SAP S4 EWM - Storage types/ Storage sections/Storage Bins

A storage type is a storage space, storage facility, or storage zone, which you define for a warehouse number in Extended Warehouse Management (EWM). The storage type is a physical or logical subdivision of a warehouse complex, which is characterized by its warehouse technologies, space required, organizational form, or function. A storage type consists of one or more storage bins.

You can define the following commonly-used physical storage types in EWM:

• Bulk storage area

• General storage area

• High rack storage area

• Fixed bin storage area

• Rack storage area

Use

The storage types form the warehouse complex and can be located in one or more buildings. You manage all storage types under a single warehouse number.

The standard system for EWM comes configured with several complete storage types that you can use straightaway. These include:

• High rack storage area

• Bulk storage area

• Fixed bin storage area

• General storage area

• Pallet storage area

These storage types have all been defined with different control indicators for putaway and picking.

Note

You can use the standard storage types as the basis for your individual settings, or you can create your own storage types to meet the special requirements of your company.

Defining Control Indicators in the Storage Type

At storage type level, you must specify the control indicators that control the material flow (putaway and picking) in each storage type. These include the control indicators for:

• Putaway

• Stock removal (picking)

  Note

  Some control indicators for storage types are mutually exclusive, and certain combinations of indicators cannot be permitted for legal reasons or due to internal guidelines. In these cases, the system generates an error message. We recommend that you check and test all new combinations carefully, before you release them in the production system.

  You can only activate or deactivate the level of the available quantities and handling unit management requirement, if there are no stocks present within a storage type.

  We recommend that you only change the capacity check for a storage type if no more stocks are present within the storage type.

  Particular care should be taken if you subsequently change the putaway behavior for putaway.

In the storage type, there are indicators that you can override in the warehouse process category. This means that specific functions, such as the confirmation requirements for putaway and picking or the option for posting changes to the same storage bin, are valid for specific storage types, but are not valid for a specific posting.

For more information about changing the predefined storage types or creating new storage types, see the Implementation Guide (IMG) for EWM under Extended Warehouse Management Master Data Define Storage Type.

Example

You can define several storage types for each warehouse number. The following figure shows five storage types that are assigned to a warehouse number: