1 Variant Configuration Variant configuration is for manufacturing complex products in which customer determines the features of the product.

Objective of variant configuration is to react quickly to customers requirements. Here it needs not to create separate material for each variant of a product. When companies introduce variant configuration this often goes beyond a business process re-engineering project. Variant configuration offers an opportunity to restructure product structures for which then processes are defined. This has a direct impact to the core areas such as marketing and product data management. 2 Advantages of 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. 3 What is Configurable Material? A material with different features or characteristics and options is known as configurable material. Example: PC, Car. Configurable materials are either created in a material type that allows the configuration (n the standard system, the material type KMAT) or they are given the indicator Configurable in the material master record. 4 Master Data used for VC Following Objects are used as Master data for Variant configuration. 1. Super BOM 2. Super Routing 3. Characteristic 4. Class 5. Object Dependencies 6. Configuration Profile 7. SD Condition records 4.1 Super BOM Super BOM Contains all the components for producing configurable product. It contains both variant as well as non-variant parts required for producing configurable product. 4.2 Super Routing A configurable routing describes the production process for all variants of a product. Instead of creating a routing for each variant of a product, you can create operations for one routing, or a "super" routing. It is possible to maintain Object dependencies for following in super routing: Sequences Operations/sub-operations

 Production resource/tool assignments The routing is configured by system, when order is created for KMAT material. 4.3 Characteristic 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. In characteristic it is also possible to use table name and its field name in order to change the Object quantity or values. I.e. BOM item quantity or Operation time, which is known as ?reference characteristic?. In Restriction screen allowed Class types are entered i.e. for what are the class this characteristic may used. In general for Variant configuration class 200 and 300 are used. It is also possible to assign Dependency to characteristic values maintained in Characteristic. 4.4 Variant Class In Variant configuration, Class is used to hold the characteristics that describe about configurable material. Class type to determine which object types can be classified. Class is used in variant configuration if the class has a class type that supports variant configuration. In Customizing for Classification, the Variant class type indicator must be set for the class type. In the standard system, this is class type 300. 4.5 Dependencies Dependencies restricts the combinations of options i.e. characteristic that are not allowed. It also select exactly the right BOM components and operations to produce a variant. It also describe the interdependencies between characteristics and characteristic values It control which components are selected from a bill of material (BOM) and which operations are selected from a task list It also changes the values of fields in BOM items and operations during configuration. 5 Configuration Profile The configuration profile for a material controls the configuration process in sales order. Configurable profile also used to define central settings for configuring the object. Using this profile it is possible to hide some of the characteristic value defined during characteristic creation. We can assign any number profile for a configurable material in which selection is based on either priority or manual selection during configuration. 6 Material Variant and Planning Material 6.1 Material Variant Material Variant is an material that can arises from individual Configuration of a configurable product and can be kept in stock For variants that are required frequently, we can create material variants, which can be

produced without a sales order and kept in stock. When a sales order is received, it is possible to check whether the variant required is in stock, so that it can deliver immediately. For material variants, a separate material master record is created with a material type that is kept in stock. Separate BOM and routing for a material variant, or you can link the material variant to the BOM and routing of the configurable material. The correct BOM items and operations are determined from the characteristic values assigned to the variant. 6.2 Planning Material Planning Material is a material, which contains all the non-variant parts. By using planning material all non-variants are procured / produced before sales order. It is also possible for Planing the Planning Materials without reference to any sales requirement. Planning material is planned separately using strategy 65 and produced before sales order creation.
A material variant is a material that can be kept in stock and that arises from an individual configuration of a configurable product. A material variant is a configured material.