Managing Make to Stock Process for Product Variants

Make to Stock (MTS) is used to produce materials variants based on planned-independent requirements.

A sales order for a configurable material is defined. In the configuration screen, the user checks for material variants.

If a variant is found, it is delivered directly to the customer.

• Production Planner: Defines the configurable material and the material variants.

• Production Supervisor: Executes the "Make-to-Stock" production for material variants of the configurable product.

• Internal Sales Representative: Creates a customer sales order for a configured fork lifter resulting in a material variant.

• Internal Sales Representative: Calculates the sales price based on the characteristics of the material variant.

• Shipping Specialist: Processes the delivery.

• Billing Clerk: Handles the billing for the customer.

• Improve your company's sales and manufacturing performance with integrated Advanced Variant Configuration.
• Enable your sales business process to handle frequently required variants that are represented as material variants in sales and manufacturing and show the configuration on the print-out.
• Produce material variants in advance of incoming sales orders based on expected demand.
• Process customer sales order processing for material variants immediately if stock is available from production.

A sales order for a configurable material is created. Inside configuration screen the Internal Sales Representative checks for material variants. These variants were produced based on planned-independent requirements.

Until now, only configurable materials have been used in your company. These materials also have a matching super BOM. However, it is often the case that customers order the same configuration. Therefore, the company decided to define these as material variants in the SAP system. These variants should then also be produced independently of sales orders and delivered directly to the customer if necessary.

In this first task, Thomas, our Production Planner, defines a material variant and the respective material BOM.

After the material variants have been created by Production Planner Thomas, Production Supervisor Anna manages the appropriate stock of the material variants. She performs requirement planning and creates a production order. At the end, she posts the product to stock.

Now that the appropriate stock has been built up for the material variants, Sales and Distribution can accept purchase orders for the forklift. If a configuration is carried out together with the customer in the sales order, it can be checked directly on the configuration screen whether suitable material variants exist. It can then be decided whether this variant is used instead of the configurable material in the sales order.

After Marc, the Internal Sales Representative, has created the sales order with the customer, the Shipping Specialist Marie, processes the delivery.

Picking is executed and the goods issues are posted by shipping specialist Marie.

Please note that the material variant, if available in stock, is now delivered directly.

Billing for the sales order is performed by Billing Clerk Kathy.

Now, you should have an understanding of how to configure product variants using Make to Stock.

After completing this lesson, you're able to:

• name the benefits of using a Make to Stock process with Variant Configuration
• name the necessary process steps of a Make to Stock process
• define and understand material variants
• set up a sales order using material variants
• perform a Make to Stock process