Ask for or buy hardware devices and connect them to SAP EWM!

• Analyse it Makes use of methods for working time analysis like Methods-Time Measurement (MTM)

vs.

It is about time to question the benefits of traditional mobile device picking!

1. PbV can contribute significantly to improve the operational efficiency

2. Cost of PbV hardware is in the same range as for handheld computers (plus 15 to 25%)

3. Performance increase per picker is reported by more than 15%, but some reports are much higher than this

PbV Can Improve Picking Performance Significantly






demoWrap-Up



8

Parallelization of communication is primarily related to walking and picking

• Walking distances need to be sufficient to establish the communication

• A single quantity pick is more advantageous over picking in several steps

from one bin

Additional physical moves are not needed anymore

• Moves to perform scans get obsolete

• Moves to verify tasks get obsolete

• Moves to enter data get obsolete

vs.

1. Parallelization of communication and processing speeds up the operation

2. Handling tasks for/with mobile devices get obsolete

3. Operators don’t loose their “focus” if they do not need to switch

Where Does the Performance Improvement Come From?






demoWrap-Up



9

Savings from better accuracy will already make the ROI

• 5 times less errors of PbV compared to traditional mobile device picking

• Calculate yourself:

– Number of cases per day multiplied by the error rate and by the error cost:

• Example 1: Traditional picking, 10.000 cases per day, 0,5% errors and

$10 per error and 250 days per year

→$125.000 per year

• Example 2: Voice picking, 10.000 cases per day, 0,1% errors and $10 per error and 250 days per year

→$25.000 per year

vs.

1. Error rates are quite often reported to go down dramatically with PbV

2. Pickers can focus on the execution without interruption because of cross checking the content of a screen

device

PbV Can Increase Process Accuracy Significantly






demoWrap-Up



10

0.35

0.50.49

0.4

1.17

0.08

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

Paper basedpicking

Pick to Label HandheldTerminals

Pick to Light HandheldTerminals with Pick

to Label

Pick by Voice

Error Rates of Picking Methods

Average Error Rate (%) Number of Installations

Source: Andreas Lolling, Analyse der menschlichen Zuverlässigkeit bei Kommissioniertätigkeiten, Analysis of human reliability of picking operations, Shaker Verlag, 2003

vs.

1. All case studies show significant reduction of error rates

2. Comprehensive comparisons are rare, but all come to the same conclusion

Comparison of Error Rates of Picking Methods






demoWrap-Up



11

Eyes and hands-free is a big advantage, e.g.:

• Better ergonomics for heavy and large items

• Temperature: Frozen areas and gloves and handling of mobile devices

• Better overall safety

Less user training

• Operators usually need less training

• It is easier to move operators to other areas

• Improvements in speech recognition make voice pattern obsolete

• Initial speech training effort for devices will become obsolete

Multi-modal devices combine lightweight displays with PbV capabilities

vs.

Other Benefits and Advantages of Pick by Voice






demoWrap-Up



12

What We’ll Cover






Wrap-Up



13

EWM offers functions and features for optimizing warehouse logistics for a broad range of industries and classes

of warehouses

Warehouse Centric Network Logistics Transportation CentricProduction

Distribution Center Spare Parts Management Hubs and Yards Embedded Logistics

• Core Warehousing Operations

• Customs Handling

• Transportation Integration

• Shipment Consolidation

• Value Added Services

• Supply to production

• Reverse Logistics

• Cross-Docking

• Order entry processing & fulfilment

• Warehouse Automation

• Inventory Planning/Deployment

SAP EWM Is the Right System for All Warehouses and Industries




Picking process control with SAP Extended Warehouse

Management (EWM)



demoWrap-Up



14

Inbound Delivery Processing

Unloading & ROD

Internal Routing

Deconsolidation

Quality Inspection

Repacking

Putaway

Bin Determination

Catch-Weight

Cross-Docking (Planned & Opportunistic)

Unloading & Receipt on Dock

Scrapping

Cartonization

Slotting

Rearrangement

Inventory Counts

Replenishment

Scrapping

Batch Management

Best-Before

Resource Management

Labelling, Tagging, Kitting, Value Added Services

Outbound Delivery Processing

Route Determination

Wave Management

Pallet-Building

Picking Execution

Goods Issue

Packing / Consolidation

Consolidation

Loading

Staging

Inb

ou

nd

Pro

ce

ss

ing

Serialization

Alerts & Exceptions

Shipping Cockpit

RFID

Consignment

Storage Conditions

Warehouse Automation & Material Flow Control

TU & Vehicle Appointment TU & Vehicle Appointment

Labor Management

Mobile Device Integration

Sto

rag

e &

Op

era

tio

ns

Ou

tbo

un

d P

roc

es

sin

g

Cro

ss

an

d

Su

pp

ort

ing

Fu

nc

tio

ns

Kit to Order

SAP EWM Function Map





Management (EWM)



demoWrap-Up



15

Picking

Packing and

Consolidation

Value-Added

Services

Staging

Loading

Pick &

Pack Staging

Loading

Process Control is

independent from

execution: Paper, Mobile

Terminal, Voice

SAP EWM Core Concepts: Process-Oriented Storage Control





Management (EWM)



demoWrap-Up

Picking and Dynamic Material Handling Steps with Interim Movements



16

Wave

Management

Order items

Outbound

Delivery

Order 1

Outbound

Delivery

Order 1

Outbound

Delivery

Order 1

Picking Task

Creation

WT 1

WT 2

WT 3

WT 4

WT 5

Warehouse

Order

Creation Rule

Item FilterSubtotal

Filter

Size LimitsPacking

Profile

Sorting

Rules

Warehouse

Orders

WT 1

WT 2

WT 5

WT 3

WT 4

WO1

WO 2

Wave

4000000003

Wave

4000000003

SAP EWM Core Concepts: Waving and Warehouse Order Creation





Management (EWM)



demoWrap-Up

1. Wave Management: The batch of work for picking lists for paper, mobile computers, and voice

2. Warehouse Order Creation: Groups of tasks for efficient picking processes



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System Guided Picking with SAP EWM





Management (EWM)



demoWrap-Up

A simple picking process for two orders requiring packing

consolidation after picking

The same process will be shown with pick by voice afterwards

Picker logs in

at his device

Picking

operation

mode is

started

First picking

order is

started

Picker

confirms

tasks

EWM guides

picker to

packing



18

What We’ll Cover






Wrap-Up



19

SAP Extended Warehouse

Management with MFS

SAP NetWeaver® < 7.5

SAP Plant Connectivity

RFC

TCP/IP

Socket

PLC1 PLC2 PLC3

TCP/IP

Socket

PLC1 PLC2 PLC3


Management with MFS

SAP NetWeaver >= 7.5

PLC1 PLC2 PLC3


Management

any SAP NetWeaver

3rd party MCU

TCP/IP

Socket

IDocTCP/IP

Socket

Connecting ASRS, Conveyors, and Pick-to-Light to SAP EWM





Integration aspects of Pick by Voice functionality with SAP

EWM


demoWrap-Up

EWM can control complex automated storage and retrieval systems as well as automated material flow systems

like conveyors



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Device1 Device2 Device3


Management with MFS

any SAP NetWeaver

Device1 Device2 Device3


Management

any SAP NetWeaver

3rd Party System

IDoc

3rd Party

ProtocolHTTP/

HTTPS

Connecting Mobile Devices with SAP EWM






EWM


demoWrap-Up

Mobile devices like handheld computers or Pick by Voice systems are connected via HTTP/HTTPS. Sub-systems

with IDocs are not very common anymore.



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WLAN Network

• Access points for PbV

devices

• Connection to the

LAN/ WAN

infrastructure

Optional: Middleware

• Administration and

Configuration of PbV-Devices

• Central Online Connection

Access Point (optional,

depending on scenario)

– Client to SAP EWM

SAP EWM Server

• HTTP/HTTPS Web Server

• SAP GUI Dynpros

translated to HTML

SAP

EWM

SAP

ERP

Online Integration of PbV and SAP EWM






EWM


demoWrap-Up



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Thick Client

• Entire business and workflow logic

controlled by the client.

• All user interaction is handled by the

client

• Picking confirmation per picking

list/warehouse order or per picking

list item/warehouse task

• Usually no real-time processing and

restricted exception handling

• Synchronization middleware or Z

services to integrate with SAP EWM

• IDoc or RFC

1 2 3Thin Client

• No business logic, only control of

input and output

• Any user interaction controlled by

EWM

• Confirmation is done in real-time in

SAP for each picking task

• Real-time processing and full

exception handling

• No middleware necessary

• HTTP via ITSmobile

Half-Thick Client

• Business logic on the client and in

SAP EWM

• User input validation in the task

• Confirmation is done in real-time in

SAP for each picking task

• Real-time processing but limited

SAP

interaction

• No middleware necessary

• RFC

Thin vs. Thick Client






EWM


demoWrap-Up

Although SAP EWM is foreseen to integrate with “thin” clients, it is worth considering “thick” or “half-thick”

clients



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SAP GUI Standard PbV Logon

Screen• Display profile “*1” to switch to PbV mode

for the resource

1 2 3Transformation into HTML• SAP Generator Mobile Device with Speech

Input to be used

Browser View of the Dynpro

HTML Transformation of Dynpros for PbV






Configuration of SAP EWM for Pick by Voice functionality and

live demoWrap-Up

PbV makes use of the same ITS mobile HTML transformation as normal graphical devices



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System Guided Picking by Voice







live demoWrap-Up

1st Screen/Pick HUs1 2 3Source Screen Browser View of the Dynpro

BAdIs for PbV

• Modify Screen Field

Voice Properties

• Maintain Voice

Properties

Command List

• All available

commands

are provided to the

PbV System

• Commands are

configured as for

normal mobile

transactions

(RF Framework)



25

Configuration Sequence







live demoWrap-Up

Create an ITSmobile Service1 2 3Generate Dynpros for System

Guided Picking

Create a resource and a user

… and connect it to

/SCWM/RFUI_PBV

4 Connect and Configure PbV

Hardware



26

System Guided Picking with SAP EWM

A simple picking process for two orders requiring packing

consolidation after picking

This is the standard voice picking workflow for SAP EWM

Picker logs in

at his device

Picking

operation

mode is

started

First picking

order is

started

Picker

confirms

tasks

EWM guides

picker to

packing







live demoWrap-Up



27

Where to Find More Information







demoWrap-Up

www.mwpvl.com/html/order_pick_technologies.html

John Harper, “Distribution Center Order Picking Technologies Compared” (MWPVL International).

www.vitechgroup.com/web/solutions/voice/voiceinaction.aspx

Voice in Action Videos from Vitech

Roger Byford, David Maloney, “The Talking Warehouse: Understanding How Voice Unleashes Higher

Performance in Product Distribution” (Vocollect, Inc., 2013).

http://help.sap.com

Follow Supply Chain Management SAP Extended Warehouse Management SAP Extended Warehouse

Management (EWM) 9.4 Application Help SAP Library (Language) SAP Extended Warehouse

Management (SAP EWM) Radio Frequency Framework Pick by Voice

http://www.mwpvl.com/html/order_pick_technologies.html

http://www.vitechgroup.com/web/solutions/voice/voiceinaction.aspx

http://help.sap.com/



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1. It is about time to question the benefits of traditional mobile device picking and to consider

Pick by Voice as the right option to optimize picking

2. PbV hardware costs are in the same range as other mobile devices

3. ROI of Pick by Voice is made by accuracy and efficiency

4. Pick by Voice is one of the features of SAP Extended Warehouse Management, which is the

powerful system for all types of warehouses and logistics requirements

5. SAP EWM handles system guided picking and system guided voice picking in the same

consistent way, the core process control is applicable for all process areas and devices

6. Pick by Voice systems can be integrated in different ways into SAP EWM; the standard option

is to make use of thin clients connected via HTTP and ITSmobile

7. Even bespoken PbV solutions can be integrated in real time into SAP EWM

7 Key Points to Take Home







demoWrap-Up



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Westernacher Consulting ME FZ-LLC

Building 12, 1st Floor, Dubai Internet City,

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Phone: +971 4 313 2980

Web: www.westernacher-consulting.com

E-Mail: [email protected]

License no. 93894

Neil Wightman

Head of Supply Chain, Middle East

Phone: +971 4 313 2980

Mobile: +44 (0) 755432332

[email protected]

Your Turn!

mailto:[email protected]



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Westernacher Consulting and Services · Westernacher Consulting and Services ... SAP EWM Is the Right System for All Warehouses and Industries ... Labelling, Tagging, Kitting, Value