To improve efficiency, you can implement alternative production methods for production with different lot sizes.
The following are some examples of alternative production methods:
- You can produce the same material with different routings belonging to different plants.
- You can manufacture a single product with one BOM using different technologies. You can use an automatic assembly line for large quantities and a manual assembly line for small quantities. However, the result is the same material for both the assembly lines.
- A product can be made of different combinations of components, depending on the quantity (lot size) to be manufactured. This type of product is represented by alternative BOMs. A product can have up to 1,000 alternative BOMs, which differ slightly in terms of the component quantity.
In the examples given, a single product is manufactured using different manufacturing technologies, which require different BOMs. This means that different routings and BOMs are required. Machine 1 represents the older technology where the product is assembled from two previously assembled components. Machine 2 (a more recent piece of equipment) supports the assembly of the product from four raw materials.
Each routing requires a BOM for the product representing the unique components consumed by each manufacturing process.
The material master record defines which alternatives can be selected; this is based on the following:
- Lot size
- Validity date
- Production version