Product variants in Warehousing

This topic describes the effect of a sales order line for an assembly item with an order quantity greater than one in Warehousing. LN displays the product variant in the inbound and outbound procedure of manufactured FAS items. The manufactured FAS items must use serial numbers in inventory to enable LN to recognize each individual assembled item in stock. The product variant is stored in the specification. You must use handling units to link the received serial number and product variant in the specifications to the to be shipped serials and specification in the outbound procedure.

You can sell multiples of one single configuration, with the configured item to be built on an assembly line. For order quantity greater than one, LN creates several assembly orders linked to one sales order line. To identify the product variant, the various assembly orders and the sales order line have the same specification, Specifications are enabled when the Sell Multiples of Same Configuration check box in the Assembly Planning Parameters (tiapl0500m000) session is selected.

For more information, refer to the following:

If an ordered quantity on a sales order line is greater then one, the sales order line contains a product variant which will hold the configuration for the ordered quantity. The product variant is linked to the Specification.

Example

If the ordered quantity for item car is 10, it implies that these 10 cars have exactly same unique configuration. In LN, the 10 cars will have the same product variant.

Irrespective of the quantity on the sales order line, the quantity specified on an assembly order is always 1.

Example

In case the ordered quantity for item car is 10, 10 assembly orders, each for 1 car, are created. This also implies that multiple assembly orders can have the same product variant reference.

In case the ordered quantity is greater then one, the serial number is not recorded on the sales order line. The specification that contains the variant is used to match the sales issue with the assembled end item in stock.

Supported by LN

The following are supported by LN:

  1. Assembly to Order with Stock Point

    A customer orders a specific configuration of an assembly item, but at completion, the assembled item is put into inventory first before delivery to the customer.

    For this scenario, a sales order is entered for a product variant, the assembly order is processed, and the end item is received in stock. Note that in the receipt procedure, the inspection step can lead to an adjustment order with negative quantity only when the item is rejected or destroyed during inspection. A handling unit must be generated during the receipt procedure from the product variant in the specification and the serial of the inbound line originating from LN Assembly Control. The handling unit stores the unique serial number and variant for the item.

    After closing of the assembly order, the sales order is processed and stock is issued with the outbound procedure. The outbound line has the product variant in the specification that originates from LN Sales and is related to the same product variant as the receipts that are completed for the assembly order. During generation of the outbound advice, the specifications in stock are matched with the specifications of the sales order line by checking the product variant. In the picking and shipment procedure also, the product variant of the ‘sales order line specification’ will be visible.

  2. Assembly to Order (Deliver from Line)

    The customer orders a specific configuration of an assembly item. When the assembly is completed, this item is shipped directly from the assembly line to the customer.

  3. Assembly to Stock/Sell from Stock

    Based on a forecast, a specific configuration is build and put into inventory. Afterwards, this item is sold and shipped from inventory against actual sales orders.

    For this scenario, the assembly order is triggered by a forecast and not by a sales order. The issuing sales order is not linked to assembly. When the sales order is created, the inventory with the same product variant is issued from the warehouse.

Note

For scenario 1 (Assembly to Order with Stock Point) and 3 (Assembly to Stock/Sell from Stock) where a configured assembled item (Manufactured/Assembly item) can be put into inventory, the sales order line for a configured assembly item can have an order quantity of more than one.

For scenario 2 {Assembly to Order (Deliver from Line)}, the sales order line quantity is still limited to one piece. In this case, a Generic/FAS (Final Assembly Scheduling) item must be used on the sales order line. The item cannot be put into the inventory

Prerequisites

To sell multiples of a product variant you must do the following:

  • Select the Assembly (APL/ASC/ASL) check box in the Implemented Software Components (tccom0100s000) session.

  • Select the Sell Multiples of Same Configuration check box in the Assembly Planning Parameters (tiapl0500m000) session.

    Note

    • You must use handling units for manufactured FAS items if you select the parameter Sell Multiples of Same Configuration.

    • If Demand Pegging is used, the Allocation Level must be Physical Item in the Item Data by Warehouse (whwmd2510m000) session for manufactured FAS item.

Allocation Buffers

You must enable Demand Pegging to create allocation buffers. You can create allocation buffers for product variants to reserve or allocate inventory. The allocation buffers can be generated or entered manually. You can generate allocation buffers from the following places:

  • Planning run in EP
  • Sales Order Line entry
  • Assembly Order Planning

When an allocation buffer is created for a product variant, the on-hand inventory of the product variant without allocation is decreased, and the on-hand inventory of the product variant with the allocation, (as specified for the allocation buffer) is increased. Also, the inventory in allocation buffer is increased for the product variant with the new allocation.

Note

Allocation buffers for product variants can be created only if there is available unallocated on-hand inventory for the required product variant.

Generate Outbound Advice

The inventory on hand for product variants of manufactured FAS items is always Handling Unit inventory. Therefore, outbound advice treats these product variants of manufactured FAS items as if the Allocation Level is Physical Item.

You can set the Allocation Level to Physical Item in the Item Data by Warehouse (whwmd2510m000) session for manufactured FAS item.

During outbound advice generation, the handling units are searched for as follows:

  1. LN searches for handling units that have correct specification contents. The specification contents of the handling units must be one-to-one equal to the specification contents of the outbound order line. If everything is not advised, step 2 is carried out.

  2. If the specification of the outbound order line has contents without allocations, (for example, only product variant), outbound advice process does not search any further.

  3. If the specification of the outbound order line contains allocations and also has other contents, such as product variant, outbound advice searches for handling units with the same specification contents, but without allocations, contents, having available allocation buffer inventory in Inventory by Specification (whwmd2519m000) session. Quantity up to the Inventory in allocation buffer can be advised.

When the outbound advice is created, the location allocated inventory is increased in Inventory by Specification (whwmd2519m000) session. The allocation buffer location allocated inventory is also increased when part of the allocation buffer inventory is advised.

Adjustment and Cycle Counting Order Lines

The new field Product Variant is maintainable only for negative inventory changes. Therefore, lost manufactured FAS items can be removed from the administrative system.

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