Material Master Data for Configurable Materials

You use central maintenance functions to create material master records for configurable materials. There is some data that you need to maintain specifically for configurable materials:

Basic Data

Material is configurable indicator

X

Sales

Item category group	0002 or 0004 See Item Categories for Configurable Materials
Delivering plant

MRP

Strategy group	For example, 25
	See SAP Library PP Demand Management Strategies for Configurable Materials
MRP type	For example, PD Not ND
	See SAP Library PP Demand Management MRP Procedures
MRP lot size	EX
	See SAP Library PP Material Requirements Planning Calculating Procurement Quantity
Availability check (checking group)	02
	See SAP Library PP Demand Management Scope of the Availability Check
Individ./collective	1

Defining a Material as Configurable

Use

If a material is configurable, you can:

• Select one or more alternatives, even though they are represented by only one configurable material

• Configure the BOM and routing of the material Maintain dependencies for BOM items and operations, so that they are only selected for certain variants
• Maintain a
Configuration Profile with a class assignment for the material, where you define central settings for the configurable object

Prerequisites

Before you can configure a material, the material master record must have the Material is configurable indicator selected in its Basic data.

• You can create a material using a material type that has the configurable indicator defined in Customizing. This means that all materials created with this material type are configurable. In the standard system, material type KMAT is defined for this purpose.
• You can define individual materials of other material types as configurable. To do this, set the Material is configurable indicator in the Basic data of the material master record.

If you want to configure a material, you must create it with a material type that has the Classification view defined as allowed in Customizing. Otherwise, the assignment of a material to a class cannot be processed correctly.

For information on how to create a material master record for a configurable material, see the SAP Library LO Managing Material Master Data.

Variant Configuration (LO-VC)

Purpose

Variant configuration is for manufacturing complex products. The manufacturer is always having to offer new variants of its products. Often, new variants are created by modifying existing product designs as you process the order. The important thing is to react quickly to customers' requirements.

The customer determines the features of the product. A customer buying a car, for example, can choose the features of the car and combine these features as required.

The product configurator improves information exchange between sales, engineering, and production. Variant configuration helps the customer or salesperson to put together specifications for the product and ensure that the product can be produced from these specifications. It also ensures that production costs do not overstep the mark.

Integration

Variant configuration is integrated in the following applications:

• CA Classification
• LO Material Master
• PP Bill of Material
• PP Routings
• PP–PI Master Recipes
• SD Sales
• SD Conditions
• MM Purchasing
• CO Costing
• PP Material Requirements Planning (MRP)
• PP Production Orders

You can configure the following objects:

• Materials
• Standard networks in the Project System.
• PM General maintenance task lists
• Model service specifications

Features

You do not need to create a separate material for each variant of a product in your company. You can use one configurable material to cover all variants. You create a super BOM and a super routing for this material, containing all the components and operations for producing all variants of the product.

To define the features of a configurable material, you use characteristics. To enable you to use characteristics to configure a material, you assign the material to a class of class type 300. Possible characteristics of a car, for example, are model, country, color, and engine. The customer can choose from among different options for each characteristic (values).

The only limitations are combinations of features that are not possible for either technical or marketing reasons. You cannot combine all types of car engine with all types of transmission, for example, or certain types of upholstery are only available for more expensive models. In Variant Configuration, you use dependencies to control this. This prevents combinations of options that are not allowed. Dependencies also select exactly the right BOM components and operations to produce a variant.

Each configurable object must have a configuration profile. The configuration profile for a material controls the configuration process in the sales order.

You can make the price of a variant dependent on the characteristic values assigned (Pricing). You can use variant conditions to define surcharges and discounts for a variant.

For variants that are required frequently, you can create material variants, which can be produced without a sales order and kept in stock. When you receive a sales order, you can check whether the variant required is in stock, so that you can deliver immediately.