SAP Yard Logistics offers a comprehensive solution that simplifies and centralizes all the processes in a yard. In simple terms, it allows us to decrease the duration of all the processes in the yard, monitor them, scale the solution to different user needs, create an integrated business network with SAP TM and SAP EWM and most importantly, enable digitalization of the Yard.
Despite being available as early as 2016, SAP Yard Logistics is still new to most and it should not be confused with SAP EWM Yard Management. To make things clear, SAP EWM Yard Management is a function within SAP EWM where a Yard is seen as an extension of the warehouse, and operations are managed by warehouse tasks. Although there is a certain overlap with SAP Yard Logistics in the execution phase, SAP Yard Logistics offers a more comprehensive approach for yard operations covering planning, execution, and monitoring phases.
Having mentioned the benefits the solution offers, let us briefly understand the business process on a higher level. As an example, in a typical Inbound scenario, a vehicle enters the plant, warehouse or Distribution Channel through one of the following ways.
1. External vendor through Purchase Order
2. Inter/Intra plant transfer through Stock Transfer Order
3. Returns from customer through Return Sales Order
4. Empty container / Trailer etc. …
Managing all the tasks, including but not limited to unloading the goods from the vehicle and departure of the vehicle from the premise within the planned time depends on how the vehicle is managed in the Yard Logistics system. Here, a Yard Request serves as a planning document including the details of the incoming and outgoing transports. Yard Requests can be either created manually or generated automatically while integrating with other SAP and non SAP legacy systems. Following this a Yard Order which represents the workload to be executed within a certain time period will be created including Yard Tasks which symbolize a list of activities like moving a Transportation Unit to a storage place, cleaning a Transportation Unit, preparing a Transportation Unit, inspection, weighing, unloading, loading, etc..
After finalizing the yard processing and check-out, an unloading notification is sent from SAP Yard Logistics to the system which is integrated, for instance SAP TM, with corresponding timestamps of all the events.
