Dispatch Unit#

When manufacturing complex articles, the situation can arise in shipping that the manufactured article must be broken down again into so-called shipping units that can be sensibly transported. In order to be able to map this process in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central[^1], this scope of services supports shipping units in manufacturing and logistics.

The shipping units can currently cover three different scenarios, which are described below.

Establishment#

Design & development facility#

In the Design & Development setup, you have the option of using the "Use shipping units for logistical structure explosion" switch on the "Execution" info tab to control whether you want to visually display the logistical structure explosion divided into the corresponding shipping units in an E+D order. For this option you activate this switch. In the E+D order, the option "logistical" can then be selected in the process for the visualized representation via the "Structure resolution" field.

Shipping units#

Via the "Shipping units" you can define them in general by assigning a code (abbreviation) and an associated description.

Assignment in the master data#

Shipping units can already be preassigned in the planning phase. For this purpose, a shipping unit code can be entered in the lines of the production bills of material. This code does not yet have a fixed reference to a production order. When a production order is created, this shipping unit code is transferred.

Assignment in process#

If there is an existing production order, shipping units can be assigned in the components. This can be done in the component lines as well as in released and finished E+D orders in the lines. In addition, the project module has also been integrated so that the assignment from the project structure Project structure out of the project. For this purpose, the fields "Shipping unit code", "Project-specific shipping unit", "Component as shipping unit" and "Transfer quantity to shipping unit" can be displayed in the respective screens.

Relocation of components#

Components combined to form a higher-level shipping unit#

A production order is set up whose components are to be transferred to a production warehouse for assembly. The components are grouped into shipping units that are easy to transport. From a released (and a completed) E+D order, these components can be inserted into a stock transfer order.

To do this, first select the desired lines and then execute the "Transfer selected shipping units" function via Lines > Function.

It is checked that the components to be transferred have already been consumed. If the correspondingly marked components have been consumed, then a stock transfer order is created, which transfers the shipping units from the component storage location to the FA storage location. The information from the transfer route is used for the "In Transit Code". In the FA shipping units list you can now see that the "Quantity in Outbound Document" is changed.

In the drilldown the corresponding shipping unit item is displayed and via the function "Display document" it is possible to switch to the corresponding document. If the storage locations are subject to goods issue or goods receipt, these can be created and posted according to the standard.

No new item items are created in the background because the components have already been consumed. New shipping unit items are created by the postings. Via these, the status can be checked from the shipping unit overview (opens by the lookup on a shipping unit). After posting the receipt, the order is completed. The shipping unit can now no longer be shipped, as it has already delivered the complete quantity.

Shipping individual components as a shipping unit#

It may be necessary to create suitable logistics documents for the customer or the transport, for individual components of a production order. With the "Component as shipping unit" identifier in the E+D order lines (and the Project structure) you have the possibility to define a shipping unit that is specific for a single component in the production order. If the check mark is set, a shipping unit is automatically created that has the item number of the component as the shipping unit code and corresponds to the FA component line in terms of quantity, unit and description.

The "Transfer quantity to shipping unit" field can be used to control whether only a partial transfer of the component is to take place. The field is preset with the quantity available for stock transfer. This is the difference between the posted quantity and the quantities that are already in shipping or have been shipped. Therefore, it is necessary that at least the quantity of the component to be shipped is posted as consumption.

If the stock transfer is to take place, you can enter the corresponding lines in the E+D order or the Project structure and transfer them to a stock transfer order using the "Transfer selected shipping units" function. The rest of the procedure is the same as that described in the section "Components combined to form a higher-level shipping unit".

Shipping units in sales#

If a production item is sold, the shipping units stored in the production order can also be inserted in a goods issue that was created from a sales order. For this purpose, the function "Insert shipping units" can be used in the goods issue.

If the sales line was reserved on a corresponding item line, then the shipping units from this production order will be automatically inserted. If there is no reservation, a selection of items is opened and the user can decide which item should be sold. After selection, the shipping units belonging to the item are inserted into the goods issue.

If the production order belonging to the item is not yet finished, the user must confirm that he wants to continue.

The original line remains, but the quantities are removed, since this item is automatically posted in the background after posting the shipping units. The posting of the goods issue with shipping units is now done as in the standard. After complete posting, the original item is also delivered and can be invoiced.

Project-specific or cross-FA shipping units#

In connection with the plant engineering solution, it is also possible to use shipping units across FAs within a project. For more information, see Shipping preparation.

Shipping units item#

When inserting a shipping unit into a document, items are written. These can have 4 statuses:

• Outbound (Shipment): a stock transfer was created or a goods issue was created from a sales order without anything being posted.
• In Transit: The goods have left the warehouse but have not yet arrived, i.e. the goods issue has been posted but the goods receipt has not.
• Receipt: The receipt of the goods has been recorded, but not yet booked.
• Delivered: The goods have been delivered completely. The items are used to track the quantities in the shipping units overview, even if the posted documents should already be deleted.