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<ManualTopic ID="/baanerp/fm/onlinemanual/000107" xml:lang="en">
   <Header>
      <Title>Piece units used in load building and loading capacity
		checks</Title>
      <Keyword type="header" order="d1e470718">
         <Level1>Units</Level1>
         <Level2>load building and capacity checks</Level2>
      </Keyword>
      <Keyword type="header" order="d1e470723">
         <Level1>Load building and capacity checks</Level1>
         <Level2>units</Level2>
      </Keyword>
   </Header>
   <AimSection>
      <List>
         <ListIntro>In addition to various other criteria, <GUIRef href="/baanerp/fm" role="package">Freight</GUIRef> uses the
		  following types of units to perform <Link href="/baanerp/fm/glossary/glossary#000046" role="glossary">load building</Link> and <Link href="/baanerp/fm/glossary/glossary#000023" role="glossary">rough planning</Link>:</ListIntro>
         <ListItem>
            <Link href="/baanerp/fm/glossary/glossary#000079" role="glossary">piece units</Link>
         </ListItem>
         <ListItem>Units of measure: Surface area, weight, and/or
		  volume</ListItem>
         <ListItem>A combination of piece units and units of measure</ListItem>
      </List>
   </AimSection>
   <GeneralSection>
      <Paragraph>To plan transportation, many types of logistics providers prefer
		piece units such as pallets, boxes, or so-called loading meters, sometimes
		without wanting to be bothered with the volume, surface area, or even weight of
		the goods involved.</Paragraph>
      <Paragraph>For example, a carrier specialized in palletized transport will
		often be interested in capacity details expressed in pallet places or loading
		meters, whereas a carrier with a tanker fleet will mainly be interested in
		volumes. Most bulk carriers, on the other hand, prefer weights. Combinations of
		unit types, such as piece unit and weight, are also used in various logistics
		environments.</Paragraph>
      <Paragraph>To use piece units, they are allocated to items and <Link href="/baanerp/fm/glossary/glossary#000004" role="glossary">transport means groups</Link>. If you link a piece unit to an
		item, you can only use transport means groups with identical piece units or
		piece units related through conversion factors to perform load building or
		rough planning. The use of piece units is optional, use them if your logistics
		environment requires you to do so.</Paragraph>
   </GeneralSection>
   <GeneralSection ID="piece_units_setup">
      <SectionTitle>Setup</SectionTitle>
      <ProcedureList>
         <ListIntro>In the <GUIRef href="/baanerp/fm/fmd/fmfmd0100m000" role="session">Freight Master Data Parameters (fmfmd0100m000)</GUIRef> session, you can define default units of
		  measure for <GUIRef href="/baanerp/fm" role="package">Freight</GUIRef>. To define piece units for load building and rough
		  planning, proceed as follows:</ListIntro>
         <ListItem>In the <GUIRef href="/baanerp/tc/mcs/tcmcs0101m000" role="session">Units (tcmcs0101m000)</GUIRef> session, define the required piece units. If you use
		  various piece units that are to be used in the same loads and shipments, make
		  sure that you define conversion factors between the piece units. For example,
		  if you define piece units such as pallets and boxes and a pallet must contain a
		  given number of boxes, define conversion factors for the boxes and the pallets.
		  For further information, see <Link href="/baanerp/tc/onlinemanual/000016" role="manual">To define units</Link> and <Link href="/baanerp/tc/onlinemanual/000014" role="manual">To use conversion factors</Link>.</ListItem>
         <ListItem>
            <Paragraph>In the <GUIRef href="/baanerp/fm/fmd/fmfmd1100m000" role="session">Items - Freight Management (fmfmd1100m000)</GUIRef> session, select the item to which you want
			 to link the piece unit.</Paragraph>
            <Paragraph>Note that in the <GUIRef href="/baanerp/fm/fmd/fmfmd1101m000" role="session">Items - Freight Defaults (fmfmd1101m000)</GUIRef> session, you can also link a default piece
			 unit to items of particular <Link href="/baanerp/tc/glossary/glossary#000006" role="glossary">item types</Link> that belong to
			 particular <Link href="/baanerp/tc/glossary/glossary#000007" role="glossary">item groups</Link>.</Paragraph>
         </ListItem>
         <ListItem>In the <GUIRef href="/baanerp/fm/fmd/fmfmd1100m000#fmfmd100.pcun" role="manual">Piece Unit</GUIRef> field of the <GUIRef href="/baanerp/fm/fmd/fmfmd1100m000" role="session">Items - Freight Management (fmfmd1100m000)</GUIRef> session, select the piece unit that you
		  want to link to the item. After you select the piece unit, the <GUIRef href="/baanerp/fm/fmd/fmfmd1100m000#fmfmd100.qpcu" role="manual">Pieces</GUIRef> field becomes available. Note that a
		  conversion factor between the inventory unit of the item and the piece unit
		  must exist.</ListItem>
         <ListItem>
            <Paragraph>In the <GUIRef href="/baanerp/fm/fmd/fmfmd1100m000#fmfmd100.qpcu" role="manual">Pieces</GUIRef> field, enter the portion of the piece unit
			 taken up by one item. For example, if the piece unit is a box that can contain
			 10 items, enter 0.1 The <GUIRef href="/baanerp/fm/fmd/fmfmd1100m000#inverse.pieces" role="manual">Units per Piece</GUIRef> field will show the reverse
			 proportion, that is, 10 instead of 0.1.</Paragraph>
         </ListItem>
         <ListItem>
            <Paragraph>If required, to indicate that other units are not used in <Link href="/baanerp/fm/glossary/glossary#000046" role="glossary">load building</Link> and <Link href="/baanerp/fm/glossary/glossary#000023" role="glossary">rough planning</Link> for the item, do not change the default
			 value 0 in the other item dimension fields of the <GUIRef href="/baanerp/fm/fmd/fmfmd1100m000" role="session">Items - Freight Management (fmfmd1100m000)</GUIRef> session.</Paragraph>
            <Paragraph>
               <Emphasis>Make sure that this does not conflict with the <Link href="/baanerp/fm/frc/fmfrc0100m000#fmfrc000.aloc" role="formfield">Cost Allocation Based On</Link> parameter. For example, if the
			 value is 0 for the weight unit and cost allocation is based on weight, cost
			 allocation is not available for the current item. Therefore, if you are only
			 using piece units, to enable cost allocation you must set the <GUIRef href="/baanerp/fm/frc/fmfrc0100m000#fmfrc000.aloc" role="manual">Cost Allocation Based On</GUIRef> parameter to <GUIRef href="/baanerp/fm/domains/aloc#dst" role="option">Distance</GUIRef>.</Emphasis>
            </Paragraph>
         </ListItem>
         <ListItem>Repeat steps 2-5 for any other items to which you want to link
		  piece units.</ListItem>
         <ListItem>In the <GUIRef href="/baanerp/fm/fmd/fmfmd0150m000" role="session">Transport Means Groups (fmfmd0150m000)</GUIRef> session, select the <Link href="/baanerp/fm/glossary/glossary#000004" role="glossary">transport means group</Link> to which you want to link the piece
		  unit.</ListItem>
         <ListItem>
            <GUIRef href="/baanerp/fm/fmd/fmfmd0150m000#fmfmd050.pcun" role="manual" Update="No">Piece Unit</GUIRef> field of the <GUIRef href="/baanerp/fm/fmd/fmfmd0150m000" role="session">Transport Means Groups (fmfmd0150m000)</GUIRef> session, select the piece unit that you want to
		  link to the item.</ListItem>
         <ListItem>
            <Paragraph>In the <GUIRef href="/baanerp/fm/fmd/fmfmd0150m000#fmfmd050.capc" role="manual">Capacity in Pieces</GUIRef> field, enter the number of piece
			 units that an individual means of transport of the selected transport means
			 group can contain.</Paragraph>
            <Paragraph>As a result, the transport means group is available to
			 perform load building and rough planning based on the selected units, that is,
			 to create load plans and capacity reports for items that have the same units as
			 the transport means group, or items that have units for which conversion
			 factors with the transport means group's units are defined.</Paragraph>
         </ListItem>
         <ListItem>
            <Paragraph>Repeat steps 7-9 for any other transport means group to
			 which you want to link piece units.</Paragraph>
         </ListItem>
      </ProcedureList>
   </GeneralSection>
   <RelatedTopics>
      <SectionTitle>Related topics</SectionTitle>
      <RelTopic>
         <Link href="/baanerp/fm/onlinemanual/000007" role="manual">The use of items in Freight Management</Link>
      </RelTopic>
      <RelTopic>
         <Link href="/baanerp/fm/onlinemanual/000005" role="manual">The use of transport means groups</Link>
      </RelTopic>
   </RelatedTopics>
</ManualTopic>