The document discusses material variants in SAP, which are materials created from configurations of a configurable material. Material variants have their own material master record linked to the configurable material. Configuration values in a material variant determine which BOM items and operations are used from the configurable material's BOM and routing. Cross-plant variants can be used for procurement but not sales since plant-specific data is not defined.

1. Material Variants
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Table of content
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2. Table of content
1 Material Variants
1.1 Maintaining Material Master Records for Variants
1.2 Bill of Material (BOM)
1.3 Task List
1.4 Creating Cross-Plant Material Variants
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3. 1 Material Variants
Definition
A material variant is a material that can be kept in stock and that arises from an individual configuration of a configurable product.
The material master record of a material variant is linked to the configurable material and configured using the characteristics of the configurable material. This
variant of the configurable material can then be manufactured and kept in stock.
Use
If specific configurations or of a configurable product occur frequently, it is useful to create individual stock materials for these configurations, so that these
materials can be manufactured in advance, and a sales order with this configuration can be supplied from stock if required.
In the sales order, you can do type matching for variants, and replace configurable materials with material variants (see
Variant Matching in the Sales Order).
On the value assignment screen, you can check whether the values assigned match the configuration of a material variant (see
Settings for Variant Matching).
To allow you to change the configuration of material variants in the sales order, the Configuration allowed or required indicator must be set in Customizing for
Sales and Distribution. The requirements class is determined using the strategy group and requirements type defined in the material master.
Structure
For material variants, a separate material master record is created with a material type that is kept in stock.
You can create a separate BOM and routing for a material variant, or you can link the material variant to the BOM and routing of the configurable material. The
correct BOM items and operations are determined from the characteristic values assigned to the variant.
1.1 Maintaining Material Master Records for Variants
Prerequisites
A configurable material exists, for which you create a material variant. The configurable material has all the necessary settings in the configuration profile, class
assignment, dependencies, and so on.
Procedure
From the material master menu, choose Material ® Create general ® Immediately.
Enter a material number, an industry sector, and a material type for materials kept in stock.
You must process the following views:
Basic Data
Sales Data
MRP Data
For material variants, you maintain the usual material master data, such as availability check, strategy groups, and so on. This documentation
describes the data that you need to maintain specifically for material variants.
2. Maintain the required basic data.
Do not select Material is configurable for a material variant.
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4. In the basic data, you can link the material variant to a configurable material. This configuration applies to all plants. To manufacture the material variant in-
house, you must maintain the variant at plant level, so that BOMs, routings, and so on can be determined. Cross-plant variants can be used in
Purchasing, but are not supported in Sales.
3. Maintain the sales data.
You can only use the variant in sales orders if you maintain sales data for the variant.
4. In the MRP data, enter a configurable material for configuring the variant at plant level.
5. Choose Configure variant.
You see the value assignment screen with the characteristics of the configurable material.
Configure the variant.
6. Once you have maintained all the data, save your material variant.
See also:
SAP Library PP Demand Management
Strategies for Variants
1.2 Bill of Material (BOM)
To do a requirements explosion for a configured material, you must maintain the data in the material master record and link a BOM to the configured material.
If the material of the material variant is the same as the configurable material, the link is already there.
You can either create a BOM especially for the configured material (perhaps using the copy from function) or allocate the configured material to the BOM for the
configurable product. The second option is the more common solution.
If you allocate the configured material to the BOM for the configurable product, the BOM for the configurable product is interpreted and exploded according to the
characteristic values assigned. The interpretation includes the processing of selection conditions and the setting of field values in BOM items according to the
relevant actions.
Allocating a Configured Material to a BOM
To allocate the configured material to the BOM of the configurable product, proceed as follows:
1. From the bills of material menu, choose Bills of material
® Material BOM ® Alloc. config. mat. ® Create.
Enter the name of your configured material in the Material field.
You see a screen on which your configured material is shown as the first allocation. Select the allocation and choose the All allocs for BOM function to see all the
materials allocated to this BOM.
Save your allocation.
1.3 Task List
To produce a configured material, you need to allocate a task list to the configurable material once you have created the material master.
If the material of the material variant is the same as the configurable material, the link is already there.
You can either create a task list especially for the configured material (perhaps using the copy from function) or allocate the configured material to the task list for
the configurable product in the task list maintenance function. The second option is the more common solution. If you allocate the configured material to the task list
for the configurable product, the task list for the configurable product is interpreted and exploded in the production order according to the characteristic values
assigned. The interpretation includes the processing of selection conditions in the operations or activities, sub-operations, sequences of operations, and production
resources/tools (PRTs).
Allocating a Task List to a Configured Material
To allocate the configured material to the task list of the configurable material, proceed as follows:
1. From the routings menu, choose Routings
® Routing ® Change.
Enter the number of the configurable material.
Choose Goto ® Overview.
Choose Routing ® Material allocation ® New entries and enter the number of the configured material you want to allocate to the task list.
Save your allocation.
1.4 Creating Cross-Plant Material Variants
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5. Use
For material variants that are procured externally, you can define the assignment to a configurable material in the basic data of the material master, because no
plant-specific data needs to be determined for these variants.
Procedure
In the material master menu, choose Material ® Create (General) ® Immediately.
Enter a material number, an industry sector, and a material type for materials kept in stock.
Select the views that you want to process.
Maintain the required basic data.
Do not select Material is configurable for a material variant.
Under Client-specific configuration, enter the configurable material of which you are creating a variant.
Choose Configure variant.
You see the value assignment screen with the characteristics of the configurable material.
Configure the variant.
Once you have maintained all the data, save your material variant.
Result
The variant can be entered in a purchase order. The configuration of the variant is copied from the material master.
Cross-plant material variants can be used in Purchasing. However, they are not supported in Sales.
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