Variant Configuration is a framework that helps you manage complex manufacturing involving various specifications of the same product Examples include Cars, Laptops, furniture and Fast-food Items. A specific range of car may consist of standard equipment which has manual locking, synthetic seat covers and a basic music system. On top this , the manufacturer offers add-ons such as central locking which can be remote or manual, multiple varieties of seat covers and multiple versions of Music system etc. These enhancements involve additional work, more time to delivery and more pricing. It is quite difficult to maintain multiple product versions, Production BOMs, Routings, Pricing etc. It will also be difficult for sales executive to predict the lead time to make a reliable order promise in terms of price, date and quantities. Even if you want to main multiple combination as individualproduct versions software will have some limitations. For example, an ERP may have limitation of 99 Alternative BOMs for a Product. Any change to design will lead to changing each alternative BOM and Routing.

Variant configuration provides a framework through which you can define a set of features of options for the product to offer for choosing by customer. The framework allows you to define a Super-BOM and Super-Routing which will have all standard components and operations as well as optional components and operations out of which a few will go to the actual BOM and Routing of Product, according to the selection of features and options within each feature by customer. The framework allows to define the logic that determines the right set of components and operations to go in to the BOM and Routing of this selection. The framework also provides an interface (Called Configurator) to choose features and options for all addon features provided the product.

SAP Provides excellent functionality of Variant Configurator to ease out the functioning of Design, Production, Sales,Planning, Costing and Pricing teams.

The Course from eBodhisathva Solutions provides insight on how Variant configuration works.

Course is structured at high level as :

1. Context of Course

2. Business Scenario for Demo

3. Creation of Configurable and Raw Materials

4. Creation of Characteristics and assign to Classes

5. Creation of BOM, Routing

6. Define dependencies and assign to Components of BOM and Operations of Routing (selection conditions)

7. Create ConfigurationProfile and Run Simulation including error handling(5 demos)

8. Run a Few business transactions on Configurable Material

9. Additional scenarios

   1. Dependencies of type Pre-condition, Procedure etc. to manipulate Characteristics and values (about 8 demos)

   2. Using built-in functions, expressions and operators in various demos given above

   3. Hide characteristic based reference characteristics (1 demo)

   4. Price determination from conditions (1 demo)

We wish you all the best.