Back to D210: Inv Order Mgmt Automated Warehouse Operations

Lesson 7: Automated Packing Operations

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

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 packing of inventory items for shipping by using a barcode scanner or a mobile device with a scanning option. You can perform automated packing for open shipments prepared for sales orders and transfer orders—that is, the shipments of the Shipment and Transfer operation type specified on the Shipments (SO302000) form, respectively.

In this topic, you will read about the workflow for the automated 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 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
Pack items for a shipment in an automated mode
Confirm a shipment aer packing the items

Applicable Scenario

In your company's warehouses, there is no separate packing line, so each warehouse worker goes through the warehouse with a printed pick list, picks the items from the warehouse locations specified in the pick list, and immediately packs the items into a box for shipping. The warehouse worker then confirms the shipment. To track the performed operations, the warehouse worker scans the appropriate barcodes by using a barcode scanner or mobile device.

Workflow for the Automated Packing of Items

The automated processing of packing items involves the actions shown in the following diagram. Lesson 7: Automated Packing Operations | 54

To process the packing of items (and use Pack mode) without picking them, you perform the following steps:

Switch to Pack mode. Lesson 7: Automated Packing Operations | 55
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.
Scan the document number. To start the automated processing, you scan the reference number of the shipment to be processed. The system shows 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 barcode of the box. You scan the barcode of the box to which the items will be packed.
Scan the location barcode. When you scan the barcode of the location from which the item is being taken for packing, the system searches for the location in the lines of the document that is currently selected.
Scan the item barcode. When you scan the item 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 displays the packed quantity in the Packed Quantity column, and highlights the line (in bold if the line is processed partially, or in green if the line is processed in full).
Optional: Scan the item quantity. To change the packed 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 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 (that is, return to Step 4) and repeat the process for the item.
Optional: Confirm the package. If all items are packed in a single box, you confirm the box by scanning the *ok 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.
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. 10.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 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. 11.Pack another box. Lesson 7: Automated Packing Operations | 56
```
    If at least one other item needs to be packed for the current shipment, you return to scanning the barcode of
    the box (that is, return to Step 3) and repeat the process for another box.
 12.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 that is currently being processed on the Shipments (SO302000) form.
```

Packing Operations: Process Activity

In the following activity, you will learn how to perform the 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 pack a shipment. In your organization, the pack workflow is used, which means that you go through the warehouse locations, take the items, and pack the items into boxes for shipping.

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 Warehouses (IN204000) form, the WHOLESALE warehouse has been created. On the Locations tab, the following warehouse locations have been defined: L3R2S2 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.
On the Sales Orders (SO301000) form, the 000032 sales order for the COFFEESHOP customer has been created.
On the Shipments (SO302000) form, the 000031 shipment has been created for this sales order.

Process Overview

In this activity, acting as a packer, you will do the following:

Open the Pick, Pack, and Ship (SO302020) form and scan the number of the shipment. Then you will scan the following barcodes required for the shipment packing: a. The box to which you pack the items Lesson 7: Automated Packing Operations | 57
```
   b. The location from which you take the items
   c. The packed items
   d. The quantities of the packed items.
   When the packing is finished, you will confirm the shipment.
```

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 the automated packing operations, you need to perform the following instructions on the Warehouse Management tab of the Sales Orders Preferences (SO101000) form:

Clear the Display the Pick Tab check box.
Make sure that the Display the Pack Tab check box is selected.
On the form toolbar, click Save.

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

Open the Pick, Pack, and Ship (SO302020) form, and make sure the Pack tab is opened.

              If the Pack tab does not appear by default, you can type @pack in the Scan box and press
              Enter to switch to Pack mode.

In the Scan box, enter 000031, which is the reference number of the shipment for which you are performing picking and packing operations. The system loads the shipment lines to the table on the Pack tab, and shows the reference number of the shipment that is currently being processed in the Shipment Nbr. box of the Summary area.
Enter MEDIUM to select the box to which the items are packed.
Enter L3R2S2 to specify the first location from which the items are taken.
Enter AJ08 to pack the item. (AJ08 is the barcode for APJAM08, the 8-ounce jar of apple jam, which is included in the 000031 shipment.) The system highlights the first line of the shipment in bold and specifies 1 as the Picked Quantity and Packed Quantity.
Set the quantity of the current line 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, type 10. The system highlights the first line of the shipment in green and specifies 10 as the Picked Quantity and Packed Quantity.
Enter L2R1S3 to specify the next location from which the items are taken.
Enter OJ32 to pack the item. (OJ32 is the barcode for ORJAM32, the 32-ounce jar of orange jam, which is included in the 000031 shipment.)
Set the quantity of the item to 7. 10.On the form toolbar, click Confirm Package to confirm the package. Lesson 7: Automated Packing Operations | 58
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11.On the form toolbar, click Confirm Shipment to confirm the shipment document, which is assigned the
   Confirmed status.
```

Step 2: 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 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 in the previous step. 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.
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   Figure: Confirmed shipment
```

Step 3: Resuming the Picking of Items for Shipment on the Pick Tab Suppose that you need to process the shipment for which you are performing picking and packing operations. To cause the system to show the Pick tab on the Pick, Pack, and Ship (SO302020) form, do the following:

On the Warehouse Management tab of the Sales Orders Preferences (SO101000) form, select the Display the Pick Tab check box.
On the form toolbar, click Save. Automated Shipping Operations: General Information | 59

Automated Shipping Operations: General Information Aer you have picked and packed items, or packed items without picking, you may need to specify shipping options before you confirm the applicable shipment. This workflow is illustrated in the following diagram.

To specify shipping options for the shipment that is currently being processed, you perform the following steps:

Switch to Ship mode. You open the Pick, Pack, and Ship (SO302020) form and switch to Ship mode by scanning or entering @ship barcode.
```
             Ship mode is not available in the Acumatica mobile app.
```
Scan the shipment number. To start automated processing, you scan the reference number of the shipment to be processed. In the Shipment Nbr. box, the system inserts the reference number of the document that is currently selected for processing. (If you have switched to Ship mode from Pick mode or Pack mode with a document selected, the document is selected automatically.) The boxes for the shipment are shown in the Packages table. Automated Shipping Operations: General Information | 60
Select the carrier rate. In the Carrier Rates table, you select the unlabeled check box in the row of the carrier rate to be used for shipping.
Optional: Generate return labels. On the table toolbar of the Carrier Rates table, click Get Return Labels to generate return labels for the shipment.
Confirm the shipment. To confirm the processed shipment, you scan the confirmshipment barcode, or click Confirm Shipment on the form toolbar. Lesson 8: Automated Fulfilling Orders with Wave Picking | 61