Create, process, and release a wave manually

Applies To: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2

This topic describes how to manually create, process, and release a wave to create picking work for a load, shipment, production order, or kanban order. You can create waves for sales orders, production orders, and kanban orders, as follows:

• Sales orders – Use shipping waves to include lines from sales orders. When a sales order is released to the warehouse, the sales order lines can be included in the wave.

• Production orders – Use production waves to include lines from the bill of materials (BOM) for the product.

• Kanban orders – Kanban waves include picking list lines from kanban orders.

For sales orders and kanban orders, inventory must be reserved before the order is released to the warehouse. Otherwise, the items or allocation lines cannot be processed in a wave. However, production orders are slightly more flexible. For production orders, you can specify the following:

• Allow production orders to be released to the warehouse although all materials cannot be reserved. If you select this option, you must manually repeat the release to warehouse process when the additional materials become available. For example, this is useful if you have the materials that you need to start a production, and can wait until the additional materials become available.

• Require that all materials are reserved before an order can be released to the warehouse.

You can specify the default value in the Release to warehouse field in Production control parameters. However, you can change the setting for a specific production order at any time.

The following diagram shows the process flow for manually creating, processing, and releasing a shipping wave.

The numbers correspond to the procedures later in this topic.

Prerequisites

The following table shows the prerequisites that must be in place before you start.

1. Create a wave manually

To manually create a wave, follow these steps:

1. Depending on the type of wave to create, click one of the following:

   1. Click Warehouse management > Common > Waves > Shipment waves > All waves. On the Action Pane, click Wave.

   2. Click Warehouse management > Common > Waves > Production waves > All production waves. On the Action Pane, click Production wave.

   3. Click Warehouse management > Common > Waves > Kanban waves > All kanban waves. On the Action Pane, click Create wave.

2. In the Description field, enter a short description of the wave. This should indicate what you are processing in the wave.

3. In the Wave template name field, select the wave template for the type of wave to create. The wave template contains the wave methods that will perform actions such as creating work for the wave. For example, the wave template for shipping waves can contain methods for creating loads, allocating lines to waves, replenishment, and creating picking work for the wave.

4. Optional: If you want to use wave attributes as additional query criteria for the wave, select the attributes in the Wave attributes fields.

2. Add loads or shipments, bill of material lines, or kanban picking list to a wave

If you are creating a wave manually, you must add the lines for a load, shipment, production order, or kanban order. This requires that a sales order, production order, or kanban order has been released to the warehouse.

To specify what to include in a wave, follow these steps:

1. Depending on the type of wave to add lines to, do the following:

   • Click Warehouse management > Common > Waves > Shipment waves > All waves. On the Action Pane, click Wave.

   • Click Warehouse management > Common > Waves > Production waves > All production waves. On the Action Pane, click Production wave.

   • Click Warehouse management > Common > Waves > Kanban waves > All kanban waves. On the Action Pane, click Create wave.

2. Select the wave. On the Action Pane, click one of the following:

   • Maintain shipments

   • Maintain productions

   • Maintain kanban job picking lists

3. In the upper part of the window, select the line to add to the wave, and then click Add to wave. The line is moved to the Wave lines FastTab.

   Repeat this step for each line to add. To add all lines, click Add all.

   Tip

   For shipment waves, you can quickly find a particular order by selecting a custom filter in the Wave filter code field. Wave filter codes contain query criteria for shipments, which are created in the Wave filters form. This field is not available for production waves or kanban waves.

   A green check mark in the On wave column indicates that the shipment has been added to the wave.

3. Process the wave to create the picking work

You can process a wave only when the status is Created. After you process a wave, the status of the wave is Held.

To process a wave, follow these steps:

1. Depending on the type of wave to process, do the following:

   • Click Warehouse management > Common > Waves > Shipment waves > All waves. On the Action Pane, click Wave.

   • Click Warehouse management > Common > Waves > Production waves > All production waves. On the Action Pane, click Production wave.

   • Click Warehouse management > Common > Waves > Kanban waves > All kanban waves. On the Action Pane, click Create wave.

2. Select the wave to process. On the Action Pane, click Process.

4. Release the wave to the warehouse to start picking and packing

You must process a wave before you can release it. When you release the wave, the picking work is available in the warehouse. You can cancel a wave after it is released, and add more lines, but you cannot change the lines.

To release a wave, follow these steps:

1. Depending on the type of wave to release, do the following:

   • Click Warehouse management > Common > Waves > Shipment waves > All waves. On the Action Pane, click Wave.

   • Click Warehouse management > Common > Waves > Production waves > All production waves. On the Action Pane, click Production wave.

   • Click Warehouse management > Common > Waves > Kanban waves > All kanban waves. On the Action Pane, click Create wave.

2. Select the wave to release. On the Action Pane, click Release wave.

Optional: Cancel a wave

If needed, you can cancel a wave that has been processed.

To cancel a wave and the picking work that was created, follow these steps:

1. Depending on the type of wave to cancel, click the following:

   • Click Warehouse management > Common > Waves > Shipment waves > All waves.

   • Click Warehouse management > Common > Waves > Production waves > All production waves.

   • Click Warehouse management > Common > Waves > Kanban waves > All kanban waves.

2. Select the wave to cancel. On the Action Pane, on the Work tab, click Cancel.

Related tasks

Create a wave template

Technical information for system administrators

If you don't have access to the pages that are used to complete this task, contact your system administrator and provide the information that is shown in the following table.