Qventra
TRENDEFRES

Blog

Transportation Management - Freight Units

1/24/2026 ·

A freight unit is: A set of goods intended to be transported together from origin to destination The smallest unit of freight used in transportation planning A unit used to merge items (transportation requirements) derived from originating documents (SO, PO, STO, and so on) for the planning of transportation.

Freight Units Defined

 

A freight unit is:

 

  • A set of goods intended to be transported together from origin to destination
  • The smallest unit of freight used in transportation planning
  • A unit used to merge items (transportation requirements) derived from originating documents (SO, PO, STO, and so on) for the planning of transportation.

 

  • The granularity of freight units required for transportation planning varies significantly depending on the business scenario. The system can split and merge product quantities of the requirements when creating freight units, depending on the applied freight unit building rules.

 

  • The creation of freight units subsequently impacts planning. Larger freight units simplify planning activities in VSR optimization, while smaller freight units theoretically offer higher optimization potential but complicate planning due to their increased number. To achieve optimal planning results, it's recommended to strike a balance.

  

 

Examples of Freight Unit:

  1. Food Distribution: Consider a truck with a capacity of 20 tons intended for transporting 20 tons of flour in 1 kg packages. Creating a single freight unit of 20 tons or 20,000 freight units of 1 kg each is not advisable for the aforementioned reasons. A balanced approach should be sought.

 

  1. E-commerce Shipments: An e-commerce company needs to transport a mix of electronics, clothing, and home goods. Instead of creating separate freight units for every single item (resulting in a very high number of freight units), or combining everything into one large freight unit (making it cumbersome to handle), it would be more efficient to create freight units grouped by product category or delivery destination.

 

  1. Automotive Industry: A manufacturer needs to deliver a variety of auto parts to different assembly plants. Splitting the freight units based on part types (for example, engine components, body parts, electrical systems) rather than by individual items or as a single freight unit for all parts combined can enhance the efficiency of both transportation and handling at the destination.

 

  1. Pharmaceutical Logistics: A pharmaceutical company requires the transportation of both temperature-sensitive and non-sensitive medications. Creating separate freight units for temperature-sensitive items (such as vaccines) and non-sensitive items (like vitamins) ensures proper handling and compliance with regulations without overwhelming the planning system with too many small units.

 

Initiating Freight Unit Building

 

 

metin, ekran görüntüsü, yazı tipi, diyagram içeren bir resim Yapay zeka tarafından oluşturulan içerik yanlış olabilir.

 

Freight unit building can be either automatically triggered or manually executed. Typically, if freight units should not consolidate items from different predecessor documents, which is the most common scenario, automatic freight unit building can be activated. 

Freight units are created immediately upon the creation or saving of their predecessor documents. Additionally, the creation of freight units can be triggered by background reports. Specifically, report /SCMTMS/TRQ_PREP_PLNG_BATCH can be utilized to create freight units in a side-by-side deployment scenario. In such cases, freight units are generated based on the /SCMTMS/TRQ object. For an embedded deployment scenario, report /SCMTMS/SUBSEQUENT_FUB_LOGINT should be used.

 

Freight Unit Building Rules

 

Understanding Freight Unit Building Rules

 

 

The image illustrates a process flow related to handling transportation requirements in a logistics context. It begins with Transportation Requirement(s) at the top, which indicates the source data for transportation planning. From this point, a central element labeled with a funnel symbol suggests that the requirements undergo processing to generate specific outputs. Beneath this, three Freight Unit icons branch out, each representing distinct freight units that emerge from processing the transportation requirements. The Freight Unit Building Rule is detailed on the right side of the image, providing key components involved in the decision-making process. It lists several elements, including Building Rule Strategy, Critical Quantity, Item Split Allowed, Document Type Determination, Planning Quantities, and Split Quantity. These components outline the criteria and strategies for constructing freight units based on the initial transportation requirements, ensuring efficient and effective logistics management. The overall layout conveys how transportation requirements are transformed into specific freight units through well-defined building rules.

 

  1. Condition Check in Logistics Integration Profile: The system first reviews the condition defined in the logistics integration profile. The system transitions to the next option if no condition is specified or fails to produce a result.

 

  1. Freight Unit Building Rule in Logistics Integration Profile: Next, the system verifies if a freight unit building rule is specified within the logistics integration profile. The system proceeds to the final option if no such rule is maintained.

 

  1. Freight Unit Building Rule in Logistics Integration Profile: Next, the system verifies if a freight unit building rule is specified within the logistics integration profile. The system proceeds to the final option if no such rule is maintained.

 

  1. Application of Standard Settings: The system defaults to applying standard settings in the absence of a condition or a specified freight unit building rule.

 

Freight Unit Building Rules

🚛 Understanding the Importance of Freight Unit Building Rules in SAP TM

In SAP Transportation Management (TM), Freight Unit Building Rules (FUBR) play a critical role in how transport-relevant items are grouped into logical planning units known as Freight Units (FUs). These rules determine how order items are split and structured for transportation planning and execution.

 

🔧 Defining Critical Quantities

At the heart of the FU building process is the critical quantity—the primary unit of measure used to determine when a line item should be split into multiple freight units. Additional planning dimensions like weight and volume can also be set. These values are essential for accurate capacity checks during planning and are directly transferred to the freight unit.

 

📏 Splitting Rules and Capacity Constraints

The FU building rule also defines the maximum capacity of a freight unit. If the system is allowed to split items (via the Item Split Allowed option), it will create multiple freight units based on the defined split quantity. For instance, transporting 5 tons of cement with a limit of 500 kg per FU would result in the system generating 10 freight units.

 

🚚 Transport Planning Efficiency

All items in a freight unit are transported together to their final destination. This consolidation improves planning efficiency. In multimodal transport scenarios, where multiple planners manage different legs of the journey, such grouping helps maintain consistency and allows additional stage-level information to be included in the freight unit.

 

⚠️ Handling Incompatibilities

The FUBR also addresses product incompatibilities. For example, items requiring different temperature conditions (like ice cream and ketchup) can be excluded from the same freight unit even if they belong to the same order. These rules ensure safe and compliant transportation, avoiding issues during execution.