Reserve stock for possible future demand

[Former Member]

Dear all,

I am looking into the possibility to reserve stock per customers for products in the category Last Time Buys (LTB). I want to add quantity restrictions to sales orders depending on the customer and the product. Our situation right now is as in the following example:

     Stock of Product1 = 100                         (Registered in system)

     Quantity reserved for Customer1: 60     (Not registered in system)

     Quantity reserved for Customer2: 40     (Not registered in system)

     Now if Customer2 suddenly requests 50 pieces, the system does not notify the user that the quantity of Customer2 is restricted to 40 pieces. This
      would result in Customer2 receiving its demanded quantity, and thus Customer1 not being able to request the quantity it has reserved in our
      inventory. Since the problem concerns LTB-products, no new products can be produced to complement the inventory and fulfill the demand.

I have scanned the forum for answers to my problem, and found things like Batch sizes and Dummy sales orders, but none of those solutions seem to be applicable to my situation or seem just too impractical.

Can anyone perhaps show some insights or even impractical solutions to my problem?

Thank you in advance,

Henri
        

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Good day,

What you describe is product allocation and it's available through standard.

Here are a couple links to acquaint you with the functionality (with and without APO):

Product Allocation - Availability Check and Requirements in Sales and Distribution Pr - SAP Library

Product Allocation With Direct Check of Planning Area - Supply Chain Processes with SAP APO - SAP Li...

In your case you may need to do manual product allocations based on your LTB category but you can certainly "add quantity restrictions to sales orders depending on the customer and the product" using allocations.

A word of warning: If you implement this you need to know that it is easier to to do it incorrectly then it is to do it correctly. You will need only the best and brightest staff maintaining the product allocations and they must be highly trained/skilled. When it is implemented without properly training the staff and/or allowing staff members who are not proficient to enter allocations you will be faced with over/under allocations that can have a major negative impact on your supply chain.

That being said, it works great when executed properly.

[philippe_marque]

Hi,

What you are looking for is called A-Run in the Fashion industry.

SAP Standard reserve stock only when you create the sales orders and the sales order with the smallest delivery date reserves the stock.

In the Fashion industry, SAP has developped this A-Run functionnality where you can decide at a later point which customers you want to deliver first (because they are big customers).

Unforthunately you need to have the Industry Specific SAP AFS in order to use the A-Run.

In SAP Standard you cannot achieve easily what you describe.

Regards,

Philippe