The first time I learned about SAP, I was having difficulties to understand the basic concept because of its 'technical' language. So, I hope this post can help those who are just started to jump in the Production and Planning world of SAP.
PP MASTER DATA
In general, master data in Production Planning consists of:
- Material Master
- Bill of Material (BOM)
- Work Center
- Routing
- Production Version
Material Master
Material Master contains information on the material that is manufactured/produced, procured, or sold by the company. For example, in a bakery, the material master would be the types of bread and cake that is sold, as well as all of the ingredients needed to make those breads and cakes; In a car manufacturer company, for instance, material master would be the car itself, the door hinge, the steering wheel, and the seat. We define a thing as material master if we want to make it as our inventory and/or monitor the stock.
Bill of Material (BOM)
BOM is the complete components that make up a product. In other words, BOM is the ingredients needed to make a certain bread or the parts needed to create a car. For instance, in order to make a tuna sandwich, we need two slices of bread, 10 gr of tuna, 0.5 gr of butter, and 1 gr of mayo. Those ingredients are the BOM for a tuna sandwich.
Work Center
Work center is a unit where the activities (operations) carried out. It can be a machine/group of machine, a person/group of people, production line. In a bakery, the work center could be the oven(s), the microwave(s), the stove(s), or the chef(s). In a car manufacturing company, the work center could be the assembly robot. The capacity, scheduling, and costing of machines or people are recorded in work center. For example, how long an oven can operate in a day, how many ovens can be used, and what cost should be calculated from this oven, all can be recorded in work center master data.
Routing
Routing contains the sequence of operations to be performed, as well as the work center to perform the operation. To put it simply, in routing, we explain the steps of how to make something. For example:
To make a tuna sandwich, what we should do is:
- Spread butter on the bread
- Put tuna on top of it
- Add another slice of bread to cover the tuna
- Put it in the oven for 5 minutes
Production Version
Production version is the combination between BOM and routing. It determines various production techniques to be performed in the production (what BOM and which routing). It is the complete recipe of how to make something. It contains the ingredients, the tools needed, and the steps of doing it.
All of the master data above are needed to execute production process as well as calculate the cost for this production process.
