Material Flow System

In the course of production automation, the introduction of warehouse automation technologies and the optimization of warehouse technology are becoming increasingly important.

Reasons for the automation of a warehouse can be, for example, the need for compact storage, high performance, long internal transport distances, high consolidation efforts, and the need for ergonomic and safe working conditions.

With SAP MFS (Material Flow System), storage and transport technology can be integrated directly into SAP and controlled in real-time. SAP MFS as a fully integrated material flow system is a component of SAP EWM. Therefore, the use of additional material flow control systems and other communication middleware is no longer required, since SAP MFS communicates directly with the subordinate programmable logic controllers (PLCs).

Functionalities:

• Automatic identification of handling units by the scanner in transport technology.

• Automatic unloading of handling units that cannot be stored (contour errors, overweight, unidentified).

• Fully automatic storage of handling units in the destination storage container through as many intermediate steps and identification points as desired (routing).

• Consideration of disturbances reported by PLCs

• Consideration of capacity limits for identification points, conveyor segments, and resources (storage and retrieval machines, transfer carts, etc.)

• Dual cycles of storage and retrieval machines to minimize dead times.

• Multiple depth storages (shuttle storage systems)

• Re-routing based on exceptions (conveyor segment malfunction, machine S/R malfunction, etc.)

• Dynamic determination of shelf aisle.

• Stable telegram communication between SAP EWM and PLC through parallel bi-directional communication Channels.

Through the SAP EWM warehouse monitor, you have the following functions:

• Monitoring the current state of the system.

• Evaluation of telegrams and response times.

• View of the current storage bin of the handling units and the associated warehouse tasks.

• Determination of telegram traffic for individual handling units or warehouse tasks.

• Stop or restart communication for individual PLCs.

• Blocking of identification points, conveyor segments, or resources.

• Telegram repetitions.

• Manual recognition of warehouse tasks.

Advantages of MFS integration

• Lower risk of errors: Due to automated and tested processes, decisions are always made in the same way on the basis of the given situation. A significant reduction in manual intervention / movements results in correspondingly fewer user errors.
• Improved performance: (More storage and retrieval operations compared to manual warehouses). In a nutshell, this means shorter transport distances to touchdown points. Faster processing by requests, as the system carries them out automatically according to certain criteria without the need for manual actions. An automated system can run several transports in parallel.
• Fewer manual interventions: Manual interventions are only necessary for correcting errors and for placing or removing pallets.