Dear all,
we as a shipper have different scenarios concerning Containers, and I wonder how to handle them in SAP TM (and maybe ERP) in the easiest way:
a) LSP provides a container - we don't care about availability in planning. Guess this could be easily managed with Equipments, we can assign a container number to the equipment which can then be used for printing on documents, tracking etc. - is that true?
b) We use our own (rent) container - these are dedicated to special products and their number is limited, so we have to take care about availability in planning. In this case, we might have to model the container as a transportation unit ressource, using maybe the same equipment types as in scenario a). Would this lead to the same result like in scenario a), i. e. having a freight order with one or more containers, making printing of the container number(s) and tracking via container ID possible? Can I
Maybe I can sum up the problem this way: In Planning, it's completely different whether we use our own container or not, but in Execution both should work in the same way.
Unfortunately, the TM documentation (library as well as book) is, in my opinion, very confusing when it comes to concepts like transportation units and equipments...