Project Fast Forward

SAP VC (Variant Configuration) Overview

2

Session Objective

Understanding the basic concepts of VC (Variant Configuration)

How did VC enable the making of template?

SAP-VC Features used for Steel Business

Benefits of using SAP-VC

Proposed Product Definition

Technical Delivery Conditions

Planning Simplified / VC in MTO

VC Elements (Configurable Material, Dependencies, Table Structure , Characteristics and Class , Configuration Profile, etc.

Working Agreement

Participate - Ask questions!

Learn From Everyone’s Comments

Please Turn Off Cellular Phones

Honor Time Schedule

Relax and Have Fun!

3

Basic Concepts of Variant Configurations

In R/3 Variant Configuration provides unique freedom to the customers to have a go to pick the right attributes as per their requirements. Moreover in conjunction with IPC, which offers configuration with complete pricing capabilities in the portal, VC has become the part and parcel of modern day’s customer driven business environment.

However VC has got one very important key advantage

Strong reduction of PDM master data (Materials, BOM, Routing) ..reducing the database load significantly resulting enhanced system performance.

Maintenance becomes easier in terms of time and cost

Showcasing above points we can achieve win-win situations in complex

manufacturing scenarios in presales

4

How did VC enable the making of template?

What, How and When the Product shall be developed determined by Plant Capabilities and Plant Capacities

• Product BOM and predetermined Routing Paths

The entire Metallurgy Knowledge has been imbibed in the system like

• Grade / Chemistry• Sizes / Dimensions• Physical Properties• Mechanical Properties• Packing Details• Handling scenarios

• The entire VC Implementation was equivalent with National & International standards like IS / BS / AFNOR / SAE / ASTM / AISI.

• Entire solution was designed using the above base.

5

SAP-VC Features used for Steel Business

• Defines all kind of products (Finished goods, WIP…)

• VC helped the Sales person to put together specifications for the Productand ensure that the product can be produced from defined specifications

• Product structure in VC represented the entire hierarchy and flow ofproduction for all products forms

• Considered all possible process path used for planning (alternative) andmanufacturing FG product

• Quality profile helped R&D and Quality Assurance to manage Customer’snew requirements – made for the first time products.

• Scalable model which reduced implementation time for new

6

Benefits of using SAP-VC

No need to Create separate material master for each variant combination.

Super BOM and Super Routing is enough for representing all possible Variants and

Operations.

Able to react more flexible to customer demands.

Increase Information exchange between sales, engineering and production.

Defines all kind of products (Finished goods, WIP…)

VC helps the Sales person to put together specifications for the Product and ensure t

that the product can be produced from defined specifications.

Product structure in VC represents the entire hierarchy and flow of production for all

products forms.

7

Benefits of using SAP-VC

Considers all possible process paths used for planning (alternative) and

manufacturing FG product.

Quality profile helps R&D and Quality Assurance to manage Customer’s new

requirements – made for the first time products.

Scalable model which helps to reduce implementation time for new product buildup,

acquisition, brown field and green field project.

8

Proposed Product Definition

Change Proposed

Change in the manner in which products are represented in SAP.Generic material codes and a set of variant characteristics (specifications)Conversion of customer specification into manufacturing instructions

Value Proposition

Drastically reduced master data maintenance on a regular basis (reducedfrom 90000 FG/WIP to “90”)

• Expert knowledge incorporated into the system to the extent possible

• Standardization of processes and objectivity of decision makingsubsequently less training (Standard VC setup with derived technicalinferences)

• Order booking used to be a manual process with multiple documents andat least three departments involved. The process is now extremelysimple and can be completed in 15 minutes max having knowncustomer needs clearly.

Challenges

Very significant time was invested in development of the Variant Configurator.

PPC is not reqd. to create masters daily!

Production process mapping thru BoM and Routing is not required to be done as a routine.

Knowledge has been systemized with necessary inference criteria, validations and constraints which are prompted while entering the order.

Mfg instructions are passed on to L-II systems in a seamlessmanner.

9

Technical Delivery Conditions

Change Proposed

• SAP automatically determines whether requested product by the Customer can be produced or not (Since capability matrix is mapped in SAP using Variant Configuration)• QA/QC and PPC are involved in Inquiry stage only for those products outside the capability matrix

Value Proposition

• Removal of many non-value adding activities and documentation• Quicker response to Customers & Inquiry processing, thus reducing overall cycle time• Simplified and standardized process

Challenges

• Acceptance of new business practice – was accepted after seeing benefits

• Documentation of capability and its translation in Variant Configuration –was a challenge as knowledge was scattered across 20+ people approximately

• Training on maintenance of Dependencies and Variant Configuration

TDC is now a set of systemparameters assigned to a product and a sales order as per Customer’s requirement.These parameters are as per Plant Capability and are flowing to Level II systems for manufacturing activities through respective scheduling systems. There is no manual entry.

Knowledge Bank for TechnicalProduct definition – Systemized to the maximum possible extent (Order booking is possible without involving QA/QC, PPC directlyunless it is a new productrequirement)

10

Planning Simplified

HRC Planning Dashboard has been developed to cater to the operational scheduling need of150 MT heat combinations across the Order book.

Order clubbing has been a MAJOR achievement with smaller quantity ordersbooked in the system.

Slit Planning Dashboard has been developed to complete the flow onthe FG side of order clubbing to cater to HSM needs for higher productivity through slitcombinations.

Change Proposed

• Major planning and scheduling is done in SAP. The plan determined by SAP is refined based on inputs from planning system.

• Scheduling on the basis of input and out put product characteristics as required by individual processes.

Value Proposition

• Increased visibility of due date and production status across the entire production chain, available in one core system.

• Real time update of plan based on actual production and inventory level

• Making SAP the core production order creation system ensures authentic data, such as sales order, inventory status etc. which are readily available to the planner.

Challenges

• User acceptance of the changes in practice and user interfaces.

11

VC in MTO (Make to Order)

Pros: Since all possible rules between features are pre-built into the product model, order entry errors are

eliminated. One generic Configurable Material, one Super BOM and one Super Routing for all possible combinations of

a product model resulting in reduced data maintenance Helps reduce BOM part numbers (e.g. cable lengths), routing operations since they can be generated

dynamically Variant Pricing:

– Pricing at Feature level rolls up to top level product price.

– A change of price for any feature is automatically reflected into final product price. Searching for Material Variants happens automatically during Sales order creation Lower finished goods inventory Improved flexibility to support market demand

Cons: Initial setup of Super BOM and Super Routings may require some additional effort Initial learning curve to understand the SAP CTO Product Structure

VC Elements

(Configurable Material, Dependencies, Table Structure ,

Characteristics and Class , Configuration Profile, etc.)

13

VC Elements -- Configurable Material

A configurable material needs a material master record to:

Store important planning and control data

Link the product to other objects in the Variant Configuration data model by allocating it to a variant class.

In variant configuration, a variant class groups together the set of characteristics that describe a configurable material.

You can only use variant classes to group together characteristics for this purpose. The class type of a class determines that the class is a variant class. In the standard system, only classes of class type 300 are variant classes.

You define the features of a product by defining characteristics in the system. You define values for each characteristic, and use these values to describe the material.

You assign the characteristics that describe your configurable material to the variant class.

The configurable material is assigned to the variant class. By assigning the configurable material to the class, you enable configuration using the characteristics of the class.

14

VC Elements -- Configurable Material

15

VC Elements -- Object Dependencies

• Dependencies are the rules in SAP that establish logical relationships between entities like characteristic values, BOM or Routing line items and Variant prices.

• Selecting certain Characteristics or Values can limit or select other characteristics & values.

• Selecting certain Characteristics and Values will assign specific components and operations to the order specific BOM or Routing from the Super BOM and Super Routing.

• In a nutshell a dependency defines the technical as well as strategic feasibility of different combination of attributes of a product in the backend resulting value restrictions in the customer facing interface.

16

Object Dependencies

SAP offers 4 types of dependencies:

Procedure :

It is used to infer a Characteristic value depend on particular condition. and it can be added in Configuration profiles , and in SUPER BOM/Routing to change Master Data values such as Component Quantity, labor time.

Selection Condition :

It is used for selection of components/operations and Can be used to make characteristics as USER entry required. and can be added to only Characteristic level, BOM components and Operations

Pre Condition :

It is used to hide the characteristics. And can be added to Characteristic and their values only.

Dependency Net :

It's Group of Constraints(Dependency) and can be added in configuration profile only. It is used to restrict the characteristic values.

SAP offers 4 types of dependencies:

Procedure :

It is used to infer a Characteristic value depend on particular condition. and it can be added in Configuration profiles , and in SUPER BOM/Routing to change Master Data values such as Component Quantity, labor time.

Selection Condition :

It is used for selection of components/operations and Can be used to make characteristics as USER entry required. and can be added to only Characteristic level, BOM components and Operations

Pre Condition :

It is used to hide the characteristics. And can be added to Characteristic and their values only.

Dependency Net :

It's Group of Constraints(Dependency) and can be added in configuration profile only. It is used to restrict the characteristic values.

17

Effect of Object Dependency

18

Classification in Configuration Profile

Purpose

Configuration profile used for assigning configurable material with variant class (300) and also used to maintain some central settings.

It is possible to assign more than one configurable profile for one material.

The selection of profile depends upon either by priority or by manual selection.

It is also possible to assign dependencies to configurable profile.

Class with type 300, which hold the entire characteristics of Finished/Semifinished material, are assigned to each profile

19

Classification in Configurable Material

20

VC Elements – Table Structure

The idea of variant tables is to store relationships between characteristics.

Once stored, object dependencies can use these relationships to determine single values by using procedures, or restrict choices by using constraints.

21

VC Elements – Characteristics

Characteristic is used to define the features of a configurable material. To enable to use characteristics to configure a material, assign the material to a class of class type 300.

The customer can choose from among different options for each characteristic.

Characteristics describe the properties of objects. The values of a characteristic specify these properties.

Value assignment to characteristic may be single value or multiple value with required entry or restrict able entry.

22

VC Elements – Characteristics

23

VC Elements – Class

A class is used to hold the characteristics that describe a configurable material. By linking the class to the configurable material, you allow the material to be configured using the characteristics of the class.

24

Supper Bills of Material

Each Configurable Material will Have a Super BOM which contains all possible components used to make any variation of the configurable material

The Super BOM contains some parts that occur in every configuration as well as materials that occur only in certain configurations

S_PPGICFS_PPGICF

Super BOMSuper BOM

S_PPGICWS_PPGICW S_PPGISLCWS_PPGISLCW S_PPGITCWS_PPGITCW

25

Supper Bills of Material

26

Supper Bills of Material

27

Super Routing

The Task List or Routing, contains the individual operation and sequences of operations that are required to convert the materials into a finished good

The Super Routing can contain operations or sequences of operations that are always performed, as well as operations or sequences of operations that are only performed for Specific Variants

S_GICWS_GICW

S_GITCWS_GITCW

Super RoutingSuper Routing

S_PPGICWS_PPGICW

S_GISLCWS_GISLCW

S_PPGICFS_PPGICF

Width(mm) Thickness (mm) Coil Weight (MT)

900 – 1000 2 291500 - 1650 6 25

28

VC in Steel Industry – Sample Product Structure

HRPO Coil

Width(mm) Thickness (mm) Coil Weight (MT)

900 – 1000 2 291500 - 1650 6 25

29

Sample Product Structure

HRPO Coil

Configurable Product

Values of Characteristics

Characteristics that define a Product

Grade Width Thickness Coil Weight

A 900 - 1000 2 29 B 1500 – 1650 6 25

30

HRPO Coil

Sample Product Structure

Grade Width Thickness Coil Weight

A 900 – 1000 2 29 B 1500 – 1650 6 25

2 x >2 x 2 x 2 > 16

31

HRPO Coil

ONE Configurable Material

Sample Product Structure

32

Q & A

33

Thanks