Retail Outbound Packing in D365 | Approach to D365 for Commerce with Adv WH Mgmt

Hi Guys, I hope you have read my previous post where we have seen the Demand Replenishment operation in D365 FO. In this blog, we’re going to see how once the orders have been picked completely, it goes for packing. This is usually done in a packing area. So now we’re going to see how packers can use the D365 pack screen to pack out consumers as well as store orders.

If you have gone through my previous blogs on Retail Outbound Cluster Picking process in D365, we have finished picking a whole bunch of orders, and those orders now are in totes on carts positioned at the packing station. It’s time to pack. Navigate to Warehouse management > Shipments > Active Shipments. Here we will see the Shipment status is still in Process.

So let’s envision that we get this tote right here, shipment ID USRT-000023, and it’s got a Mesh BMX Gloves (G0011) and a Soundbar (T0012) associated with it. So we take that tote off and we scan this shipment ID number once we get into the packing screen. Navigate to Warehouse management > Packing and containerization > Pack and it asks us for the Warehouse, location, and packing profile.

So now we are in the packing screen. So the first thing it asks for, up here in the upper left-hand corner, is what order are you packing, what shipment are you packing? Well, we will scan the Shipment ID or the license plate that is on the product and now it knows what we want to pack. We can see the products that are under this Shipment.

So before we can start packing, we need to tell the system what kind of box we are going to use. It doesn’t necessarily recommend a box. It asks us, the packer, to choose one. So we are going to use a new container ID, you can imagine having a little barcode that you attach. We are going to call it box BOX0023. And it also asks us, what size box is that? It’s a size one box that we have selected.

So now we’ve got a box in front of us. We built that box. And so now we are ready to scan those items out of the tote, into the box to make sure that every item that consumer ordered actually is present there. So the way this works is we have a scanner and as we scan the UPC on a given item it subtracts it from the list of things it’s looking for. As opposed to showing us what it’s found, it’s subtracting it from the list of things that it’s looking for.

So right now we are looking for one unit of Mesh BMX Gloves and one unit of Soundbar. So let’s say we scanned one of those Mesh BMX Gloves. And if we don’t enter a quantity, we just enter in the UPC itself, it assumes a quantity of one. So you will see that one gets disappeared from Open lines. This is again the list of things it’s looking for on that order. So it is taking it off of there because it is no longer looking for that product. Now we have to enter in the Soundbar. Once we scan both the products, there is nothing further that we should be looking for. And if we type something in, let’s say somebody had mistakenly put some other product, like a Speaker or something, it will give this error. You can’t put that in that box. It’s not supposed to be there.

So we’ve got all the products that are supposed to be in that box, in the box. At this point we’ve got to close the container. So we go up here to the menu bar and we click on the close container button, and D365 FO is designed around the assumption that you will be packing and weighing orders at the same workstation.

So it’s asking us here for the weight. So you’d have to assume that you would have the weight there with a scale. That’s the way the system is designed out of the box. So we’ll just say we have that and we entered 2.35. And you could also press Get system weight and it will calculate the weight-based upon the weights of the items that you have placed in the box plus the weight of the box itself. We could do that if we wanted to do that, but most people will have an actual scale where they will put the package and weigh it. So now we know it’s 2.35 kg. And we haven’t closed that box yet because, in this particular instance, we are going to pretend that we print the packing slip at the packing station.

Some people like to do this but many people do not. They like to print it before the picking starts. But let’s just say you have a retail customer that wants to print it at packing.

So you can imagine now what we are going to do is we are going to drop that packing slip into the box and we are going to seal it up. And we’re going to send it on its way because we’ve packed it all out. Also, you can note by looking at this packing slip that this packing slip is going to require some changes in order to comply with most retailers’ requirements. There is no return label on it or any other fancy stuff like order messages or anything of that nature. So if the customer does require that, you’ll have to go in and modify this. Again if you want to print the packing slip before you pick, and some retailers will, then I suggest that you modify the work order report to look like a packing slip, and modify it with the return label, etc., all the little nuances that the retailer desires. But you can do it either way. It depends on which type of customer you are dealing with. But the vast majority of the functionality is right there, either in the work order form or in the packing slip form.

So we’ve got this order and it’s packed. We’ve sealed up the box. We’ve sent it on its way. And so that completes packing. So I hope you got a better understanding of the Retail Outbound Packing operation in D365 FO, so it is easier for you when you go and implement the D365 FO Warehouse management module for the Retail Outbound processes.

In the next blog, we’re going to our next stop on the roadmap which is a process of printing a carrier compliance label and applying it to a package or box that needs to travel via a small parcel carrier and this is called Manifesting.

Feel free to reach out for any clarifications. If you like my blog posts then comment and subscribe to the blogs.

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