Back to D210: Inv Order Mgmt Automated Warehouse Operations

Lesson 6: Automated Picking and Packing Operations

In this lesson, you will learn how to pick and pack items using warehouse management forms with automated operations.

Picking and Packing Operations: General Information

If the Warehouse Management and Fulfillment features are enabled on the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form, you can perform the automated picking and packing of inventory items for shipping by using a barcode scanner or a mobile device with a scanning option. You can perform automated picking of items for open shipments prepared for sales orders, transfer orders, and return orders—that is, the shipments of the Shipment, Transfer, and Receipt operation type specified on the Shipments (SO302000) form, respectively. You can perform automated packing for open shipments prepared for sales orders and transfer orders with at least one picked item. In this topic, you will read about the workflow for the automated picking and packing of inventory items in Acumatica ERP. The workflow in this topic is based on the assumption that your system has the recommended configuration described in Picking and Packing Operations: Implementation Checklist.

Learning Objectives

In this lesson, you will do the following:

Learn the recommended settings that you can specify to make the system fit your business requirements
Pick the items for a shipment in an automated mode
Pack the items into a box in an automated mode
Confirm a shipment aer picking and packing items

Applicable Scenario

In your company's warehouses, picking processes and packing processes are completed by diﬀerent warehouse workers. Each warehouse worker acting as a picker goes through the warehouse with a printed pick list, picks the items from the warehouse locations specified in the pick list, and transfers them to a packing line. A packer that works at the packing line selects the box for packing the shipment and packs the items; aer the shipment is completely packed, the packer confirms the shipment. To track the operations as they are being performed, both pickers and packers scan the appropriate barcodes by using a barcode scanner or mobile device.

Workflow for the Automated Picking of Items

The automated processing of picking items to be packed involves the actions shown in the following diagram. Lesson 6: Automated Picking and Packing Operations | 45

To process the picking of items by using Pick mode, you perform the following steps:

Switch to Pick mode. You open the Pick, Pack, and Ship (SO302020) form (or the corresponding screen in the Acumatica mobile app) and switch to Pick mode by scanning or entering the @pick barcode.
Scan the shipment number. To start the automated processing, you scan the reference number of the shipment to be processed. The system displays the lines of the scanned document in the table and inserts the reference number of the document that is currently selected for processing in the Shipment Nbr. box.

Scan the location barcode. Lesson 6: Automated Picking and Packing Operations | 46

   When you scan the barcode of the location from which the item is picked, the system searches for the
   location in the lines of the document that is currently selected.

Scan the item barcode. When you scan the barcode of the picked item, the system searches for the item in the lines of the currently selected document. If the UOM defined by the barcode of the scanned item is specified for a non-base unit of measure (UOM), the system converts the item quantity defined by this barcode to the picked quantity in the base unit of measure for this item. The system displays the picked quantity in the Picked Quantity column and highlights the line (in bold if the line has been picked partially, or in green if the line has been picked in full).
Optional: Scan the item quantity. To change the picked quantity in the line that is currently being processed, you switch to Quantity Editing mode by scanning or entering the *qty barcode, and manually enter the quantity in the UOM of defined by the barcode of the scanned item. If the shipment contains lines of multiple sales orders with the same item and location, you can enter the consolidated quantity of these lines. The system will automatically distribute the entered quantity among the lines with this item.
Pick another line. If another item needs to be picked for the currently selected location, you scan the item barcode (return to Step 4) and repeat the process for the item.
Pick items from another location. If you need to pick items from another location, you scan the location barcode (return to Step 3), and repeat the process for the location. If you have finished the picking operation, to proceed with packaging, you scan the @pack barcode to switch to Pack mode.

Workflow for the Automated Packing of Items

The automated processing of packing items that have been picked involves the actions shown in the following diagram. Lesson 6: Automated Picking and Packing Operations | 47

To process the packing of items (and use Pack mode) aer picking them, you perform the following steps: Lesson 6: Automated Picking and Packing Operations | 48

Switch to Pack mode. You open the Pick, Pack, and Ship (SO302020) form (or the corresponding screen in the Acumatica mobile app) and switch to Pack mode by scanning or entering @pack barcode.
Optional: Scan the document number. To start automated processing, you scan the reference number of the shipment to be processed. (If you have switched to Pack mode from Pick mode with the document selected, the document is selected automatically.) The system shows the lines of the document in the table and inserts the reference number of the document that is currently selected for processing in the Shipment Nbr. box.

Scan the barcode of the box. You scan the barcode of the box into which the items will be packed.

       If the Automatic Packaging feature is enabled on the Enable/Disable Features (CS101000) form,
       this step is performed automatically.

Scan the item barcode. When you scan the barcode of the packed item, the system searches for the item in the lines of the document that is currently selected. If the UOM defined by the barcode of the scanned item corresponds to a non-base unit of measure, the system converts the item quantity defined by this barcode to the packed quantity in the base unit of measure for this item. The system also shows the packed quantity in the Packed Quantity column, and highlights the line (in bold if the line has been processed partially, or in green if the line has been processed in full).
Optional: Scan the item quantity. To change the quantity of packed items in the line that is currently being processed, you switch to Quantity Editing mode by scanning or entering the *qty barcode, and manually enter the quantity in the UOM defined by the barcode of the scanned item.
Pack another line. If another item needs to be packed in the current box, you return to scanning the item barcode (return to Step 4) and repeat the process for the item.
Optional: Confirm the box. If all items are packed in a single box, you confirm the box by scanning the packageconfirm barcode or by clicking the Confirm Package button. If the items are packed in multiple boxes, the system automatically confirms the current box when you scan the barcode of the next box to be packed for the current shipment.
```
       If the Automatic Packaging feature is enabled on the Enable/Disable Features form, this step
       is performed automatically for the shipments that are being packed to a single box that the
       system has suggested automatically.
```
Optional: Enter the box weight. If the Confirm Weight for Each Package check box is selected on the Warehouse Management tab of the Sales Orders Preferences (SO101000) form, the system requires you to confirm the weight of each box aer you confirm the package. If you want to accept the automatically calculated weight of the box, you can do that by clicking OK on the form toolbar or by scanning the *ok command. If you want to change the calculated weight of the box, you must enter the new value to continue to the next step.

Optional: Enter the new package dimensions. If the Confirm Dimensions for Packages with Editable Dimensions check box is selected on the Warehouse Management tab of the Sales Orders Preferences form and you confirm a package that includes Lesson 6: Automated Picking and Packing Operations | 49

    a box with the Editable Dimensions check box selected on the Boxes (CS207600) form, the system requires
    you to confirm the existing dimensions or enter diﬀerent dimensions for the box.
    If you want to accept the default dimensions of the box, you can do that by clicking OK on the form toolbar
    or by scanning the *ok command. If you want to change the dimensions of the box, you must enter the
    length, width, and height (in this order) in one string with a space as a separator to continue to the next step.
    The following example shows the entry of dimensions: 20 15 40.
 10.Pack another box.
    If more items need to be packed to another box for the current shipment, you return to scanning the
    barcode of the box barcode (return to Step 3) and repeat the process for another box.
 11.Complete the packing process.
    If you have finished the packing operation and you do not need to specify shipping options, you scan the
    *confirm*shipment barcode or click the Confirm Shipment button on the form toolbar. The system
    confirms the shipment on the Shipments (SO302000) form.

Picking and Packing Operations: Process Activity

In the following activity, you will learn how to perform the picking and packing of items for a shipment by using the Pick, Pack, and Ship (SO302020) form.

Story

Suppose that you are a warehouse worker of the wholesale warehouse of the SweetLife Fruits & Jams company. Your warehouse manager gives you a task to prepare a shipment. In your organization, the pick and pack workflow is used, which means that you go through the warehouse locations and pick the items listed in the shipment pick list. Then you go to the packing line and pack the picked items into boxes.

Configuration Overview

In the U100 dataset, the following tasks have been performed to support this activity:

On the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form, the following features have been enabled in the Inventory and Order Management group of features:
Multiple Warehouse Locations
Warehouse Management
Fulfillment
On the Warehouse Management tab of the Sales Orders Preferences (SO101000) form, the Display the Pick Tab and the Display the Pack Tab check boxes are selected.
On the Warehouses (IN204000) form, the WHOLESALE warehouse has been created. On the Locations tab, the following warehouse locations have been defined: L3R2S1 and L2R1S3.
On the Stock Items (IN202500) form, the following stock items have been created, and the corresponding alternate IDs with the Barcode type have been defined on the Cross-Reference tab:
```
                For simplicity, in this activity, the alternate IDs will be further referred to as barcodes.
```
APJAM08, which has the AJ08 barcode
ORJAM32, which has the OJ32 barcode
On the Boxes (CS207600) form, the MEDIUM box has been defined. Lesson 6: Automated Picking and Packing Operations | 50
On the Sales Orders (SO301000) form, the 000030 sales order for the COFFEESHOP customer has been created.
On the Shipments (SO302000) form, the 000029 shipment has been created for this sales order.

Process Overview

In this activity, you will do the following:

Acting as a picker, you will open the Pick, Pack, and Ship (SO302020) form, and scan the number of the shipment. Then you will pick the items from the warehouse locations and scan their barcodes and quantities.
Acting as a packer, you will switch to Pack mode on the same form and scan the barcode of the box to which you pack the items. Then you will scan the item barcodes and the quantities of the items being packed into the box, and confirm the shipment.

Acting as the warehouse manager, you will open the Shipments (SO302000) form and review the shipment.

       In any working mode, you enter a command or barcode by typing it in the Scan box and pressing
       Enter. In production systems, you will scan the appropriate barcodes rather than manually entering
       them.

System Preparation

Before you start performing the automated picking and packing operations, on the Warehouse Management tab of the Sales Orders Preferences (SO101000) form, make sure that the Display the Pick Tab and Display the Pack Tab check boxes are selected.

Step 1: Picking Items for Shipping To record that the items to be added to a shipment have been picked from the warehouse locations, do the following:

Open the Pick, Pack, and Ship (SO302020) form, and make sure the Pick tab is opened.
In the Scan box, type 000029, which is the reference number of the shipment for which you are performing picking and packing operations, and press Enter. The system loads the shipment lines to the table on the Pick tab, and shows the reference number of the shipment that is currently being processed in the Shipment Nbr. box of the Summary area.
Enter L3R2S1 to select the location from which the item is picked.
Enter AJ08 to pick the item. (AJ08 is the barcode for APJAM08, the 8-ounce jar of apple jam, which is included in the 000029 shipment.) The system highlights the first line of the shipment in bold and specifies 1 as the Picked Quantity.
Set the quantity of the item to 10 as follows: a. On the form toolbar, click Set Qty. The system prompts you to enter the item quantity. b. In the Scan box, enter 10. The system highlights the corresponding line of the shipment in green and specifies 10 as the Picked Quantity.
Enter L2R1S3 to select another location from which the item is picked.
Enter OJ32 to select the item being picked. (OJ32 is the barcode for ORJAM32, the 32-ounce jar of orange jam, which is included in the 000029 shipment.) The system highlights the second line of the shipment in bold and specifies 1 as the Picked Quantity. Lesson 6: Automated Picking and Packing Operations | 51
Set the quantity of the line to 8. The system highlights in green the second line of the shipment and specifies 8 as the Picked Quantity.
You have picked the items for the shipment, and now you can proceed with packing the shipment.

Step 2: Packing Items for Shipping To record that the items have been packed into a box, do the following:

While you are still viewing the 000029 shipment on the Pick, Pack, and Ship (SO302020) form, enter @pack in the Scan box to switch to Pack mode. Notice that the shipment is still selected and its reference number is shown in the Shipment Nbr. box of the Summary area.
Enter MEDIUM to select the box for packaging the shipment.
Enter AJ08 to select the item being packed. The system highlights the first line of the shipment in bold and specifies 1 as the Packed Quantity.
Set the quantity of the item to 10 as follows: a. On the form toolbar, click Set Qty. The system prompts you to enter the item quantity. b. In the Scan box, enter 10. The system highlights the first line of the shipment in green and specifies 10 as the Packed Quantity.
Enter OJ32 to select the item being packed.
Set the quantity of the item to 8. The shipment is packed in full now.
On the form toolbar, click Confirm Package to confirm the package.
On the form toolbar, click Confirm Shipment.

Step 3: Reviewing the Shipment To review the result and make sure that the shipment has been confirmed, do the following:

While you are still viewing the 000029 shipment on the Pick, Pack, and Ship (SO302020) form, click the Edit button next to the Shipment Nbr. box. On the Shipments (SO302000) form, which opens, review the shipment that you have processed earlier. It is now assigned the Confirmed status.
Review the Packages tab. Notice that one MEDIUM box is shown in the upper table, and the Contents of Selected Package table shows the items that you have packed into this box, as shown in the following screenshot. Lesson 6: Automated Picking and Packing Operations | 52
Figure: Confirmed shipment

The shipment processing is completed. Lesson 7: Automated Packing Operations | 53