The material flow system is a component of SAP EWM that is used to automatically control warehouses, for example via different types of conveyor technology.
The MFS of SAP EWM is special in that it does not require an additional warehouse control computer and therefore enables direct communication.
The routes via the conveyor system are mapped in SAP EWM using layout-oriented storage control. This control is used to determine how, for example, a box should be moved from one location to another and which points in between should be visited before the box reaches the target storage location.
In addition to storage control, resources play a major role. Each executing element of the conveyor system is assigned a resource, which can later be used to initiate and acknowledge tasks in the warehouse.
All communication and individual tasks can be tracked and analyzed in the warehouse management monitor.
On the technical side of the MFS there are so-called programmable logic controllers (PLCs) that communicate with SAP EWM via telegrams. This requires a communication channel that worked via PCo up until EWM Release 9.4 and has worked with the ABAP Push Channel since then. This PLC is based on TCP/IP technology.
In some cases it makes sense to use a master PLC that controls several similar devices. One conceivable option would be to have a master PLC for all lifts in a warehouse, each of which has its own PLC.
Small number of interfaces
High degree of standardization
More efficient maintenance and support
In the first step of introducing MFS with SAP EWM, we discuss the warehouse layout with you based on the physical and technical conditions of your warehouse, in order to then transfer this to your system in the form of the warehouse structure. If the spatial requirements are known, the movement planning can be carried out analogously to the MFS structure (for example the conveyor belt) and a layout-oriented warehouse control can be developed with you. To translate the movements, we set up a communication channel between the PLC and SAP EWM for you so that all information can be transferred using a telegram structure.