This page explains why creating a Customer Master for your own plant matters in In-House Secure’s logistics setup. In short, SAP requires every delivering plant to behave like a customer when stock moves between internal sites. It matters because outbound and intercompany flows cannot determine delivery addresses, partner functions, or shipping data without a customer tied to the plant. Use it when plants supply other plants or subsidiaries, and avoid skipping it unless you enjoy deliveries with no destination.

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A reasoning page that unpacks why SAP insists that your own warehouse must sometimes pretend to be your own customer.

The Principle

Movement inside a company is still movement. SAP does not care that the warehouse in Manchester and the warehouse in London share a company code. If one plant ships stock to another, SAP needs a receiving address, a partner role, and shipping requirements. And the only way to store that information is through a Customer Master.

So each plant gets a Business Partner record that tells SAP,

“Yes. Deliver here. This is the address. These are the shipping conditions. Please stop asking.”

When it is missing, SAP goes silent. Then it refuses to build deliveries. Then nothing moves. Then everyone panics.

Jargon Busting (What this actually means)

Business Partner (BP)

A single master record that stores customer, supplier, and contact details in one place.

Customer for Plant

A BP record flagged as a customer, representing one of your own plants as a delivery recipient.

Partner Functions

Roles such as Ship-To, Bill-To, Payer. For internal flows, the Ship-To is essential.

Internal Deliveries

Delivery documents created inside the same company when stock is moved between plants.