Project Fast Forward

SAP VC (Variant Configuration) Overview

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!
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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

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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.

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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 Product
and ensure that the product can be produced from defined specifications

• Product structure in VC represented the entire hierarchy and flow of

production for all products forms

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

• Quality profile helped R&D and Quality Assurance to manage Customer’s

new requirements – made for the first time products.

• Scalable model which reduced implementation time for new

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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.
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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.

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Proposed Product Definition

Change Proposed PPC is not reqd. to create

masters daily!
Change in the manner in which products are represented in SAP.
Generic material codes and a set of variant characteristics (specifications) Production process
Conversion of customer specification into manufacturing instructions mapping thru BoM and
Routing is not required to
Value Proposition be done as a routine.
Drastically reduced master data maintenance on a regular basis (reduced
Knowledge has been
from 90000 FG/WIP to “90”)
systemized with necessary
inference criteria,
• Expert knowledge incorporated into the system to the extent possible validations and constraints
• Standardization of processes and objectivity of decision making which are prompted while
entering the order.
subsequently less training (Standard VC setup with derived technical
inferences)
Mfg instructions are
• Order booking used to be a manual process with multiple documents and passed on to L-II systems
at least three departments involved. The process is now extremely in a seamless
manner.
simple and can be completed in 15 minutes max having known
customer needs clearly.

Challenges

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

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Technical Delivery Conditions

Change Proposed TDC is now a set of system

parameters assigned to a
• SAP automatically determines whether requested product by the Customer product and a sales order
can be produced or not (Since capability matrix is mapped in SAP using as per Customer’s
Variant Configuration) requirement.
• QA/QC and PPC are involved in Inquiry stage only for those products These parameters are as
outside the capability matrix per Plant Capability and
are flowing to Level II
Value Proposition systems for manufacturing
activities through
• Removal of many non-value adding activities and documentation respective scheduling
• Quicker response to Customers & Inquiry processing, thus reducing overall systems. There is no
cycle time manual entry.
• Simplified and standardized process
Knowledge Bank for
Challenges Technical
Product definition –
• Acceptance of new business practice – was accepted after seeing benefits Systemized to the
maximum possible extent
• Documentation of capability and its translation in Variant Configuration –was (Order booking is possible
a challenge as knowledge was scattered across 20+ people approximately without involving QA/QC,
PPC directly
• Training on maintenance of Dependencies and Variant Configuration unless it is a new product
requirement)
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Planning Simplified

Change Proposed HRC Planning Dashboard

has been developed to
• Major planning and scheduling is done in SAP. The plan cater to the operational
determined by SAP is refined based on inputs from planning scheduling need of
150 MT heat combinations
system.
across the Order book.
• Scheduling on the basis of input and out put product Order clubbing has been a
characteristics as required by individual processes. MAJOR achievement with
smaller quantity orders
Value Proposition booked in the system.

Slit Planning Dashboard

• Increased visibility of due date and production status across the has been developed to
entire production chain, available in one core system. complete the flow on
the FG side of order
• Real time update of plan based on actual production and clubbing to cater to HSM
inventory level needs for higher
productivity through slit
• Making SAP the core production order creation system ensures combinations.
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. 10
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

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

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VC Elements -- Configurable Material

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 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.

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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.
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Effect of Object Dependency

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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

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Classification in Configurable Material

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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.

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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.

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VC Elements – Characteristics

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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.

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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

Super BOM

S_PPGICF

S_PPGICW S_PPGISLCW S_PPGITCW

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Supper Bills of Material

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Supper Bills of Material

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Super Routing

 The Task List or Routing, contains the individual

Super Routing
operation and sequences of operations that are
S_PPGICF required to convert the materials into a finished
good
S_PPGICW

 The Super Routing can contain operations or

S_GICW sequences of operations that are always
performed, as well as operations or sequences of
S_GITCW operations that are only performed for Specific
Variants
S_GISLCW

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VC in Steel Industry – Sample Product Structure

HRPO Coil

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

900 – 1000 2 29
1500 - 1650 6 25

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Sample Product Structure

HRPO Coil

Configurable Product

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

Characteristics that
900 – 1000 2 29 define a Product
1500 - 1650 6 25

Values of
Characteristics

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Sample Product Structure

HRPO Coil

Grade Width Thickness Coil Weight

A 900 - 1000 2 29
B 1500 – 1650 6 25

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Sample Product Structure

HRPO Coil

ONE Configurable
Material

Grade Width Thickness Coil Weight

A 900 – 1000 2 29
B 1500 – 1650 6 25

2 x >2 x 2 x 2 > 16

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Q&A

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Thanks

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