Using Special Movement Indicators
Use
It is possible to influence the movement of material within WM via the special movement indicators. You can assign another movement type in the Warehouse Management System (WMS) to a movement type from Inventory Management using this indicator.
Since you can specify interim storage areas and interim storage bins within the WM movement types, you can determine which interim storage areas and bins will be selected in WM for a goods movement depending upon the special movement indicator used. You can thereby actively influence the interface between Inventory Management (IM) and Warehouse Management (WM).
Prerequisites
In the Warehouse Management implementation guide (IMG), define the corresponding special movement indicators per warehouse number and assign these to a combination of warehouse number, reference movement type and Warehouse Management movement type.
You can still define a special movement indicator directly in the material master. You can thereby carry out particular goods movements via the IM-WM interface, for example, for a group of materials with similar characteristics (see example). You set the special movement indicator in the material master as follows:
Procedure
There are two ways to set the special movement indicators:
If you have configured your system as described under prerequisites, this indicator is evaluated automatically and the corresponding activities carried out in the warehouse for a corresponding goods movement using the material for which the special movement indicator was defined.
If you have not set the indicator in the material master for a particular group of materials, which you want to post specifically in WMS for a specific goods movement, for example, you can set this indicator for an IM goods movement posting manually as follows:
If you manually set the special movement indicator when posting a goods movement in Inventory Management, the system ignores the indicator in the material master record and is valid for the total material document (that is, for all items).
Example
Moving stock directly to a fixed storage bin using a special movement indicator when posting goods receipts
Each time a goods receipt is posted for material ABC, you want to move the material directly to the fixed storage bin FIX-ABC in storage type 005 of warehouse number 001 without creating a transfer requirement or transfer order. To do this, you need to set up the system as follows:
If you now post one goods receipt for material ABC in IM, the system neither creates a transfer requirement nor a transfer order. The posted quantity for the material is immediately increased in the fixed storage bin.
Moving stock directly to a production storage bin using a special movement indicator
When materials used in production are received, they are usually stored first in the reserve storage area and then retrieved when they are needed on the production line.
For a specific material or only for a particular goods receipt, it is also possible to enter a special movement indicator during the goods receipt posting (or retrieve it from the material master record).
For these exceptions, the transfer order uses a different movement type (based on the Customizing set up) than is normally used to find storage bins in the warehouse. This means that you can enter a special movement type to move a particular material directly to a production storage bin.