Customer Consignment: Fill-Up (631), Issue (633) and Pick-Up (632)

Business scenario

Demo Manufacturing places 100 EA of FG-2000 at Demo Retail Pvt. Ltd. so they can sell from stock on hand. Demo Retail reports 60 EA consumed and is invoiced for those only; the remaining 40 EA are still Demo Manufacturing's inventory, sitting in the customer's warehouse.

All companies, numbers and documents are fictional demo data.

Step-by-step flow

1. 01

   Consignment fill-up order open in twin

   Order 10001100 (type KB) sends 100 EA to Demo Retail — with a net value of ₹0.

   Item category KBN is not billing relevant, because ownership is not changing. The customer is being given stock to sell from, not stock they have bought.

2. 02

   Delivery and loading open in twin

   Delivery 80001100 is created, picked and loaded for the customer's site.

   Physically identical to a normal sale; what differs is the movement type the item category will post at goods issue.

3. 03

   Fill-up goods issue (631) open in twin

   Unrestricted: 300 → 200 EA. Consignment at customer: 0 → 100 EA. No accounting document.

   This is a transfer, not a sale. The goods are still your asset, so there is no cost of goods sold, no revenue, and typically no accounting document at all.

4. 04

   Goods arrive at the customer open in twin

   The 100 EA now sit in Demo Retail's warehouse — on your balance sheet.

   The commercial attraction for the customer is stock without working capital; for you it is shelf space and faster sales, at the cost of financing the inventory.

5. 05

   Customer reports 60 EA consumed open in twin

   Demo Retail confirms they have used or sold 60 EA. That is the billable event.

   Nothing in SAP knows the customer consumed anything until they tell you. The accuracy of the whole process depends on that reporting, which is why consignment needs reconciliation discipline.

6. 06

   Consignment issue order open in twin

   Order 10001200 (type KE) records the withdrawal of 60 EA at ₹2,000 each.

   Item category KEN is billing relevant, so this document is what turns consignment stock into a sale.

7. 07

   Consignment issue goods movement (633) open in twin

   Consignment at customer: 100 → 40 EA. Now cost of goods sold is finally charged.

   Ownership transfers at withdrawal, not at delivery. This is the moment that, commercially and in accounting, a sale actually happens.

8. 08

   Invoice the withdrawal open in twin

   Invoice 90001300 bills 60 EA — ₹1,20,000. The 40 EA still at the customer are not billed.

   This is the commercial promise of consignment: the customer pays for what they use, when they use it.

9. 09

   40 EA are still at the customer open in twin

   The remaining 40 EA are unsold and still your inventory. Decide what to do with them.

   Either way it remains your asset in the meantime, which is the financial cost of the consignment model.

10. 10

    Consignment pick-up (632) open in twin

    Consignment at customer: 40 → 0. Unrestricted: 200 → 240 EA.

    Nothing was ever sold, so nothing is billed and nothing is credited. It is a transfer back, the exact mirror of the 631 fill-up.

11. 11

    Consignment cycle complete open in twin

    Fill-up 631 (no value) → withdrawal → issue 633 (cost) → invoice. 40 EA still yours at the customer.

    The split between 631 and 633 is what separates physical location from ownership. Stock can be at a customer for months before any of it becomes a sale.

SAP documents

Stock impact

Accounting impact

Movement type

• 631GI consignment fill-up (own stock → consignment at customer)Reversal: 632
• 632GR consignment pick-up (consignment at customer → own stock)
• 633GI consignment issue (customer withdrawal, billable)Reversal: 634
• 634GR consignment returns (customer returns goods already invoiced)

Places your stock at a customer's premises so they can sell or consume from it immediately, while ownership — and the invoice — only transfers when they actually withdraw it.

Transactions & Fiori apps

Configuration

• Four order types, one process

  Typical

  KB fill-up, KE issue, KA pick-up, KR returns. Choosing the wrong one is the single most common consignment error, because they look almost identical on screen.

• Billing relevance per item category

  Configuration dependent

  KBN (fill-up) is not billing relevant; KEN (issue) is. This is what makes the customer pay only for withdrawals.

• Valuation of consignment stock at customer

  Configuration dependent

  Typically remains valuated as your own stock at the material's price, so the fill-up posts no accounting document. Configuration dependent.

• Availability check against consignment stock

  Configuration dependent

  Whether the issue order checks the consignment stock the customer actually holds depends on the schedule line category's availability check setting.

• Physical inventory at customer sites

  Configuration dependent

  Consignment stock at a customer is still your stock and must be counted. How that count is organised is an operational and configuration decision.

Prerequisites

• Consignment order types configured: KB (fill-up), KE (issue), KA (pick-up), KR (returns)
• Item categories KBN (not billing relevant) and KEN (billing relevant) determined correctly
• Movement types 631/632/633/634 assigned on the delivery item categories
• Pricing condition records so the issue order can price the withdrawal
• A process for the customer to report withdrawals, and a reconciliation routine

Master data

Customer / business partner

Consignment stock is tracked per customer; the customer number is the special stock key.

Material master

Sales views allow the consignment orders; valuation supplies the value that moves at the 633 issue.

Pricing condition records

Price the withdrawal. The fill-up is deliberately unpriced.

Organizational structure

• Company code 1000
• Sales organization 1000, distribution channel 10, division 00
• Plant 1000, storage location 0001 — the stock stays assigned here even while physically at the customer

Tables

Integration

• MMSpecial stock W is managed by inventory management and must be included in physical inventory.
• FINo posting at fill-up; cost of goods sold at the issue; receivable and revenue from the invoice.
• COMargin is recognised only on withdrawn quantities, so profitability reflects actual consumption, not shipments.

Common errors

• “Customer was invoiced for the fill-up”

  Likely causes: Item category KEN used instead of KBN; Wrong order type (KE instead of KB)

  Where to look: Order type and item category on the fill-up order · Item category determination

• “Consignment issue cannot be posted”

  Likely causes: Not enough consignment stock at that customer; Fill-up goods issue never posted; Issue posted against the wrong customer

  Where to look: MSKU / MMBE special stock per customer · Fill-up delivery goods issue status

• “Inventory value includes stock nobody can find”

  Likely causes: Consignment stock sitting at customer sites, correctly still on your balance sheet; Withdrawals not reported by the customer

  Where to look: MSKU balances per customer · Consignment reconciliation and customer-site counts

• “Pick-up triggered a credit memo”

  Likely causes: Consignment returns (KR) used instead of pick-up (KA)

  Where to look: Order type used · Item category billing relevance

Troubleshooting

Something went wrong? Work through these checks in order. They are diagnostic questions, not configuration instructions — confirm changes with your system owner.

1. CHECK 1

   Wrong document type used

   • Is this a fill-up (KB), issue (KE), pick-up (KA) or return (KR)?
   • Does the item category match the intent — KBN not billing relevant, KEN billing relevant?

2. CHECK 2

   Issue will not post

   • How much consignment stock does this customer actually hold (MSKU)?
   • Was the fill-up goods issue posted?
   • Is the issue against the right customer?

3. CHECK 3

   Stock reconciliation

   • Compare MSKU balances with the customer's own count
   • Are withdrawals being reported on time?
   • Is consignment stock included in physical inventory planning?

4. CHECK 4

   Accounting questions

   • Confirm no accounting document is expected at fill-up
   • Check GBB/VAX account determination for the 633 issue
   • Check VKOA for the invoice

Interview questions

• Walk through customer consignment and say exactly where ownership and revenue change hands.

  A fill-up order (KB) and delivery post movement 631, moving stock from your unrestricted stock to consignment stock at the customer — special stock W. Nothing is invoiced and typically no accounting document is created, because the goods are still yours. When the customer reports a withdrawal, an issue order (KE) and delivery post movement 633, which reduces the consignment stock and posts cost of goods sold; that document is billing relevant, so the invoice follows. Ownership and revenue both transfer at the withdrawal, not at the delivery.

• Who owns consignment stock sitting at a customer, and what are the practical consequences?

  You do. It is your valuated inventory, tracked per customer in MSKU and visible as special stock W. Practically: it stays on your balance sheet, it must be included in your physical inventory, it ties up working capital, and you depend on the customer reporting withdrawals accurately. That reporting dependency is the main operational risk of the model.

• What is the difference between a consignment pick-up and a consignment return?

  A pick-up (order type KA, movement 632) brings back goods the customer never withdrew and was never invoiced for — a transfer back into your own stock, with no billing effect. A consignment return (order type KR, movement 634) brings back goods the customer already withdrew and was invoiced for, so it also generates a credit memo. Choosing the wrong one either credits a customer who never paid or fails to credit one who did.

• Why does movement 631 typically post no accounting document?

  Because it is a transfer between two of your own stock categories, not a sale. The goods move from unrestricted stock to consignment stock at the customer, both valuated as your inventory at the same price, so there is no value change to post. The accounting document comes later, at the 633 issue.

• How is customer consignment different from vendor consignment?

  They are mirror images. In vendor consignment the supplier's stock sits in your plant as special stock K; you own nothing until you withdraw it, and the withdrawal creates a liability to the vendor. In customer consignment your stock sits at the customer as special stock W; they own nothing until they withdraw it, and the withdrawal creates a receivable from them.

Quiz

Related processes

• 101 · 411Consignment
• 601Order to Cash
• 651 · 453 · 653Customer Returns

References

• SAP SE — SAP Help Portal: Consignment Processing in Sales and Distribution (source)
• SAP SE — SAP Help Portal: Special Stocks (source)
• SAP SE — SAP Help Portal: Consignment Fill-Up and Issue (source)

Explanations are original. They summarize standard behaviour; always validate against your system's release and configuration.

Version history