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SAP WM convenience evaluation

Former Member
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Hi All,

I'm looking for an estimate of what have to be the volumes involved (in terms of number of warehousemen, or number of movements) in order to consider a SAP WM possibly convenient in terms of number of warehousemen?

What are the volumes involved to start seeing the number of the warehousemen decrease compared to the a warehouse processing without WMS?

I'm just looking for some raw numbers.

Thank you!

Accepted Solutions (1)

Accepted Solutions (1)

Former Member
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Thank you for answers!

Of course besides number of warehousemen there are many pros and cons. I already did a rought review of the process and other evaluations.

But for the investement approval I need to calculate in a "progressive volume increase scenario" how many warehoumen are needed with SAP WM and how many without SAP WM. 

Of course it's a hard estimate that depends on many factors (number of warehouse areas, putaway/picking strategies ecc..the way it has been implemented sap wm in general) that's why I am in difficulty. Do you have any suggestions or ideas?

JL23
Active Contributor
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How many WMs did you already implement?

If you haven't done several then you are just not in the position to make a serious estimate, and we can't do this either  as we do not know the situation.

My WM projects are about 20 workdays - from the first on-site-inspection, making concepts, customizing, tests, end user training, data load till hypercare, and even after several implementations I would not be able to give a serious number on the first day nor on the last day.

WM is to be implemented to support warehouse processes, it is not a software to reduce head counts.

I already tried to explain you that adding a module will also add additional work in daily processes. It will organize and formalize your WM processes, it will make them more planable, but under the consequence that you have to add more data into the system too.

WM can help to reduce unnecessary inner warehouse movements, material can just stay where it is since WM gives you the information where it is. This can finally lead to reduction if it is something that happens often and you are able to reduce it with the new design.


If you receive for instance 1200 drums per day and sell 1000 to customers and  use 200 in production, then this drums need to be moved anyway, no matter if you have WM or not. So it will not reduce any person.

However if you have a well maintained system (certainly you will not have this situation from the very beginning) then you can analyze the movements, you will be able to identify materials with high turnover, you can then make decisions to place this material closer to the consumption or shipping point  to avoid distances and save time with the movements.This can finally (after months) free up time and resources.

Also if the people are used to the WM process you can automate those processes with auto TO creation, auto confirmation etc, but honestly these are just savings in minutes per day.

Answers (2)

Answers (2)

JL23
Active Contributor
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The physical movements do usually not drop if you implement SAP WM alone.

You still have to putaway received materials and you need to pick it again for goods issues.

If your warehouse was managed with some basic order then you can't expect a people reduction, contrary you actually added work that was not done before, you had no TOs, you did not need to confirm the TOs. You did not need to care about posting change notices. You only had differences between system and physical stock, now you have one level more you may even have to deal with differences between MM and WM stock.

Of course if your warehouse was a mess before SAP and many people spend many hours a day to search for materials when they need to pick it for deliveries, then this time can be reduced with WM and subsequently the personnel, but only if your worker follow clear instructions otherwise they can even bring your WM down. 

As said above, one can have some order in his warehouse and the processes even without using WM. Just using WM will not heal a mess, clear understanding and discipline is needed.

raghug
Active Contributor
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Jürgen L wrote:

Just using WM will not heal a mess, clear understanding and discipline is needed.

Thumbs up to that - Channeling my inner Steve Ballmer... Process! Process! Process!

raghug
Active Contributor
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I have installed it in warehouses as small as 2 workers per shift, all the way to 100s. The benefits derived are really on a case by case basis. Issues to look at are not limited to the following, but this is a good starting point...

  • Are there inefficiencies in your process
  • Do you have inventory issues
    • Accuracy
    • Delay finding materials
  • Do you have the need to treat material in smaller portions than the entire plant or storage location
  • Will automation in put away and picking help
  • Do you need bin level inventory accounting
  • Are you looking for continuous inventory processes that will reduce the burden of periodic counting
  • Will barcode scanners help your process?