SAP Production planning and execution (PP)

Editor's Notes

1. Forecasting should be done primarily for end-item demand. In manufacturing situations, this means there is no real need for forecasting component parts which make up the final item. When production quantities for the end item have been determined, component demand can be computed based on the production plan of the end item and knowledge of the bill of materials (BOM).
2. Item Categories Stock Item – place a reservation and removed from stock when needed Non-Stock Item – Purchase Requisition will need to be created for the item Document Item – CAD drawing, Engineering Documents, etc
3. Routings enable you to plan the production of materials (products). Therefore, routings are used as a template for production orders and run schedules as well as a basis for product costing. A routing is a description of which operations (process steps) have to be carried out and in which order to produce a material (product). As well as information about the operations and the order in which they are carried out, a routing also contains details about the work centers at which they are carried out as well as about the required production resources and tools (includes jigs and fixtures). Standard values for the execution of individual operations are also saved in routings. In a routing you plan - The operations (work steps) to be carried out during production - The activities to be performed in the operations as a basis for determining dates, capacity requirements, and costs - The use of materials during production - The use of work centers - The quality checks to be carried out during production
4. Data in work centers is used for - Scheduling - Operating times and formulas are entered in the work center, so that the duration of an operation can be calculated. - Costing - Formulas are entered in the work center, so that the costs of an operation can be calculated. A work center is also assigned to a cost center. - Capacity planning - The available capacity and formulas for calculating capacity requirements are entered in the work center. - Simplifying operation maintenance - Various default values for operations can be entered in the work center
5. Supply chain planning, to a large degree, starts with forecasting. Matching supply and demand is an important goal for most firms and is at the heart of operational planning. It is also of significant importance as the overly optimistic Cisco found in 2001 when it took a $2.2 Billion inventory write-down because of their ability to “forecast demand with near-scientific precision” 1. Since most production systems can’t respond to consumer demand instantaneously, some estimate, or forecast, of future demand is required so that the efficient and effective operational plans can be made. Forecasts are always wrong, but some are “more wrong” than others. Forecasting the demand for innovative products, fashion goods, and the like is generally more difficult than forecasting demand for more “commodity-like” products that are sold on a daily basis. Aggregate forecasts of a group of similar products are generally more accurate than individual forecasts of the individual products that make up the group. Finally, the longer the forecast into the future, the less reliable the forecast will be.
6. Aggregating forecasts across multiple items reduces forecasting errors. A clothing store, for instance, might be able to estimate within a pretty narrow range what the demand will be for men’s dress shirts. But when that store tries to estimate the demand for individual styles, colors, and sizes of shirts, the accuracy of their forecasts will be considerably worse. Firms handle this kind of forecasting problem usually in one of three ways; they either forecast from the bottom up, from the top down, or they start in the middle and work both up and down. The “top down” forecast essentially estimates total sales demand and then divides those sales dollars level by level until the stock keeping unit (SKU) is reached. The “bottom up” method, as one might expect, starts with forecasts at the SKU level and then aggregates those demand estimates level by level to reach a company–level forecast. Another method, one might call the “in-between” method, starts forecasts at the category level (like men’s dress shirts), and then works up to determine store sales and works down to divide up the forecast into styles, colors and SKUs.
7. Planning strategies represent the business procedures for the planning of production quantities and dates. A wide range of production planning strategies are available in the SAP R/3 System, offering a large number of different options ranging from pure make-to-order production to make-to-stock production. Depending on the strategy you choose, you can: Use sales orders and/or sales forecast values to create the demand program Move the stocking level down to the assembly level so that final assembly is triggered by the incoming sales order Carry out Demand Management specifically for the assembly Strategies for Make-to-Stock Production  Purpose The planning strategies explained in this section are designed for planning procurement (production or purchasing) of components by planning the final products. If you can plan at component level more easily. Prerequisites Choose a make-to-stock strategy, if: The materials are not segregated. In other words, they are not assigned to specific sales orders. Costs need to be tracked at material level, and not at sales order level. Strategies for Planning Components  Purpose The planning strategies explained in this section are designed for planning the procurement (production or purchasing) of components by planning the components themselves. This is particularly useful in the following cases: There is a variety of finished products (possibly with an irregular demand pattern where planning is not possible). The finished products are consumption-based. The overall purpose of planning at component level is to procure components to stock (without sales orders) in order to react to customer demand as quickly as possible. Prerequisites Choose a strategy for planning components, if: The components are not segregated; that is, they are not uniquely linked at specific orders. Costs should be tracked at component (material) level and not at order level.
8. Strategies for Make-to-Order (MTO) Production  Purpose The planning strategies explained in this section are designed for the production of a material for a specific individual sales order. In other words, you do not want to produce finished products until you receive a sales order. This means that make-to-order strategies always support a very close customer-vendor relationship, because your sales orders are closely linked to production. The same relationship exists between the sales order and production that exists in a make-to-order environment. Make-to-order is also used in the following environments. Production using variant configuration Assemble-to-order Prerequisites Choose a make-to-order strategy, if: The materials are segregated. In other words, they are uniquely assigned to specific sales orders. Costs must be tracked at sales order level and not on material level. Strategies for Configurable Materials  Definition A configurable material is a material for which different variants are possible. The strategies for configurable materials allow you to plan products with an almost unlimited number of possible combinations of characteristics and combination value keys. Use these strategies if you want to plan a product that uses a feasible combination of characteristic values and that does not include final assembly. Typical examples of such products are cars, elevators, forklifts, trucks, buses. Assemble-to-order  An assemble-to-order environment is one in which the product or service is assembled on receipt of the sales order. Key components are planned or stocked in anticipation of the sales order. Receipt of the order initiates assembly of the customized product. Assemble-to-order is useful where a large number of finished products can be assembled from common components.
9. Using MPS you can carefully plan important parts or bottleneck parts in a separate planning run at the highest BOM level before the planning results have an effect on all of the production levels.
10. The central role of MRP is to monitor stocks and in particular, to automatically create procurement proposals for purchasing and production (planned orders, purchase requisitions or delivery schedules). This target is achieved by using various materials planning methods which each cover different procedures. Consumption-based planning is based on past consumption values and uses the forecast or other statistical procedures to determine future requirements. The procedures in consumption-based planning do not refer to the master production schedule. That is, the net requirements calculation is not triggered either by planned independent requirements or dependent requirement. Instead, it is triggered when stock levels fall below a predefined reorder point or by forecast requirements calculated using past consumption values.
11. The lot-size calculation is carried out in MRP. In the net requirements calculation, the system determines material shortages for each requirement date. These shortage quantities must be covered by receipt elements. The system then calculates the quantities required for the receipts in the planning run in the procurement quantity calculation. In static lot-sizing procedures, the procurement quantity is calculated exclusively by means of the quantity specifications entered in the material master. Features The following static lot-sizing procedures are available: Lot-for-lot order quantity Fixed lot size Fixed lot size with splitting and overlapping Replenishment up to maximum stock level In period lot-sizing procedures, the system groups several requirements within a time interval together to form a lot. Features You can define the following periods: days weeks months periods of flexible length equal to posting periods freely definable periods according to a planning calendar The system can interpret the period start of the planning calendar as the availability date or as the delivery date. In static and period lot-sizing procedures, the costs resulting from stock keeping, from the setup procedures or from purchasing are not taken into consideration. The aim of optimum lot-sizing procedures, on the other hand, is to group shortages together in such a way that costs are minimized. These costs include lot size independent costs (setup or order costs) and storage costs.
12. A request or instruction from a purchasing organization to a vendor (external supplier) or a plant to deliver a quantity of material or to perform services at a certain point in time.
13. List Types The SAP system differentiates between the following types of lists: Operation-based lists, for example, time tickets, confirmation slips Component-based lists, for example Pull List, material withdrawal slips PRT lists, for example, PRT overview Multi-purpose lists, for example, object overview, operation control ticket This type of list can contain information about operations or production resources and tools, for example. The lists that the system generates and prints refer to all operations, suboperations, components, and production tool and resources contained in a production order.
14. You can withdraw materials for an order that are not listed as components in the order. These "unplanned withdrawals" cause the actual costs of the production order to be updated.
15. Since production costs were higher than planned, the additional expenditure negatively affects the operating profit. This means that the profit decreases by the amount by which the actual costs charged to the production order exceed the standard price. The actual costs charged to the production order affect net income just as the posting of the inventory change at the time of the goods receipt. Since the actual expense was 20 higher than expected, the operating profit is 200 lower than it would have been if production had been at standard cost.
16. Calculate and analyze planned costs, target costs, and actual costs of production orders and process orders Calculate or update the work-in-process inventory and the finished goods inventory Calculate and analyze variances Transfer data to Financial Accounting (FI) Transfer data to Profitability Analysis (CO-PA) Transfer data to Profit Center Accounting (EC-PCA) Transfer data to Actual Costing / Material Ledger (CO-PC-ACT)
17. 2070.00 – 1987.00 = 83.00 83.00 is the difference between what it cost to make the product and what we value it at in the Material Master. Accounting 1 Screen Material Master 460 EPENS @ 4.50 = 2070.00 So we make it cheaper then we value the product.