Managing Material Picking Waves in Oracle Applications

An Oracle Topical Essay February 2000

Managing Material Picking Waves in Oracle Applications

MATERIAL PICKING WAVES

Oracle Applications Release 11i provides new flexibility and control for managing material picking waves. The pick release and picking process is a whole integrated business flow involving Supply Chain Reservations, Shipping Execution, Move Orders, and Directed Picking Rules. Together, these features allow you to manage staging locations, report inventory inaccuracies and shortages detected during picking, view potential shortages and backorders prior to ship confirmation and take advantage of cross docking opportunities. The new picking process is also customizable, allowing each organization to determine the level of control they need over inventory management. Picking entities are also available with a full suite of APIs, to allow you to easily integrate third party systems and mobile devices for enhanced flexibility.
Key Features

The new material picking flow relies on several features new to Release 11i. For further information on each of these features, please refer to the Oracle Inventory Users Guide.
Move Orders

A Move Order is a request for a subinventory transfer or account issue. In Release 11i, Move Orders could be created manually or automatically through Inventory replenishment mechanisms such as Min-Max Planning, Replenishment Counts or Kanban Card signals. With the introduction of Oracle Order Management, the Pick Release process now creates Move Orders. These Pick Wave Move Orders are pre-approved requests for subinventory transfers to bring material from its source locations in the warehouse to a staging subinventory.
Supply Chain Reservations

Supply Chain Reservations provide the ability to globally manage the reservations between any supply and demand source. The supply source is available on hand inventory. The demand requirements are initiated by sales

orders. Reservations created for sales orders are automatically updated and transferred for you as the Move Order is released and transacted.
Picking Rules

Move Orders will use the Picking Rules set up in Oracle Inventory to locate the material required to fulfill the Move Order Line. Together with itemsubinventory defaults (required if the staging subinventory is locator controlled), the Picking Rules suggest the staging transfer transaction lines with appropriate source information that will be required to obtain enough material in the staging location for the delivery. The process by which the Picking Engine generates these transaction line suggestions is called Allocating.
Staging Locations

The destination subinventory on the Pick Wave Move Order is the staging location into which the picked material should be deposited. Each organization should designate at least one staging subinventory. Each batch created at pick release will have the same destination staging subinventory. The default staging subinventory and locator to be used for all Pick Wave Move Orders are specified through Oracle Shipping Executions Shipping Parameters form. This location can be changed at Pick Release. To model different staging lanes within the staging area, facilities may choose to either create different subinventories or designate staging lane locators within one Staging subinventory.
Configuring Your Picking Process

You can now determine the number of pick release steps the system will prompt them to employ in order to move material from Pick Release to Ship Confirmation. These steps are: 1. Pick Release 2. Move Order Line Allocating 3. Move Order Line Pick Confirmation 4. Ship Confirmation
Pick Release

Oracle Shipping Executions Pick Release process a creates Move Order. One order is created per pick release batch per organization. Thus if you pick release across multiple organizations, one move order is generated in each facility. One Move Order line is generated for each order line included in the picking batch. That Move Order line will include the item, quantity, the staging location (the destination subinventory and locator) and a source subinventory and locator if one was specified on the sales order line or on the Release Sales Orders form.

Allocating

In order to release the Move Order lines created at Pick Release to the warehouse and print pick slips the lines must be allocated. The process by which the Picking Engine generates transaction line suggestions is called Allocating. The allocating process for a Pick Wave Move Order Line also creates a high level (organization level) Reservation for the item(s) if no Reservations previously existed. You can choose to do this immediately after the Move Order Lines are created or to postpone this step until a later point in time. Postponing the allocation process might be employed by organizations that pick release across multiple warehouses but prefer to allow each warehouse to determine when to release their order lines to the floor. Allocating the order lines immediately after they are created is called auto-allocation. Postponing the allocation process is referred to as manual-allocation. You can set up a default detailing mode in the Shipping Execution organization parameters. This default can be overridden at each Pick Release.
Pick Confirmation

The Move Order Line Details (transaction lines) created by the detailing process must be transacted to confirm the material drop-off in staging. This process is called Pick Confirmation. Pick confirmation executes the subinventory transfer that moves the material from its source location in the warehouse into the Staging location. Pick Confirmation automatically transfers the high level Reservation to a detailed Reservation (including lots, subinventory and locators) in the Staging location. At pick confirmation, you can report a missing quantity or change the transaction line if the picker chose to use material from a different lot, serial, locator or subinventory. If an organizations picks rarely deviate from the suggested picking lines and the overhead of requiring a Pick Confirmation is unmanageable, the Pick Confirm transactions can occur immediately after the lines are detailed. This option is called auto pick confirm. You can set up a default Pick Confirm policy in the Inventory organization parameters. This default can be overridden at each Pick Release. Note that even if an automatic pick confirm is employed, the material is only transacted to the Staging subinventory and reserved. You can still manage any discrepancies found by deleting the reservation and transacting the material back to its original subinventory. If mobile devices such as bar code scanners are used to perform Inventory transactions, it is suggested that you use manual pick confirmation for greatest inventory accuracy and control.
Ship Confirmation

The material picking process ends when the items are ship confirmed out of Inventory. Ship confirming the items removes the existing Reservations and performs the sales order issue transaction. You may choose to ship confirm only part of the Sales Order quantity. In this case, the balance of the sales order may be backordered. Backordering at Ship Confirm automatically splits the Sales

Order into two lines. The first line represents the shipped quantity. The second line represents the backordered quantity. The backordered line is automatically Pick Released by Oracle Shipping Execution. A Move Order line is automatically generated for the backordered quantity.
Serial Numbers

Detailing can suggest Serial Numbers to be transacted to fulfill the Pick Wave Move Order Line. You can change the suggested serial numbers if the picker chose different serials. Some organizations, however, may choose to not suggest serial numbers and require the pickers to enter the numbers they have selected. This option is enabled using a Profile Option. The option is called INV: Allocate Serials. If you choose not to allocate serial numbers, any Pick Wave Move Order line for a serialized item will not be automatically pick confirmed and the picker will have to enter the serial numbers before the material is transacted into staging and becomes eligible for Ship Confirmation. Thus if all orders should be automatically pick confirmed, the profile option must be set to Yes. No reservations are placed on the specific serial numbers that are pick confirmed so if the picker chooses a serial number that was not recommended by the system, you can perform a subinventory transfer to move the correct serial number to the staging location and then perform another subinventory transfer to move the erroneous serial number back into the storage location. At Pick Confirmation, Oracle Shipping Execution collects the serial numbers that were transacted into Staging and assigns them to the appropriate Delivery Line. It is no longer necessary to enter serial numbers at Ship Confirmation unless a change occurs and you have decided to ship different units than those suggested.
Reservations

The material picking process also manages Supply Chain Reservations for you. If no reservation was created prior to pick release through Oracle Order Management or Oracle Inventory, a high level (organization wide) reservation is placed on the item for that sales order. When the move order is transacted at pick confirmation, that reservation is transferred to a detail level (including locators, lots, revisions and the staging subinventory) reservation in the staging location. It is thus advisable to make the staging locations a reservable subinventory.
Changes to Picking Process

The Detailing and Pick Confirm processes are new to Oracle Applications Release 11i. The changes were designed to provide increased flexibility and to provide greater inventory accuracy. Some organizations may prefer to continue managing their picking process as it had been done prior Release 11i. To bypass the additional steps check the Auto Allocate box in the Shipping Parameters form, do not check the Pick Confirmation Required box in the Inventory

Organization Parameters form and set the Inventory Profile INV: Allocate Serials to Yes.
Exception Management

The new Material Pick Wave functionality also gives warehouse and facility managers visibility to potential shortages and backorders before Ship Confirmation occurs and enables Opportunistic Cross Docking.
Identifying Potential Shortages

If the Detailing process was unable to locate enough material to fulfill the Move Order Line, a shortage situation exists. The Move Order Line stores both the requested quantity and the quantity that has been sourced by the detailing process. If the requested quantity exceeds the sourced quantity, a potential shortage exists. Users can view these shortages through the Oracle Inventory View Potential Shortages form and the Oracle Inventory Shortage Summary Report. A short Move Order line can be re-detailed through the Move Order Transaction form or by Re-releasing the Sales Order through Pick Release.
Reporting Inventory Inaccuracies

An inventory inaccuracy in a warehouse could result in a shortage condition. In this event, a picker will be unable to pick the complete quantity. If the picker was not able to pick the line as suggested, he or she may enter the quantity they were unable to locate in the missing quantity field in the Move Order Line Details, through the Move Order Transaction form. Entering a missing quantity will change the sourced quantity on the Move Order Line so that a potential shortage will exist. The Move Order Line can be re-detailed in the same form allowing the system to direct the picker to another location in inventory to find more material. When a missing quantity is reported through this form, Oracle Inventory will transfer the reservation that exists for that quantity to a Cycle Count reservation. This will not create a cycle count header but the reservation will ensure that future detailing processes do not direct pickers to the material that is reported as missing. A cycle count performed on that item in that location will consume the Reservation. If automatic pick confirmation is used, a picker cannot report a missing quantity in the Move Order Transaction form. A cycle count quantity can still be entered at Ship Confirm. A cycle count reservation will still be created but it will now be for the item in the staging location. Unfortunately, by then, the inventory inaccuracy had started in the warehouse and has now been extended to also exist in Staging. The reservation will not prevent the detailing process from directing pickers to the original source of the accuracy problem.
Opportunistic Cross Docking

If, during the Detailing process, there was not enough material available to stage for the sales order, a shortage situation exists. Upon the receipt of another supply of the item, you will receive a Shortage Message. For more information on the Shortage Message functionality, please refer to the Oracle Inventory Users Guide. The Shortage Message alerts you of the cross docking opportunity. At this point, the material can be expedited to the staging location rather than delivered to a storage area. You can complete the receipt and deliver the material directly to Staging or receive into a receiving dock location and direct a picker to get material from the receiving area and deposit it directly to the outbound staging location. The Move Order Line can then be re-detailed through the Move Order Transaction form and the reservations will be automatically updated to include the newly received items. A pick slip can be reprinted to include the material at the dock.
Order Cancellations

With the new material picking process, a sales order can now be canceled after it has been pick released without requiring you to backorder in Oracle Shipping Execution. If an order quantity is reduced after pick released, any requested and detailed quantities on the Move Order line are reduced accordingly and any Reservations that exist for the Sales Order will be updated to reflect the new order quantity. These changes are made automatically and require no intervention from you.
FURTHER READING

Detailed discussions of each of the features discussed above can be found in the Oracle Applications Users Guides. For further information on Supply Chain Reservations, Move Orders and Shortage Messages and Reporting, please refer to the Oracle Inventory Users Guide. For information on Pick Release, Ship Confirmation and Deliveries, please refer to the Oracle Shipping Execution Users Guide. These guides outline the fields, functions and transactions required to execute the business processes discussed above.

Managing Material Picking Waves in Oracle Applications February 2000 Author: Jennifer Sherman Copyright Oracle Corporation 2000 All Rights Reserved Printed in the U.S.A. This document is provided for informational purposes only and the information herein is subject to change without notice. Please report any errors herein to Oracle Corporation. Oracle Corporation does not provide any warranties covering and specifically disclaims any liability in connection with this document. Oracle is a registered trademark.

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