A configurable product’s recipe: fixed and variable materials and processes
Say on the model itself what every configuration takes and what only one option brings — materials in the unit they are consumed in, and processes or whole routings — and see it carried through cost, the bill of materials, the routing, production and planning.
A cake comes in 6 inch and 12 inch, with or without icing. Every cake takes almond and is sieved, mixed and inspected. The 6 inch takes 250 g of flour and the 12 inch 500 g. Only an iced cake takes 6 eggs and 1000 mg of sugar, and only an iced cake goes through Icing. That is the recipe, and it is entered on the model.
Open Supply Chain → Product Configurator → Configurator · Models and open the model. It has two tabs for this: Materials and Processes. Each line is FIXED (leave Only with this option empty: every configuration takes it) or VARIABLE (choose the option: only configurations that choose it take it). The Used column says which in words — Always (fixed), or Only with Size · 12 inch.
Materials
| Field | What to enter | Cake example |
|---|---|---|
| Only with this option | Empty for a fixed material; the option for a variable one. Only this model’s options are offered. | Size · 12 inch |
| Material | The item. | All-purpose flour |
| Quantity per one | How much one of the product takes, in the unit below. | 500 |
| Unit consumed in | The unit it is measured in when it is used — g, mg, each. Empty means the item’s own unit. | G |
| Scrap %, Kind, Consumed at operation | As on a bill of materials. | — |
The unit can differ from the unit the item is kept in. Flour kept in kilograms can be entered as 250 g: it is costed as 0.25 kg, put on the bill of materials as 0.25, issued to production and planned in kilograms. A unit with no conversion to the item’s own is refused when the line is saved, naming both units — add the conversion under Supply Chain → Units of Measure, or on the item’s Units of measure, and save again.
Processes
| Field | What to enter | Cake example |
|---|---|---|
| Only with this option | Empty for a fixed process; the option for a variable one. | Icing · With icing |
| Operation number, Operation | Where it comes in the sequence, and its name. 10, 20, 30 leaves room to add one later. | 30 Icing |
| Work centre | Where it is done. The model’s default work centre is used when empty. | Bakery line |
| Setup, Run per one (minutes) | Its times, costed at the work centre’s rates. | 0, 10 |
| Or a whole routing | Instead of one operation, a routing whose operations all come in when the line applies. | The 12 inch’s own baking routing |
| Inspect to this plan | An inspection at this operation. | Final check |
- A variant can decide the routing as well as the materials: a Processes line that names a routing and an option brings that whole routing only with that option.
- Two lines with the same operation number and different options give that operation different times per option — Mix for 5 minutes on a 6 inch and 8 on a 12 inch.
- Conditions that depend on two answers at once (size = “S12IN” and icing = “ICE_YES”) can still be written in Condition (advanced) on either tab. Most recipes never need one.
Where the recipe goes
| Where | What happens |
|---|---|
| Configure a Product | The preview shows the recipe lines the choices bring, each with why: A fixed material of the model, or Because "12 inch" was chosen. |
| Cost | Each material is costed in its own unit: 500 g of flour at 2.00 a kg is 1.00. |
| Resolve | The configured item’s bill of materials holds the materials in the item’s stocking unit (0.5 kg), and its routing holds the processes. |
| Production order | Its components are in stocking units: four 12 inch iced cakes need 2 kg of flour and 0.004 kg of sugar. |
| Planning (MRP) | Plans the materials of configured demand in stocking units, so a shortage is a real shortage. |
| Check this model | Lists the recipe — each line, its quantity and unit, and whether it is always used or only with an option — and flags a material with no standard cost. |
A part on the model’s recipe is not taken from the base item’s bill of materials as well, so nothing is counted twice. Options that name an item, rules and bill-of-materials conditions keep working as before; the recipe is simply the plainest way to say it.
The Materials and Processes tabs come with the Configurator · Models screen: a role that can change models can change their recipe, and one that can only display models can read it. The Models list shows how many materials and processes each model has.