When creating a production order, a production version with routing and bill of material (BOM) is selected and the referenced BOM and routing are copied into the production order.
Production Version Selection
If a production order is created by means of planned order conversion, the production version of the planned order determined by the MRP run is copied to the production order. The dependent requirements of the planned order that are defined by the material components of the BOM are converted into reservations for the production order. If a production order is created without reference to a planned order, for example when you manually create a production order, the system selects the production version according to various selection criteria which we will discuss in this chapter.
Note
In exceptional cases, it might make sense to re-explode the BOM when converting the planned order into a production order, for example, to take BOM changes between planned order creation and planned order conversion into consideration. If the system should behave accordingly, you can make the respective settings in Customizing (Define Order-Type-Dependent Parameters for Production Orders, field BOM Explosion). However, note that re-exploding the BOM might result in different component requirements than for the initial planned order. If this has not been taken into consideration by the purchasing department, a component shortage might occur.
As displayed in the figure, a production version has a validity period and a lot size range. A planned order or production order has a production quantity and basic dates. For a production version to be selected for a planned order or production order, the production quantity and the basic start date of the order must lie within the validity period and the lot-size range, respectively, of the production version. If several valid production versions exist in the system, the alphanumerically first production version is selected by default. In the displayed example, three valid production versions (0001, 0002, and 0003) are available and the system automatically assigns production version 0001. Please note that you always have the option to manually change the selected production version.
Note
The Read Master Data function in a production order allows you to replace the originally selected production version with a different valid production version. This exchange is only possible as long as no material movements and confirmations have been posted. The function is also useful if, for example, you changed the routing master data after creating the order and you want the production order to also incorporate the latest routing changes.
As already mentioned, if several valid production versions exist, the alphanumeric first production version is selected for a planned order or production order by default. You can change this behavior by defining Quota Arrangements. In a quota arrangement, you can specify the quota of each production version, for example, 50:50 if two production versions are available. When an order is created, the system checks the previously produced quantity and assigns the production version which is needed to fit the quota.
Production Version Consistency
When you create or maintain a production version when maintaining the master data, you must ensure that all three master data objects, that is, the production version, the routing, and the BOM, are consistent. To be consistent, the lot-size range of a production version must lie within the lot-size range of the assigned routing as well as of the assigned BOM. Furthermore, the routing and BOM must be valid during the whole validity period of the production version. The SAP S/4HANA system offers a consistency check function in the Manage Production Versions app.
Consider the following example: You manufacture a finished product in small lot sizes (for example 1...100 PC) and in big lot sizes (101 … 10.000 PC). Since the manufacturing process is executed on two different machines, you must define two different routings which have different work centers assigned to the manufacturing operations. However, the BOM is defined for the entire lot size range from 1 to 10.000 PC as the required components do not depend on the machine. To implement this scenario in the system, you define two production versions, for small and big lot sizes, respectively:
To the first production version, you assign the first routing and the BOM.
To the second production version, you assign the second routing and the BOM.
When executing a consistency check, both production versions are valid since the lot sizes of both production versions lie within the lot size range of the BOM.