Inbound and outbound logistics improvements

Important

This content is archived and is not being updated. For the latest documentation, see Microsoft Dynamics 365 product documentation. For the latest release plans, see Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform release plans.

Enabled for Public preview General availability
End users by admins, makers, or analysts This feature is released. Feb 3, 2020 This feature is released. Apr 3, 2020

Feature details

Most of these features have been released as flighted during 2019 wave 2 timeframe. They are now released as public preview and customers have the ability to include these features in production environment through Feature management from Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management version 10.0.9.

Inbound:

  • Quality check. With this functionality, you can perform rapid quality checks on the spot at the time of receiving to the inbound dock area.

  • Put away clusters. This is a way to pick multiple license plates at once and take them for a putaway to different locations. It is very useful for retail where many license plates are not full pallets of inventory.

Warehouse operations:

  • Packaging product dimensions. This allows users to have different sets of dimensions for when an item is being stored in the warehouse (storage), being packed into a box for packing, and being packed into a box with more of itself (nested packing).

  • Item consolidation – location utilization. The new location utilization form serves as a tool to warehouse managers to easily view and filter the volumetric utilization of location across the warehouse.

  • Location license plate positioning. This allows the user to see where the LP is located in a multi-pallet location, such as double-deep pallet racking. This functionality adds a sequence number to the license plate for each license plate that is put to a location.

  • Location product dimension mixing. This new location profile functionality enables better location managing when using product variants or products with dimensions, such as with the fashion industry. It allows you to decide whether configurations, colors, style, and sizes can be mixed on a certain location (profile) or if only one or a combination of some of those dimensions can be put to the same location.

  • Flexible warehouse-level dimension reservation. Available since version 10.0.7 and 10.0.8. This enhancement introduces flexibility in the inventory reservation policy to allow businesses who sell batch-tracked products and run their logistics as WMS-enabled operations, to register their customers’ requests for specific batches on sales orders even though the inventory reservation hierarchy associated with the product prevents this (by being of type that is known as “batch-below.”)

Outbound:

  • Small package shipping. Small package shipping adds functionality for setting up carrier login credentials, printing labels received back from carrier web services, charging freight to customer third-party accounts, additional freight terms, and additional accessorial delivery types.

  • System-directed work sequencing. This setup offers the ability to sort and filter which work orders the system will present to the user for execution.

  • Wave load building. Advanced load building allows the wave to assign the shipment to an existing load, if one exists that meets the criteria, or create a new load if required.

  • Warehouse slotting. Picking locations can be replenished before releasing orders to the warehouse. Warehouse slotting allows you to create replenishment work at any time based on order demand.

  • Wave label printing enhancements (available since version 10.0.2 and version 10.0.4):

    • Allow for labels to be printed according to number of cartons on a single work line, without using the containerization feature.

    • Include an enumeration of the labels (1/124, 2/124…124/124).

    • Allow for BOL (bill of lading) to be created and printed on label.

    • Allow a unique Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC) to be created per carton and included on a label.

    • Allow for creation of GS1-compliant number sequence for BOL and SSCC numbers.

    • Allow for HAZMAT code to be included on a label.

    • Support for reprint of labels (from handheld devices).

    • Support for voiding of labels (for short pick scenarios) and reprint.

    • Support for clean-up of wave label history.

These amendments will make it more efficient to support labeling of cartons prior to palletizing. It supports companies shipping to large retailers that perform order receipt confirmation automatically using scanning of each individual carton.

  • Wave step code. With this functionality, you can pre-define codes that can be used as wave step codes. This functionality removes the risk of entering the wrong step code.

  • Shipment consolidation policies:

    • Batch release to warehouse (consolidate shipment enhancements). Available since version 10.0.3.
    • Load planning workbench. Available since version 10.0.5.
    • Shipment consolidation workbench and manual consolidation. Available since version 10.0.7. This consolidate shipment policies feature allows for automated consolidation of a shipment at the time of batch releasing sales or transfer orders. Shipment consolidation policies can be set up. The policies have queries to define their applicability and a modifiable set of fields driving the decision for grouping load lines on shipment level automatically at release to warehouse. When releasing to warehouse manually, the same logic is triggered when added to open shipments. The feature is included at the five release to warehouse places. The consolidation workbench allows for further manual overview of consolidation and for adjustments.
  • Deferred put processing. Available since version 10.0.4. This is a performance-related feature focused on increasing the productivity of the warehouse worker. Instead of requiring online processing of inventory updates each time a put is complete, which “freezes” the mobile device, we will allow for that process to be performed asynchronously.

  • Outbound sorting. This functionality allows for the guided building of pallets from containers packed through the packing functionality.

  • Replenishment over location capacity. This allows all replenishment work to be created that will be needed for the day and manages availability of the replenishment work to ensure that the pick location doesn’t run out of inventory, but also doesn’t go above capacity.

  • Planned cross docking. This functionality introduces advanced planned cross docking where the inventory quantity required to satisfy an order will be directed to the correct outbound dock or staging area straight from receipt or creation. All remaining inventory from the inbound source will be directed to the correct storage location through the regular put away process.

  • Put to wall/Put to store. With this feature, you can handle scenarios where consolidation of product is required to a prepack staging area based on configurable criteria.

  • Auto release shipment for cross docking. This feature enables cross docking of supply coming out of a finished production order. When creating cross-dock work with a supply source of a production order, it’s possible to set the cross-dock template up and enable cross docking.

See also

Warehouse management overview (docs)