Unpacking the Pack Station in Dynamics 365: Part 1 of 2

Amongst the many operations that take place in a warehouse day to day, packing outbound shipments is one of the most important ones. Managing this task can be a real headache if without the correct tools. Luckily, Dynamics 365 Supply Chain offers a built-in functionality to manage all the ins & outs of packing out a product.

Want to learn more?  Keep reading, let´s unpack the packing station.

The packing station functionality is part of the Warehouse Management module in Dynamics 365. 

After picking the items, what happens next? Taking the items to the packing station of course!

Find the pack station by navigating to Warehouse management module > Packing and containerization > Pack.

Opening the pack station requires some input from the user.  The packer identifies which location (or station) and a Packing Profile when logging in. 

Packing profile is a mandatory set up that helps define key details of the packing and containerization process, including default container type and the Container packing policy.  We´ll touch on Container Packing Policies further on this blog. Let´s unpack it a little more.

Get started packing by inputting the shipment ID or License plate number.

• Click the “New container” button or select an existing container ID to resume work on an existing container.

 Based on set ups, an ID for the new container will be generated automatically and the packer will select the type of a container from a dropdown menu. Select the container to use for this shipment. In this case, let´s select a Large box.

Once the new container is open, scroll down a little more and to find a section we´ll use to confirm the items have been packed into the Large box.

In the Item packing section, type in or scan the quantity of items that are being packed into the box.

Open Lines will show a list of items that are yet to be packed and the total quantity.

As the packer scans the items it acts as a double check of the items that were picked allowing a built in quality check. 

The final step – Closing the container …

When the container is closed the shipment is moved to an outbound location or work is created to move the package based on the packing profile.  If there is a scale at the pack station, it would be integrated here to get the package weight.  Click OK and the container will close and can be ready for shipment.

What happens next? The Warehouse Management module allows to configure what happens with our container once it´s closed. Remember the container packing policies we talked about? Within the container packing policy set ups for the Container Closing policies are defined along with manifest and printing container contents or packing slips for a shipment. 

• Container closing policy allows users to define whether a container is automatically released into the shipping location or work is created to move the carton to a desired location.
• Manifest – define if the carton is manifested to the carrier automatically or not during the container close.
• Printing packing slip (which will post the packing slip on the Sales Order) or printing container contents reports. 

Find out more about Packing profiles and container packing policies by reading Ellipse´s blog on EXCITING DETAILS OF CONTAINERIZATION.

As it often happens with D365 F&O, there are many ways to do one task. Now, we can use the Warehouse management app to manage the entire packing process. This process is optimized for larger packing stations and handling bigger containers. In part 2 of this blog, we´ll unpack this new feature.

Don´t forget to check out Microsoft´s documentation on the packing station.