How Intelligent Warehouse Management Delivers Supply Chain Resilience

The modern supply chain faces persistent labor shortages, escalating customer demands for rapid fulfillment, and the challenge of maintaining accurate inventory. For manufacturers and distributors, the answer to these hurdles lies in Intelligent Warehouse Management, specifically leveraging SAP Extended Warehouse Management (EWM).

SAP EWM is central to SAP’s digital supply chain portfolio and designed specifically to reduce working capital, ensure seamless warehouse operations, and provide visibility on inventory stock.

Mobilizing The Supply Chain

During a recent webinar, Delaware Consulting highlighted that its FAST EWM TM template is a solution to help customers embark on their digital supply chain journey utilizing SAP EWM and SAP Transportation Management (TM). Key features of the FAST EWM TM template include:

• A warehouse model developed in delaware’s system that provides a preconfigured SAP EWM and SAP TM environment which is connected to SAP Business Network for Logistics (BN4). This environment can be used for demos or testing sessions related to SAP digital supply chain projects.
• The template includes delaware’s Business Process Modeling Language (BPML), which contains all the L2 and L3 processes for warehousing and transportation.
• FAST EWM TM template can be used during the design phase for any SAP EWM or SAP TM project.
• Benefits of using the template include accelerated deployments and reduced project timelines.
• The template was built to ensure that SAP TM is integrated with SAP EWM because many features released by SAP are commonly shared between the two platforms, particularly in advanced shipping.

delaware has also developed the EWM TM Learning Academy, which aims to ensure that customers learn SAP EWM and SAP TM processes and project team members and consultants speak the same language before the project starts.

A Use Case for Mobile Apps in SAP EWM

However, traditional warehouse operations also often rely on robust but complex radio frequency (RF) frameworks. To overcome the resulting difficult learning curve, especially for the incoming Gen Z workforce who are highly familiar with smartphones, SAP EWM’s ecosystem focuses heavily on mobility.

During the webinar, delaware highlighted that SAP EWM’s mobility solutions include intuitive Mobile Fiori apps and native iOS/Android apps, which simplify complex inventory movements, goods receipt, and stock withdrawal processes. These apps accelerate user adoption and extend SAP EWM’s functionality to non-warehouse users.

Participants in the webinar shared the example of a major telecom company in Canada that had to deploy SAP EWM across more than 150 warehouses over 18 months to illustrate delaware’s implementation of SAP EWM with its FAST EWM TM template and a mobility approach. Many of these warehouses were operated by subcontractors who were not on the company’s internal network.

To address this challenge, delaware helped the company develop simple, intuitive apps based on SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP). These apps allowed field technicians to use their personal smartphones for essential inventory movements, such as looking up a part’s location and withdrawing stock from a regional warehouse. Moreover, technology partners like Scandit enabled users to perform a single scan to identify the correct barcodes, thereby removing user worry and manual effort.

What This Means for SAPinsiders

De-risk complex automation with simulation. For warehouses using automated equipment like conveyors and cranes, SAP EWM’s Material Flow System (MFS) is the core integration component. However, this doesn’t have to be a high-risk, big bang go-live project. By using tools like the Warehouse Simulator, project teams can thoroughly test and visualize the entire automated environment before it’s live. This reduces deployment risk and helps managers understand future operations.

Real-time visualization is the key to trust and accuracy. SAP EWM is a real-time, digital representation of a company’s physical warehouse. When a user performs an action, that change is reflected instantly for everyone. This complete, immediate visibility ensures that the data in the system is an accurate reflection of reality. This is essential for building trust with users and achieving the operational accuracy and resilience SAP EWM promises.

Accelerators and templates can fast-track SAP projects. Solutions like the FAST EWM template provide a head start for companies embarking on an SAP EWM or SAP TM project. These templates offer a preconfigured environment, pre-documented business processes, and a built-in focus on the critical integration between SAP EWM and SAP TM. For SAPinsiders, this means a shorter design phase, a faster overall deployment, and a lower-risk path to achieving a sophisticated digital supply chain, complete with tools for team training and enablement.