Basel, CH – September 2020
Weighing strategy and order pairing
With the functionalities weighing strategy and order pairing, the user has a powerful instrument at their disposal whose potential is only apparent at second glance. For this reason, this topic will be briefly presented here.
With weighing strategy and order pairing, SAP Meat and Fish Management by msg offers the possibility to automate the recording processes on the shop floor and thus reduces their number. Many of our customers use this option, either because of a lack of infrastructure (terminals, scales, scanners, etc.) or because, for example, no weighing is to be carried out for efficiency reasons, but the data must be recorded due to cost transparency, traceability or other requirements.
Weighing strategy
Weighing strategies are used to calculate quantities and automatically generate process data acquisition (PDA) operations for further processing orders. The aim is to minimize the effort required for process data acquisition. Weighing strategies can be based on planned or target quantities, which are transferred to the PDA operation.
Depending on the constellation (strategy at goods issue or at goods receipt) the abbreviations used below have slightly different meanings. For a better understanding, the weighing strategies including explanations are shown in the following three figures.
- W – weighing: Actual entry based on physical recording or manual entry.
- P – planned: Requirement quantity of the components / total product quantity.
- Q – quota: Proportion of component quantity in relation to product quantity.
- G – weight: Share that is allotted to the individual (weight) components when the product quantity is divided (in relation to the product quantity).
- P – planned: Required quantity of the components.
- Q – quota: Proportion of the product quantity in relation to the component quantity.
- G – weight: Component quantity corresponds to the product quantity.
- P – planned: Total quantity of the product.
Target quantities are calculated with each actual recording (source process) and logged in a table. The subsequent operations can be generated either directly or when the PDA closure is executed. The source and subsequent operations are linked to each other. If a source operation is cancelled, the corresponding subsequent transaction is also automatically cancelled.
Order pairing
By means of order pair formation, process data acquisition operations between orders are creat-ed automatically. The aim, again, is to minimize the effort required for process data acquisition. Order pairing can be used in a wide variety of areas, for example, from further processing order to disassembly order, from further processing order to further processing order, from delivery to further processing order and then to disassembly order, from order to further processing order, etc. Pairing can also be used for preceding or subsequent orders. SAP Meat and Fish Management by msg offers a variety of options for linking orders. If these are not sufficient due to a very specific requirement, customer-specific logic can be implemented at any time using business add-ins (BAdIs).
The following diagram shows an example of pair formation (disassembly and further processing):
Weighing strategy and order pairing combined
The following example illustrates how weighing strategies and order pairing are used together. The goods issue to the disassembly order is recorded, i.e. the carcass is weighed and posted to the disassembly order. The pieces are then cut up and the packaged and already marinated cuts are weighed. Based on the entry of the packaged and marinated cuts, the goods issue for the packaging order, the goods receipt for the marinating order, the goods issue of the cut for the marinating order and the goods receipt of the cut from the disassembly order are automatically posted over several stages. The remaining components (marinade, packaging, labels etc.) are recorded retroactively by most customers, but can of course also be recorded with the actual quantities.
Due to the integration of the Change ID Control functionality into Order Pair Formation, traceability is perfectly guaranteed so that our customers do not have to accept any restrictions. For example, it is always possible to see which packaged part was produced from which change ID (for more information, see Change-ID).
Benefits for customers
- High degree of automation of the shop floor processes; this results in increased efficiency.
- All relevant data is recorded.
- Savings in the procurement and maintenance of hardware for carrying out data collection (scales and other equipment).
- High cost transparency (e.g. for packaging material) and thus optimized cost controlling.
- Full traceability (e.g. which batches of packaging material were used) and thus maximum quality assurance.
If we have piqued your interest with this article or if you are interested in a planning demo, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Stephan Kronbichler (Business Development) E-mail phone +41 (0)61 508 21 42.