Describing Phantom Assemblies

A phantom assembly is a logical grouping of materials. It is usually created within engineering to describe a number of components and to manage them as a whole. The components in a phantom assembly are placed directly into the superior assembly. In contrast, components in an assembly are first assembled to produce the header material and then the header material is placed into the superior assembly.

For example, the phantom assembly, "set of wheels", contains the components, "front wheel", and "rear wheel". The front and rear wheels are placed immediately into the "Fork Lift chassis" assembly. The "light" assembly contains the materials, "bulb", and "reflector". The light components are first assembled, and then the light is attached to the forklift.

Phantom assemblies are used in SAP S/4HANA for the following purposes:

• Enabling simple structuring of BOMs:

  Phantom assemblies enable simple structuring of BOMs. Typically, phantom assemblies do not physically exist. You can regard phantom assemblies as parentheses (an imaginary assembly) around a group of components that are often used in conjunction with each other. This arrangement of phantom assemblies significantly reduces the amount of administration needed for the master data. To make changes to materials (for example, discontinued material), you need to make the changes in only one BOM. The changes in one BOM affect all BOMs used by the phantom assemblies.

• Facilitating component assignment:

  Phantom assemblies facilitate component assignment because the components of a phantom assembly are assigned to the same operation. This is true for the phantom assembly itself if you have not made an assignment for the components. When the BOM is exploded in an SAP S/4HANA production order, the BOMs for phantom assemblies are also exploded. The components of the phantom assemblies become normal reservations, while the phantom assembly itself is transferred to the order as an unplanned effective reservation. The components of a phantom assembly are connected in a hierarchy with the superordinate (superior) assembly.

Setting Phantoms

The phantom assemblies can be defined by the special procurement key in the material master record. These settings can be overruled in the BOM.

The settings for phantoms can be made in the following places in SAP S/4HANA:

• Material:

  The material is the highest level at which you can determine a part as a phantom assembly. To set an item as a phantom assembly, you need to set the special procurement key in the MRP 2 view. This ensures that this part at plant level is not manufactured or inventoried.

• BOM for a component:

  You can make two settings in the BOM for a component. You can set the explosion type or special procurement in the details of the component in the MRP section.

  Using the explosion type, you can switch off the phantom assembly for this BOM. This setting creates a planned order for the item and overrides the material master setting.

  Setting the special procurement key in the BOM to phantom assembly ensures that this item is treated as a phantom when it is used in the relevant BOM.

  The settings in the BOM have priority over the material master since they are specific to a usage or manufacturing process.

Watch the video and understand the benefits of using phantom assemblies.