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 Everyones 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 days 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

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 Customers

new requirements made for the first time products.

Scalable model which reduced implementation time for new

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.

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 Customers 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.

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

PPC is not reqd. to create

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

Drastically reduced master data maintenance on a regular basis (reduced

Knowledge
from 90000 FG/WIP to 90)
Expert knowledge incorporated into the system to the extent possible
Standardization of processes and objectivity of decision making
subsequently less training (Standard VC setup with derived technical
inferences)
Order booking used to be a manual process with multiple documents and
at least three departments involved. The process is now extremely
simple and can be completed in 15 minutes max having known
customer needs clearly.

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 seamless
manner.

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

parameters assigned to a
product and a sales order
as
per
Customers
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
Technical
Product
definition

Systemized
to
the
maximum possible extent
(Order booking is possible
without involving QA/QC,
PPC directly
unless it is a new product
requirement)
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Planning Simplified
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.

HRC Planning Dashboard

has
been developed to
cater to the operational
scheduling need of
150 MT heat combinations
across the Order book.
Order clubbing has been a
MAJOR achievement with
smaller quantity orders
booked in the system.
Slit Planning Dashboard
has been developed to
complete the flow on
the FG side of order
clubbing to cater to HSM
needs
for
higher
productivity through slit
combinations.

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

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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

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_PPGICF

S_PPGICW

S_GICW

S_GITCW

S_GISLCW

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VC in Steel Industry Sample Product Structure

HRPO Coil

Width(mm)

Thickness (mm)

Coil Weight

(MT)

900 1000
1500 - 1650

2
6

29
25

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Sample Product Structure

HRPO Coil

Configurable
Product

Width(mm)

Thickness (mm)

Coil Weight

(MT)

900 1000
1500 - 1650

2
6

29
25

Characteristics that
define a Product

Values of
Characteristics

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Sample Product Structure

HRPO Coil

Grade
Weight

A
B

Width

900 - 1000
1500 1650

Thickness

2
6

Coil

29
25

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Sample Product Structure

HRPO Coil
ONE Configurable
Material

Grade

A
B

Width

900 1000
1500 1650
6

2
> 16

>2

Thickness

2
25

Coil Weight

29

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Q&A

32

Thanks

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