ORACLE WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT 11i SETUP AND EXECUTION GUIDELINES FOR MATERIAL HANDLING

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1 ORACLE WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT 11i SETUP AND EXECUTION GUIDELINES FOR MATERIAL HANDLING Table of Contents: Introduction...1 Problem Statement...1 Previous Options...1 Overview...2 Setup Considerations...2 Rules and Strategies...3 Tasks and Departments...4 Label Setup...4 Business Flows...5 WMS Responsibilities...5 WMS Profile Settings...5 Third-Party Printing Options...5 Radio Frequency (RF) and Wireless Devices 5 Summary...6 About the Author...6 The Oracle Experts Since 1988 Introduction Oracle Warehouse Management provides integrated barcode scanning and label generation to improve material transactions and advanced shipping processes. Problem Statement Traditional Oracle Inventory Management requires users to receive material and perform inventory transactions such as cycle counting and material movement on the desktop instead of real-time on the warehouse or shop floor. With Oracle Warehouse Management 11i, users can scan barcodes, rfids (radio frequency identifiers) of serial numbers, part numbers and other information without entering it by hand in the desktop Oracle forms. Previous Options Previously, Oracle Inventory and Shipping users had to manually enter long serial and shipping numbers into desktop forms a time intensive task that was prone to entry errors. Inventory management relied on paper reports and offline physical and cycle counting for tracking inventory transactions and serial numbers. Additionally, prior to Oracle WMS, the real-time integration of automated material handling units was more difficult and relied on customizations and bolt-on solutions. /apps

2 Overview Oracle Warehouse Management (WMS) and Oracle Mobile Supply Chain Architecture (MSCA) have provided the ability to perform many traditional material handling processes more quickly and efficiently. Oracle WMS has the ability to manage and improve the process of material picking, receiving and replenishment by incorporating barcode and RFID scanners. This paper focuses on the guidelines and setup steps required for material handling including: receiving, material adjustments, replenishment, movement, shipping transactions and label generation. MSCA is an Oracle server that provides connection for transactions in Oracle WMS modules via mobile devices through a telnet connection. MSCA is embedded into WMS. The areas that benefit most from using WMS are: Inbound Receiving Order Picking Shipping Execution Work Order Completion Flow Schedule Completion Kanban Replenishment Cycle Counting Physical Inventories Scanners and radio frequency (RF) devices from manufacturers such as Symbol, PSC, LXE and Intermec connect to an exiting b wireless network and connect to the MSCA server. Setup Considerations The setups steps are completed using the Warehouse Manager or Inventory Superuser responsibility. The key steps are: 1. Define and enable the locator flexfield and segments 2. Define at least one stock locator in each of the subinventories 3. Enable WMS at org level 4. Define label types 5. Associate business flows to events 6. Define printers to XML port 7. Associate labels to printing software The first step is to define and enable the stock locator flexfield and segments in inventory. Oracle WMS uses the stock locator to drive rules for material put away and picking. At least one stock locator must be defined for each subinventory. The next step is to check the Enable WMS check box on the Inventory Organization Parameter form. Oracle WMS also relies on a third-party printing solution such as Loftware or Optio Software to read XML output and print barcode labels to label prints. Popular label print manufacturers include Zebra, Intermec and Sato. The next section will discuss the setup requirements needed to implement WMS in an Oracle environment. Page 2

3 Enabling this parameter activates the allocation and rules engine for this organization. This parameter also allows for the use of containers and License Plate Numbers (LPN). License Plate Numbers (LPN) LPNs combine the item part number, stock location and serial/lot number into a single scanable record or number for material transactions. LPN sequence needs to be set up in the Organization Parameter form under the Warehouse Management tab. Rules and Strategies Rules and strategies control the picking, put away and cost group assignments for items in a WMSenabled organization. A strategy is a collection of rules. A rule can control where an item is put away or where an item is picked. Oracle WMS is seeded with several default rules including an empty locator rule which allows for material to put into the locator only if there are no other items in the locator. A variation to this rule would be to allow for like items to be put into the locator if they did not have different lot numbers. Rules must be defined in a strategy and enabled using the rules workbench. Consolidation and Cross Docking Cartonization and cross docking are also controlled by organization parameters. Cross docking allows for material to be received and directly delivered to a shipping dock or manufacturing assembly line. Cartonization provides for box and container suggestions by item based on rules for size and weight. Cartonization can be controlled in manufacturing and at shipping. Page 3

4 Tasks and Departments Another new feature introduced with Oracle WMS is the control board. The control board allows a warehouse manager to allocate activities or tasks to a material handler. The control board also allows for the prioritization of tasks assigned to a material handler. In order for theses task to be automatically assigned, material handlers need to be assigned as a resource to a department. A department is a term borrowed from Oracle Bills of Material (BOM). There are several tasks that need to be defined in order for WMS to work properly. These include: Picking Put away Cycle counting The form below shows the setup for a Pick task. on the server, the file must be transferred to the print server by FTP or another means. The XML file can also be sent to XML-enabled printers, but storing and updating the label template on these printers can be complicated. Oracle WMS is defined with several label types: Material Shipping Shipping Content LPN LPN Content Flow WIP Completion The following is an illustration of the material label. The material label is widely used in Inventory Management and WMS to identify items as they are received into a warehouse from Work in Process (WIP) or Receiving. Label variable names are passed as XML tags with the actual value in the XML file that is generated. A rule of thumb is to always make the variable name uppercase so that the XML tag will match the value in the label printing software. Label Setup The next step is to define labels and associate them to business flows. A business flow in Oracle WMS is an event such as a Purchase Order Receipt or a Ship Confirmation process. The event automatically generates an XML file that can be stored on a file server or sent directly to the print server. The advantage of sending the XML file directly is there is no delay in the processing of the XML file. If the XML file is stored in a directory Page 4

5 Business Flows After a label is defined, the label type needs to associate to a business flow. Oracle WMS is seeded with predefined flows including: Purchase Order Receipt Receipt Delivery Ship Confirmation Picking Confirmation WIP Completion Flow Schedule After the label type is associated to a business flow, the label type must be associated to a printer and to a user or responsibility. WMS: Label Print Mode = Synchronous (not used) Synchronous TCP/IP o Synchronous sends the XML directly to a print server or XML printer Asynchronous (Default) o Asynchronous uses the next profile to write the XML to a directory on the server. WMS: Output Directory This profile is only used if the Label Print mode is set to Asynchronous. This directory is used to write the XML file out. The print server may need to read this directory to pull files from this directory. WMS Responsibilities Two types of responsibilities exist for WMS. The first is standard Desktop Applications. The second is to navigate the telnet/mobile forms. The seeded responsibility Whse Mgmt should be copied and modified to support requirements. These paths can be modified via the system administration or AOL developer forms. WMS Profile Settings Several WMS Profiles need to be set to make WMS to work properly. These include: Third-Party Printing Options As described earlier, Oracle WMS does not provide the ability to print barcode, RFID tags or labels. A print solution from Loftware ( or Optio software ( is needed. These products can receive the XML from Oracle WMS via an open port on the server or scan the output directory. Direct input via a port is the best option since time between the generation of the XML and the printing of the XML is reduced. Special RFID printers and RFID tag material are needed to embed the RFID information into the tag. Companies such as zebra ( make the printers and RFID materials you will need. Radio Frequency (RF) and Wireless Devices The database administrator or network administrator will need to install and start the MSCA server. In addition, a network administrator may need to install the printing software on a Page 5

6 network server and create a share drive for label templates. RF and wireless devices must have a radio and must support a telnet session to communicate to the MSCA server. Scanners and radio frequency (RF) devices from manufacturers such as PSC ( LXE ( Symbol ( and Intermec ( connect to an exiting b wireless network and connect the MSCA server. These companies also make special scanners to read the embedded information in a rfid tag. Summary Oracle WMS provides a very powerful tool that is fully integrated into the Oracle E-business suite of applications including Inventory and Purchasing. Oracle customers are no longer forced to use bolt-on or customized interfaces an improvement that reduces effort and risk of error dramatically. In addition, Oracle WMS enables important activities not addressed in this paper including: Ability to scan inbound shipments Ability to have directed putaways Ability to have directed zone picking for sales orders and work orders Ability to create kanban replenishments Ability to perform cycle counts and physical inventory transactions on mobile devices Ability to perform real-time inventory adjustments Ability to complete work orders and flow orders on mobile devices. For more information on these activities or for more detail on Warehouse Management setup, please contact TUSC at TUSC or visit About the Author TUSC Management Consultant Implementing Oracle E-Business suite solutions since 1993 Bachelor Science In Mechanical Engineering Master of Science in Manufacturing Systems ABOUT TUSC The Oracle Experts since 1988 As an Oracle Certified Advantage Partner (one of only a handful in the US), TUSC provides expert functional and technical solutions in the areas of Oracle E-Business Suite Consulting, Business Intelligence / Data Warehousing, Project Management and Implementation Support, Custom Development (Fusion Middleware), Oracle Database Services, Managed Services for Remote DBA and E-Business Suite Support, Oracle Software Licensing, and Oracle Training & Mentoring. Oracle Certified Partner E-Business Suite & Technology We Deliver Value Toll-Free TUSC On the Web Page 6