- Feature
- Pickup policy based on transport calendar
- Availability
- Generally available in Supply Chain Management 10.0.49
- Industry focus
- Beverage distributors
Beverage distribution is heavy, seasonal and tightly scheduled. Stock moves from breweries, bottling plants and central depots to regional warehouses on fixed transport schedules. A heatwave or a major sporting event can double demand in days, and replenishment has to be planned around when trucks actually run and when warehouses can actually receive them.
The industry challenge
Master planning creates planned transfers and purchases with shipping and receipt dates. If the plan assumes a shipment can leave on a day when no transport is scheduled, or arrive on a day when the receiving warehouse is closed, the plan is wrong before it starts. Planners then spend time adjusting dates manually, or the warehouse discovers the problem when stock fails to arrive.
For beverage distributors, the consequences show up quickly: empty shelves in the hottest week of the year, extra emergency deliveries, or trucks arriving at a depot that cannot receive them. Planning systems that consider only one calendar, or none, make these problems more likely.
What Microsoft delivered in Supply Chain Management 10.0.49
Supply Chain Management 10.0.49 adds a pickup policy to Planning Optimization based on the transport calendar. With this policy, the shipping date must be open in both the transport calendar and the warehouse calendar. The receiving warehouse's calendar then determines the receipt date.
Planned orders therefore reflect when goods can actually be collected and when they can actually be received.
Where the value shows up
| Business area | Impact |
|---|---|
| Planning accuracy | Planned dates align with real transport and warehouse schedules |
| Service levels | Fewer stock-outs caused by plans that could not be executed |
| Planner productivity | Less manual adjustment of planned order dates |
| Logistics cost | Fewer emergency deliveries to correct infeasible plans |
| Warehouse operations | Inbound arrivals that match receiving capacity and opening days |
A worked scenario
(An illustrative example.) A soft drinks distributor replenishes six regional depots from a central bottling plant. Trucks to the northern depots run on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and one depot does not receive goods on Saturdays.
Before, planned transfers were often dated for days without scheduled transport, and planners corrected them by hand every morning. With the pickup policy, master planning only schedules shipments on days open in both the transport and warehouse calendars, and receipt dates follow the receiving depot's calendar. When a heatwave forecast increases demand, the revised plan immediately shows realistic shipping and receipt dates, and planners can decide quickly whether to add extra transport.
Adoption considerations
- Maintain calendars properly. The policy is only as good as the transport and warehouse calendars. Assign owners and keep them current.
- Model real transport schedules. Set up transport calendars that reflect actual routes and frequencies.
- Review lead times. Check that transport lead times and calendars work together sensibly.
- Communicate with logistics partners. If carriers change schedules, make sure calendars are updated promptly.
- Test peak scenarios. Run planning with seasonal demand peaks to check behaviour under pressure.
The bottom line
A plan that ignores transport schedules is just a wish list. Respecting transport and warehouse calendars in Planning Optimization produces replenishment plans beverage distributors can actually execute, especially when demand spikes. The work lies in maintaining accurate calendars, and the reward is fewer stock-outs and fewer emergency runs. Talk to an experienced Dynamics 365 Supply Chain adviser about setting it up for your network.
Source: Microsoft: What's new or changed in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management 10.0.49