Managing Engineer to Order Process for Product Variants

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to use the Engineer to Order (ETO) Production with Variant Configuration.

Engineer to Order Process with Variant Configuration

When and Why to Use an Engineer to Order Process

The Engineer-to-Order (ETO) process with Variant Configuration is a specialized manufacturing approach used when standard configurations do not meet a customer’s requirements. Unlike simple "Make-to-Order" or "Configure-to-Order" processes, ETO allows engineering changes during the sales order process to accommodate unique customer specifications.

The process starts when a sales order includes a configurable material, but the existing Bill of Materials (BOM) or routing doesn't fully satisfy the customer’s needs. An order BOM is generated and changed to reflect customer-specific changes. This may involve adding, removing, or changing components. Engineering confirms feasibility, updates BOMs, and sometimes adjusts routings before production begins. The ETO scenario leverages SAP’s Variant Configuration model to manage characteristics and dependencies, while enabling engineering flexibility.

Applicable Process Steps

As you just saw, the process steps for an Engineer to Order process include:

Internal Sales Representative: Creates a Sales Order and configures data
Internal Sales Representative: Hands over the data to Engineering department
BOM Engineer: Creates an Order BOM and makes component changes
BOM Engineer: Handover changed data to sales
Internal Sales Representative: Accepts changes and finalizes Sales order

Benefits

The benefits of the Engineer to Order process for Variant Configuration are:

Reduce order management costs
comprehensive support for fulfilling customers' special requirements

Note

This process flow is covered in scope Item: 4R8- Engineer-to-Order Production with Variant Configuration.

How to Configure Product Variants Using Engineer to Order

Introduction: Engineer to Order with Variant Configuration

In this scenario, a Sales Order is created, but the available configuration doesn't meet the customer’s requirements. The configuration is handed over to the engineering department. An order-specific BOM is created and component changes are made. Once these changes are approved within the sales order, the standard process can continue.

Task 1: Check the Product Modeling Environment

Before a sales order can be created, some presettings have to be done and some checks have to be done.

Thomas, the Configuration Modeler, checks the configuration.

Task 2: Create a Sales Order with an Engineer to Order Scenario

In this task Internal Sales Representative Kate creates a sales order for a configurable material. Inside the configuration screen she decides that some components and configurations have to be changed to meet the customer requirements.

Therefore, she starts the Engineer to Order process.

Task 3: Work with an Order Bill of Material

BOM Engineer Samar gets information from Kate that an Engineer to Order process has been started.

He opens his Order BOM worklist with the Sales Order number. He checks the configuration and adds needed components to the automatically created Order BOM.

Task 4: Perform Final Changes Inside Sales Order

Internal Sales Representative Kate opens again the sales order. She checks and accepts the component changes done by Samar. Finally, she saves the sales order and the standard process continues.

Summary

After completing this lesson, you are able to:

name the benefits of using an Engineer to Order (ETO) Production with Variant Configuration
name the necessary process steps of an Engineer to Order scenario
set up a sales order for a configurable material
perform an Engineer to Order Process
work with an Order BOM

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