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Process Mining in SAP Extended Warehouse Management (EWM)
Boost your warehouse process performance by identifying the root cause of bottlenecks and rework rates based on SAP warehousing solutions and process mining
Do you want to have better insight into your warehouse process performance and compare processes as designed with actual process flows in SAP EWM? Process Mining can help you create transparency in your warehouse processes, identify bottlenecks, and avoid losing time and money due to rework activities. With the help of analysis across warehouses and customizable dashboards, you can gain clarity about processes and compare performance with internal/external benchmarks. Furthermore, you can identify the best practices for your warehouse by analysing the performance of different process variants.
The ever-growing complexity of business operations poses tremendous challenges for process transparency. The Deloitte Center for Process Bionics uses Process Mining technologies to help clients create full transparency of their business processes and has now worked with SAP Logistics Execution experts to create ready-to-use process mining data models for SAP EWM and WM.
Process Mining offers warehouses full transparency of their processes, generating knowledge that forms the basis for process optimization measures and the starting point for continuous operational excellence. In the case of warehouse management, this can help you to:
- Identify internal best practices based on benchmarking
- Avoid losing time and money with rework activities
- Analyze bottlenecks within your warehouse
- Analyze processes across warehouses
Our ready-to-use process mining data model, including pre-defined dashboards, is the foundation for kick-starting implementation projects and generating benefits for your business immediately.
Understanding processes
The process overview helps analyze processes and gain insight into rework activities such as repacking, as well as other deviating process sequences in inbound or outbound processes. In the case of SAP EWM, this is particularly beneficial to analyze process flows from multiple orders over a certain period in time in one overview. This helps identify irregularities and deviations from the expected process sequence.
Identifying internal best practices
The benchmarking dashboard provides detailed insights into all processes and variants with extensive customization options for benchmarking comparisons. It allows users to compare process performance and throughput time, e.g. broken down by customer, material number, or carrier on a cross-warehouse basis.
Avoiding rework
The rework dashboard analyzes processes and supports warehouses with insight into the rate of activity occurrence or rework, e.g. in picking, packing, and staging activities. Different selection criteria allow users to focus on specific tasks or task sequences. Every time a warehouse activity is repeated, it costs time and therefore money; identifying avoidable rework thus unlocks cost saving opportunities.
Analyzing bottlenecks
The bottleneck dashboard allows users to explore areas where work is delayed and identify the causes of bottlenecks. The aim of this dashboard is to get work flowing through every workstation at a steadier pace. For example, if some trucks occupy loading docks for longer than expected, this information can be cross-referenced with available metadata to identify correlations with certain carriers or material groups.
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