APO Model Mix Planning - few questions

[former_member275015]

Hi,

I try to immerse myself into Model mix planning in APO for automotive industry. I have a few questions.

1. can product structure and process structure be mapped using classical PP BOM and routing in SAP ECC system? If yes, a normal production version can be used and somehow linked to iPPE??

2. Can the iPPE be created in APO directly or it should be created in ECC and transferred to APO? My understanding is that we create iPPE in ECC and transfer it to APO to create a PDS out of it....

3. If no variants are used in ECC but just configurable materials should I maintain a dummy product structure header = dummy bom and a dummy routing header in iPPE object to maintain a consistency of iPPE structure? If yes, should this be done in ECC or in APO? Does that make sense / is reasonable?

4. can a dummy product structure (BOM) be maintained in APO iPPE object directly so that the iPPE structure is consistent or should this be done in ECC?

5. In our case only a structure node in iPPE is plan to be maintained for the finished product, under structure node a dummy component variant is plan to be maintained. A question here is that if I understand it right, we maintain the structure in iPPE directly. but what if it is planned to use a classical PP- BOM? will we then maintain both iPPE structure and a PP-BOM?? this does not make much sense to me as a beginner in Model Mix Planning in APO...

6. Can the iPPE object only have a dummy BOM and a dummy routing?

7. In our case it is planned that the line design will be carried out in SAP PLM and transfered to SAP APO = will create a line structure within iPPE in APO. I thought that if PLM is used, the line structure would be sent to ECC via Interface to create / update iPPE in ECC due to the fact the the iPPE should be maintained in ECC and just transferred to APO??/

8. How much sens makes usage of Model Mix Planning in APO if only the finished product is planned in APO and all the components in ECC using MRP?

do we need then iPPE or can we just use PP-BOM and PP-Routing = production version and make a PDS on APO side out of it?.

9.If we classify the final products into product families could we maintain takt times / production rates at final product family level (each product family is allocated to a line) .

10. It is planned that the APO iPPE will not have detailed process structure. A detailed routing should be created in ECC. A dummy routing header will be maintained in SAP APO iPPE object. Under dummy header a dummy resource will be assigned. This is to keep / maintain the consistency of the iPPE object.  so much the theory... my question is if this make sense and if this will not create errors while generating PDS?

I am aware of so many questions and I did try to put them "on paper" so it is understandible...which menas that I would be happy about any good comment or hint or link that helps me to answer my questions / doubts.. thank you in advance!

best regards,

Pilvi

[alok_jaiswal · Accepted solution]

Hi Pilvi,

Yes indeed its quite a long post with so many questions :-). I will try to add some of my inputs -

• While using product structure in IPPE for example, you would need master data for materials and you will arrange your structure accordingly within it - like access node, view node structure node, component variant etc. Similarly for process structure. Yes its possible to link PV with IPPE structure. You can see it via PPE ->Envirnment -> Production Version

• Yes ideally should be created in ECC and once you CIF it will be present in APO too and can be accessed via /SAPAPO/PPE transaction. Systemically though you should be able to create IPPE Nodes directly in APO too but not the recommended approach like other master data.

• Model mix planning can be used to run FG products also - provided you have corresponding VC and restrictions maintained inside it. You need to understand if you are able to exploit the benefits provided by MMP - You can find greater details in SAP Consulting Note on MPP - 627377

• Takt times is dependent on takt based scheduling and the critical line which your product will follow on the assembly line. You would need a Line Balance assignment in your Line structure and you will have option inside it to maintain Takt for each of the stations

• I think Dummy Product Structure/process structure can be made in APO - you though need to test out the same. For example, view node is just logical grouping and is just a dummy node only.

Hope it helps.

Regards,

Alok

[former_member275015 · Accepted solution]

Hi Alok,

thank you for responding and your input, I do appreciate it.

one question regarding your input: Takt times is dependent on takt based scheduling and the critical line which your product will follow on the assembly line. You would need a Line Balance assignment in your Line structure and you will have option inside it to maintain Takt for each of the stations.

- what do you mean by stating: You would need a Line Balance assignment in your Line structure and you will have option inside it to maintain Takt for each of the stations.

thank you!

best regards,

Pilvi

[Former Member]

1. The first half of the question is unclear. If the question is, "can I integrate iPPE and BOM structures for the same finished product, for example use iPPE product structure with detailed BOM routing or vice versa", then the answer is no. But see answer 6.

As stated above, it is possible to use production version with iPPE product structure and iPPE process structure assigned to it.

2.  Yes, you should create iPPE in ECC and transfer in APO, as stated above. It is technically possible to create some iPPE elements directly in APO, but there will be several restrictions, because not all ECC-related abilities to maintain such elements are supported in APO. You can also check that EA-iPPE component versions are radically different for ECC and APO.

3. The question is unclear. Configurable materials can be used in iPPE as products without material variants, but I suspect that the meaning of the question is different.

4. No, BOM phantom assembly cannot be directly assigned to iPPE product structure.

5. The question is unclear. It is unclear why use iPPE with "dummy component variant". For the same product, you either use BOM explosion in ERP or iPPE explosion (RPM or PP/DS) in APO. Started from some Enhancement Package version, it is technically possible to maintain both BOM and iPPE structures in parallel in ECC for the same product by activating a business function, but there may be additional restrictions.

6.  If you're going to plan product in APO, then it is not possible to assign BOM product structure for this product directly to iPPE product structure. If you're going to plan product in ECC, then there is some obscure approach to use iPPE product structure and "dummy" BOM routing (it is briefly mentioned in PLM170 course), but details are unknown for me, and contents of BOM routing won't be taken into account for capacity planning.

7. Line Design should exist in ECC (maintained manually or maybe tranferred from a separate SAP PLM system) and transferred to APO via CIF.

8. Yes, it is possible to plan only finished product in iPPE/APO (also via MMP), and semi-finished products (components) in ECC, such scenario is also mentioned in PLM170 course. There is no need to create iPPE structures for semi-finished products (components) in this case. For this, you should transfer dependent demand (requirements) from iPPE product for semi-finished products (components) from APO to ERP after the planning run in APO, and there is SAP transaction for it in case of RPM explosion (I don't know about the case with PP/DS explosion). But you cannot use APO-ERP-APO planning chain for products, and usage of APO reports and functions will be very limited for semi-finished products (components). Of course, in this case you cannot use MMP to plan components on the lines in APO (such as cabins, engines, ...).

9. As far as I know, no, this is not possible.

10. It is unclear why detailed routing should be created in ECC for iPPE product. As stated above, it is not possible to assign detailed (real) BOM routing to iPPE product structure via SAP standard ways.