Differences between IM/WM and EWM

The majority of executives and their staff members ask themselves, why would you implement Extended Warehouse Management? before you find the answer to this question, it is more important to comprehend what Supply Management/Warehouse Management and EWM are. Only after this, we can go and check out the differences between them. Consequently, I will try to answer this from my own viewpoint in this article.

Supply and Warehouse Management

Let’s start with Inventory Management, IM is part of the Materials Administration component and is also incorporated with the other logistics components like PP, SD, and QM. See below, for the integration between IM and other modules:

• IM: IM provides details for MRP, after which PO are developed and amounts are published in IM after goods invoice.
• PP: The staging of parts for manufacturing orders is handled in IM and also completed items in the storage facility are uploaded in IM.
• SD: Availability check is carried out after developing a sales order and after delivery is developed quantity is decreased from the stock.
• QM: In case of goods activity, it is determined if an inspection is required and stock is either registered as in quality or blocked in IM.

The integration does not stop there, however, it continues into WM. Below quantities and values are managed by IM and the WM parts show the framework of a stockroom in the form of complex storage bins and WM monitors the allocation of the storage bins and also any transfers. Because of this, a whole warehouse facility can be mapped carefully to storage bin degree. With this you not just have an introduction of the quantities of each product however additionally a can determine the exact area of materials. Besides this WM has various other features to enhance the monitoring and storage of materials:

• Storage Space Bin Management: map a whole storage center in WM (automatic stockroom, high shelf-, mass- or dealt with storage), to handle product at storage bin level.

• Good Movements: process all goods motions in the storehouse, including goods invoice, goods issues, stock transfers, hosting for manufacturing, automatic replenishment, handling hazardous goods, and also handling distinctions in supply.

• Planning and Tracking: the system sustains to strategy, monitor as well as optimize work procedures as a result of the summaries of all the goods receipts, items problems as well as storage facility stocks.

• Radio Frequency Connection: with the help of RF, data can be entered rapidly and perfectly, by scanning the barcodes information can be recorded and validated to make sure high standards in a warehouse.

• Decentralized WMS: possibility to run it as a standalone system without a central ERP system.

• Storehouse Control: interface to external systems to integrate automated putaway, stock elimination systems, or forklift control into WMS for all internal activities with the help of ALE.

Extended Warehouse Management

After having discussed IM and WM, let’s look at what is EWM. It has actually been almost 10 years given that SAP launched EWM, this is a proper Warehouse Management System that can control/monitor every process in a storage facility from the moment products reach the backyard in a truck until leaving. Unlike WM, there are 3 options for deploying EWM:

1. EWM as an add-on, on the SAP ECC web server.
2. Install EWM on an SAP SCM server.
3. Standalone on a devoted web server for just EWM.

EWM can be utilized from a simple storage facility to a complicated circulation center. Because of the deployment methods and because of the opportunity of turning on or off functionalities depending on the needs of the customers. It provides you with the choice to map the whole storehouse facility carefully from the yard to the storage bin level. This gives the specific location of a particular product and the quantities at the storage area level and at the storage bin level. Besides the attributes of WM, EWM uses:

• Storage bin management and optimization: EWM allows you to track all supply motions continuously in detail and for the optimization, it appoints the proper storage bin (depending on the dimension and frequency of accessibility). Besides utilizing physical inventory procedures and stock distinctions to make certain the stock matches between IM and EWM.

• Goods Movements: Besides all the conventional storage facility activities, EWM includes design- and process-oriented storage management, automated wave picking creation, and source optimization by means of rule-based bundling of warehouse tasks.

• Work Facility: This is utilized to map a physical unit, where activities such as packing, deconsolidation, weighing, quality inspection, and checking are carried out.

• Physical Inventory: In EWM you can compare actual, existing, and physical product stock based on the product or storage bin. Additionally, it supplies integrated RF functions to execute all the storage facility jobs, such as counting, put away, and inventory control.

There are a lot more features of EWM, one of the most essential is the integration with the ECC components (MM, SD, IM, LE, QM, and so on). For the master data integration, EWM utilizes the Core interface (CIF) and Queued Remote Function call (qRFC) for interaction between ECC and EWM.

Difference

Prior to checking out the differences between IM/WM and EWM. Let me mention that EWM is not a replacement for WM, as it remains a feasible alternative for most small and medium-sized warehouses with basic processes and simple operations.

WM provides assistance for the storage facility and storage procedures, such as:

• Inner movements and replenishment.
• RF and voice putaway and picking.
• Warehouse internal packing.
• Optimize warehouse movements making use of task and resource management.

Besides the procedures above, EWM additionally supports a lot more integration with Transport Monitoring and Logistic service provider for the outbound process, Yard Monitoring, Material Flow System for fully automatic warehouse, and standard integration with various other SAP elements. For the more differences, see the picture below:

That’s all for this blog. I hope this article helped you learn the differences between IM/WM and EWM. If you’re looking for more informative and engaging articles, visit our website.

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These are the related articles that you can check

1. Overview on Stock Types in SAP EWM 
2. Storage Control in SAP Extended Warehouse Management explained