Manufacturing

If you want to use SAP in production, 4process supports you in all areas of manufacturing and helps you to map all production steps in terms of master data and processes. We support you with the introduction of SAP in all areas of production order processing. Our portfolio includes all production variants from series production and process manufacturing to make-to-stock production, make-to-order production or project production. We are also your contact for any conceptual questions and support in the PP module. 4process is also happy to organize training courses and workshops in which our experts pass on their knowledge of customer-specific topics to your company's employees using illustrative system examples.

SAP Manufacturing can be linked to the SAP warehouse systems Warehouse Management (WM), Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) and Stock Room Management. This facilitates the provision of warehouse materials for production and the storage of production products. This leads to optimized data integration and reduces throughput times, resulting in considerable cost savings. Among other things, the system provides you with comprehensive, clear information on material orders, order confirmations or rework orders.

Sequence and capacity planning is of crucial importance for production. On the one hand, sequence planning in SAP determines the sequence in which planned or production orders are produced at the various work centers. This is done for a planning period and on the basis of a specific planning procedure. Capacity planning, on the other hand, supports production planning both in long-term rough-cut planning and in medium-term and short-term detailed planning. In the course of capacity planning, the first step is capacity evaluation, in which available capacity and capacity requirements are determined. This is followed by capacity leveling, which aims to ensure the optimal allocation of capacities and the selection of suitable resources.

Application-specific planning tables are available for both sequence planning and capacity planning, which simplify the planning process with graphical and tabular planning tables. By evaluating data in real time, the sequencing and capacity planning processes in your company are made more efficient.

Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling (PP/DS) in SAP enables up-to-the-second production planning for critical products and bottleneck resources. The aim of detailed planning is the automatic creation of time- and resource-optimized production plans. This is made possible in the PP/DS component by the fact that quantities and capacities are planned together. In this way, capacity utilization can be checked and optimized on a situation-specific basis so that delivery and quantity reliability are ensured when fulfilling orders. PP/DS also offers an improved graphical interface, enabling interactive and clear planning.

The SAP S/4HANA system is particularly convenient when using the PP/DS component, as production and detailed planning is already integrated here (embedded PP/DS). This means that no additional interfaces are required, which saves time and money. Thanks to this innovation, the SAP S/4HANA system opens up the possibility of using advanced tools for production and detailed planning, especially for medium-sized companies.

4process helps you to make your production planning as precise as possible so that bottlenecks can be identified at an early stage and production downtimes minimized.

Today, companies produce for a target group with increasingly individual wishes and personalized demand. In order to meet customer needs, manufacturers are increasingly offering variants of the existing product range.

The SAP Variant Configurator (LO-VC or AVC) helps to manage this large number of variants efficiently. This component offers the advantage that each variant of a product can be mapped in the system via a single configurable material with a corresponding maximum bill of materials and a maximum routing. This saves time and resources, particularly in the area of master data maintenance. In addition, all characteristics of the different product variants can be displayed with their internal relationships, resulting in a uniform knowledge base. SAP variant configuration thus improves the exchange of information between sales, design and production, which improves planning with regard to price and delivery date.

4process supports you both in the introduction of the conventional variant configuration LO-VC and in the implementation of the new Advanced Variant Configurator (AVC). AVC is integrated into the S/4HANA system and offers new techniques in the backend, an optimized and more individual configuration of variants and a modern user interface via FIORI apps.

We can also advise you on SAP Product Data Replication (PDR) to easily transfer the master data required for variant configuration between different SAP systems.

With the help of the scale connection, industrial scales from different manufacturers can be easily and efficiently integrated into the SAP system at the relevant points. On the one hand, the SAP system takes over the load management for scales by defining the calibration limits for upper and lower load per scale type and assigning the weighing information in a targeted manner.

There is also the option of transferring data to an external scale. This function can be used to add external weighing software to the system's integrated rapid scale recording. When creating goods movements, the weights determined using the scales can be transferred directly to the SAP system for further processing. The connection of external weighing software offers the additional advantage that weighing processes can continue to be carried out even if the SAP system fails.

With the scale connection in SAP, weighing processes are simplified and system integration is optimized, resulting in faster throughput times at the scale.

SAP Plant Connectivity (PCo) is an important cornerstone for implementing Industry 4.0 concepts for the intelligent networking of machines and processes in your company. In this context, SAP PCo acts as an interface between an SAP system and industry-specific standard data sources from different manufacturers (including process control systems, plant historian systems or SPC systems).

The SAP Plant Connectivity module enables the automatic transfer of data points (tags) from the connected source systems to the SAP system. This data can be received in production, which improves machine connectivity. SAP PCo also enables more precise production planning in terms of runtimes and downtimes, resulting in cost savings and an optimized production flow.

The rework step is essential for successful production processing. SAP helps you to schedule and execute rework processes in the system. Products that are found to be defective during the quality inspection at the end or during the production process are planned back into production in order to achieve a defect-free end product. With the help of rework, additional individual processes for improving the material can be determined in the SAP system and scheduled in a time-optimized manner. Overall, reworking in SAP conserves resources and uses materials effectively, which leads to an optimization of the production cost structure.

SAP Digital Manufacturing is a cloud-based solution that supports companies in optimizing manufacturing processes and increasing productivity. The solution makes it possible to record, analyse and visualize production data in order to make informed decisions and identify bottlenecks and problems at an early stage. By integrating SAP DM with an SAP ERP system, it is possible to seamlessly integrate production processes into existing business processes and transfer real-time data from production. It also enables better planning and control of production, which in turn makes a positive contribution to efficiency and accuracy. In conjunction with Extended Warehouse Management (EWM), warehouse stocks and capacities can be better planned and managed. This enables more efficient use of warehouse resources and improved delivery capability. Thanks to the connection with detailed planning in Embedded (PP/DS), production orders can be planned efficiently and the availability of resources and materials optimized. SAP Digital Manufacturing is therefore not only another logical step towards Industry 4.0, but also the foundation of a digital factory.

4process helps you with the introduction of SAP Digital Manufacturing right from the start. We provide you with professional support in connecting to your existing system, transferring your master data and setting up your processes and systems.