| # Handling unit structures A handling unit structure shows how handling units are structured to pack particular items. A handling unit can have a hierarchical structure that consists of several handling units that are related in a parent - child fashion. In the Handling Unit Tree session, a handling unit structure is displayed as a hierarchical structure of nodes. Each node represents a handling unit. Example For example, a fluid item such as milk is packed in cartons, the cartons are packed in boxes of twenty cartons each, and 50 boxes are placed on a pallet. Top The top node includes the whole structure. In the previous example, the pallet is the top node. Parent A node that ranks higher than another node by one level. A parent node includes one or more children. In the previous example, the boxes are the parent nodes of the milk cartons. At the same time, the pallet (the top node) is the parent of the boxes, thus the boxes are the children of the pallet. Child A node that is linked to a parent. In the previous example, the milk cartons are the children of the boxes. A node includes the following information: The parent node to which the node belongs (except for the top node, of course). The packing item that is used for the node. In the previous example, the packing item for the top node is pallet, and for the children of the top node the packing item is box. The number of packing items used for the node. In the previous example, the number of packing items for the top node is one (one pallet), and for the second node the number is 50 (50 boxes per pallet). For fixed packaging definitions, the number of packaging items is determined in a different way. For further information, see Packaging levels. The number of items that the packaging item contains. The node is labeled or unlabeled. Labeled means that for each packing item defined for the node, a label record is created. In this way, each existing packing item is uniquely identified. These labels can be printed. If the boxes with milk cartons from the previous example are labeled, each box obtains a label when handling units are generated for an order for milk cartons. For further information on labels, see Label layout and printing. Auxiliary packing material, such as sealing plastic that is used for the node. You can manually create a handling unit structure for a number of items in the Compose Handling Units (whwmd5130m100) session, or you can define a package definition with a handling unit template that determines the handling unit structure for particular items. Related topics Package definitions |