Configured products in MRP, the bill of material as a tree, option() and list_price(), and New bill of material

Run MRP plans a configured sales-order line from its own configuration at every level, with the product’s routing; firming resolves the configuration and raises production orders made to it. The configuration’s bill is shown as a tree of levels on the line’s 360° view and in the configurator. Rules can call option() and list_price(). Bills of Material has New bill of material with its components.

Run MRP on a configured line

CRM › Order to Cash › Selling › Sales Orders › Run MRP (a draft, confirmed or partly delivered order), or the order on Supply Chain › Planning › Supply Planning › Material Requirements Planning.

• A line with a configuration is planned from that configuration — the structure it resolved to, or, while it is still open, what its answers give — never from the configurable product’s full (super) bill.
• Every level is planned: a configured sub-assembly is planned from its own configuration.
• A configured product is always made to order: supply made to one configuration covers only that configuration. Planned orders say “Made to configuration CFG-<n>”.
• The levels hold after firming: running MRP again shows what a firm production order draws one level below it (<ROD-36> at 2 under <COAT-ROD-36> at 1), as before it was firmed.
• A configuration that cannot be worked out yet is shown on the row: “Built to configuration CFG-<n>, which cannot be worked out yet: <rule>: <message>”.

Firm suggestions

1. Choose Firm suggestions on the Run MRP panel.
2. The configuration is resolved and saved first.
3. Production orders are raised made to that configuration, with its components and the routing it inherited; bought parts become purchase requisitions linked to the order.

Firming is refused while the configuration is incomplete: “CFG-<n> has N unanswered problem(s). Answer them in the configurator before it is made.”, or “CFG-<n> cannot be made yet: N rule(s) could not be worked out:” followed by each rule.

The routing is inherited from the product

A model that does not start from the base bill of material no longer loses the routing: it takes the model’s base routing, else the product’s default routing. Only a model with its own process lines, or with rules that select operations or a routing, starts without one. A resolved configuration records the routing it used.

The bill of material as a tree

• On a sales-order line’s 360° view and in the configurator, the configuration’s bill is drawn as a tree: Level, Component, Kind, Per unit, For this line (360° view), Unit and Cost; the configurator adds Why it is there.
• Level 0 is the product, level 1 what the configuration chose, level 2 and below each made part’s own bill. The 360° view says how many Levels there are.
• Open or close a branch with its arrow; Expand all and Collapse all appear when there is more than one branch. Sub-assemblies carry the pill sub-assembly.
• A part that is also inside another part’s bill is shown — and planned — once, where that bill puts it.
• Kind is the part’s own, from the item master: a made, coated rod reads finished; a configured sub-assembly says sub-assembly.

Configurator rules: option() and list_price()

Supply Chain › Master Data › Product Configurator › Configurator · Rules. Two functions can now be used in a rule’s condition or formula.

Example: <r_length> * (list_price('<ROD-36>') / 1000). A function the configurator does not know is named at Save — “<condition> calls foo(), which is not a function a rule can use. The functions are: …” — and when the rule runs. list_price() needs the item number in quotes and an item with a price.

New bill of material

1. Manufacturing › Design › Engineering › Bills of Material › New bill of material.
2. Product (required). Version: leave empty for the next version (1 for the first). Alternate: for example <Line 2> when the product can also be made another way. Effective from (empty: today) and Effective to. Yield % (empty: 100). Status: Active or Draft.
3. Components (required): Component and Quantity per — per ONE of the product, in the component’s own unit — and Scrap %. Component is a type-to-search picker: type part of the item number or name and it searches all your items, not only the first 200.
4. Save. More components can be added later on the bill’s Components tab; an active bill is the one planning and production orders use.

• Quantity per above zero; Scrap % from 0 to under 100; Yield % above 0 and at most 100; Effective to on or after Effective from.
• A product cannot be its own component, nor contain a component that is itself made from the product; a version number already used is refused.
• The header (Version, Alternate, Effective from and to, Yield %) can be edited afterwards with the same checks.
• Roles: Add on Bills of Material. The shipped Manufacturing Planner role now may view, add and change bills (not delete); edited roles are not changed.