Thanks to the SAP Yard Logistics-based solution developed by LeverX, the client has improved cargo planning, preparing, loading, and unloading.
Customer Overview
Customer
A large truck manufacturer whose employees daily transport thousands of spare parts on forklifts, from the warehouse to the long conveyor belt, and back.
Challenge
The customer was unable to solve incidents rapidly (spare parts aren’t available for shipping, the forklift is out of order, etc.), used a time-consuming process to prepare shipping manifests, and lacked transparency in monitoring the movement of forklifts, and others.
Solution
To successfully deal with these and other issues that arise when supplying production lines with materials, the company decided to implement a solution for floor transportation management.
Challenge
After a thorough analysis of the client’s internal workflow processes, our team had to implement, configure, and customize the SAP Yard Logistics solution, and integrate it with other SAP products and third-party software.
Project Scope
Integration with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
- Data about shipment orders are sent from the ERP system to SAP YL, which is used to set up a logistics plan for forklifts.
- SAP YL receives the real-time notification of a manifest document generated in SAP ERP and creates a shipment order.
Integration with Transportation Management (TM)
Integrating SAP YL with SAP TM ensured timely loading and unloading of trucks using several ramps within one freight order.
Integration with a third-party GPS tracking solution
Integrating SAP YL with the client’s third-party solution helps track the real-time locations of transportation units.
Development of mobile applications with Xamarin
Our team moved away from orthodox SAP Fiori apps and developed customized mobile solutions with Xamarin.
- Application 1: created for a forklift driver to update task statuses.
- Application 2: built for a task manager — an employee who is in charge of check-in and check-out shipment orders and creating tasks for forklift drivers. The solution allows them to create tasks for drivers automatically.
Adding a new transportation unit ‘’tare’’ to create an accounting system
The tare is now registered via orders, which allows the client to monitor its workload status in the system when accounting is required.
Building an application for vehicle routes that connects different storage bins
The LeverX teams developed a separate business object to maintain vehicle routes. The application offers an opportunity to edit, block, and join them in service areas.
Building an algorithm to choose a forklift for specific tasks
To streamline the workflow of enterprise resources, we offered the algorithm to search for an appropriate forklift and services area. The system takes into account drivers’ availability, workload, and real-time location (due to the integration with GPS) and then assigns an available employee to a task based on the three criteria.
Displaying route prompts in mobile applications for drivers
We transferred the plant’s physical map into a digital space to enhance the training of new drivers. As a result, vehicle routes and a recommended sequence are displayed in mobile applications for forklift drivers.
Visualizing a transfer platform according to an up-to-date positioning of storage bins
Our team configured the plant’s map with SAP Visual Business, an out-of-the-box component included in SAP Yard Logistics.
Workload planning report
- LeverX experts created a user-friendly report form that comprised the information about planned orders for tomorrow/next week/next month (or the specified time) based on the data collected from the ERP system.
- Thanks to the report, the manager can distribute forklift drivers within service areas and change positions based on their workload, optimizing the distribution of employees within the areas.
Solution Description
The solution aimed to meet the challenges below:
Make the floor transport loading process more efficient by solving the following tasks:
- Track and analyze historical and dynamic data about forklifts’ work during a shift;
- Reduce waiting time while loading/unloading a vehicle.
Improve shipping, loading, and unloading operations, as follows:
- Prevent incidents, such as delays in loading materials;
- Ensure efficient cooperation of managers and yard workers.
Monitor the task execution status and vehicle availability, including:
- Track vehicle locations in real-time;
- Optimize vehicle routes.
Streamline operations with shipping manifests and forklift workflow, in particular:
- Fill in and keep electronic manifests;
- Ensure efficient communication with yard workers (using mobile applications instead of phone calls).
SAP Yard Logistics can solve all the requirements mentioned above.
Technology Stack
- ABAP
- BOPF
- FPM
- FBI
- ODATA
- WEB SERVICES
Results
- An automated solution for yard management helps the client avoid unnecessary movements of forklifts and non-optimal routes.
- Instead of vehicle downtime or redundancy, the client received optimized task distribution and strict adherence to shipment plans.
- Due to integrated ERP and TM solutions, the customer has automated and boosted the transferring of shipment orders from third-party systems.
- The implemented solution also takes into account shipment incidents, as mobile applications perform shipment tasks and notify when repair or assistance is required.
- The GPS feature helps monitor shipping to a particular destination location, while an opportunity to select a forklift based on its workload and location ensures a systematic, optimized approach to task distribution.
The customer can leverage the solution’s capabilities to improve performance resulting in increased business revenue. The client also plans to use the implemented system for driverless forklifts.