Manufacturing
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Due to the ever-increasing digitalization, globalization, and individualization of society, manufacturing companies must break new ground in order to meet all customer requirements. Flexibility is particularly important here, which is why greater automation of production plays a major role. SAP S/4HANA Manufacturing supports all manufacturing logistics activities as well as internal warehouse goods transport, making it a powerful solution for mapping all production processes.
4process advises you on all topics related to a customized SAP system in the area of production. SAP S/4HANA Manufacturing offers companies a wide range of tools that digitally map and optimize the stages of manufacturing. The goal is to make the best possible use of production capacities and ensure high delivery reliability through precise capacity and detailed planning.
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 are at your side during the SAP implementation in all areas of production order processing. Our portfolio covers all manufacturing variants, from series production and process manufacturing to stock production, single-item production, and project manufacturing. We are also your point of 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 on customer-specific topics to your company's employees using clear 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 manufactured products. This leads to optimized data integration and reduces throughput times, resulting in significant cost savings. Among other things, the system provides you with comprehensive, clear information on material orders, order confirmations, and rework orders.
Sequence and capacity planning are crucial 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 each planning period and based on a specific planning procedure. Capacity planning, on the other hand, supports production planning in both long-term rough planning and medium-term and short-term detailed planning. Capacity planning begins with capacity evaluation, in which capacity availability and requirements are determined. This is followed by capacity matching, which aims to ensure optimal capacity utilization 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 boards. By evaluating data in real time, the sequence and capacity planning processes in your company are made more efficient.
Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling (PP/DS) in SAP enables production planning down to the second for critical products and bottleneck resources. The goal of detailed planning is to automatically create production plans that are optimized in terms of time and resources. This is made possible in the PP/DS component by planning quantities and capacities together. This allows capacity utilization to be checked and optimized on a situation-specific basis, ensuring delivery and quantity reliability in order fulfillment. PP/DS also offers an improved graphical user interface, enabling interactive and clear planning.
The SAP S/4HANA system is particularly convenient for using the PP/DS component, as production and detailed planning are already integrated here (embedded PP/DS). This means that no additional interfaces are necessary, which saves time and money. This innovation opens up the possibility for medium-sized companies in particular to use advanced tools for production and detailed planning with the SAP S/4HANA system.
4process helps you to make your production planning as precise as possible so that bottlenecks can be identified early on and production downtimes minimized.
Today, companies produce for a target group with increasingly individualized preferences and personalized demand. To meet customer needs, manufacturers are increasingly offering variants of their existing product range.
The SAP Variant Configurator (LO-VC or AVC) helps to manage this multitude of variants efficiently. This component offers the advantage that each variant of a product can be represented in the system by a single configurable material with an associated maximum bill of materials and a maximum work plan. This saves time and resources, especially 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. Thus, SAP variant configuration improves the exchange of information between sales, design, and production, which in turn improves planning in terms of price and delivery date.
4process supports you in introducing both the conventional variant configuration LO-VC and the new Advanced Variant Configurator (AVC). AVC is integrated into the S/4HANA system and offers new backend technologies, optimized and more customized variant configuration, and a modern user interface via FIORI apps.
We 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 load management for scales by defining the calibration limits for upper and lower loads for each scale type and assigning the weighing information in a targeted manner.
It is also possible to transfer data to an external scale. This function allows the scale quick entry integrated in the system to be expanded with external weighing software. When creating goods movements, the weights determined with the scale can be transferred directly to the SAP system and further processed. The connection to external weighing software offers the additional advantage that weighing processes can still be carried out even if the SAP system fails.
The scale connection in SAP simplifies weighing processes and optimizes system integration, 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, and 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, improving machine connectivity. In addition, SAP PCo enables more accurate 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 plan and execute rework processes in the system. Products that are found to be defective by the quality inspection at the end or during the manufacturing process are rescheduled for production in order to obtain a flawless end product. With the help of rework, additional individual processes for improving the material can be determined and scheduled in a time-optimized manner in the SAP system. Overall, rework in SAP conserves resources and makes effective use of materials, which leads to an optimization of the production cost structure.
SAP Digital Manufacturing is a cloud-based solution that helps companies optimize manufacturing processes and increase productivity. The solution enables production data to be collected, analyzed, and visualized 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 manufacturing processes into existing business processes and transfer real-time data from production. Furthermore, it enables better planning and control of production, which in turn contributes positively to efficiency and accuracy. In conjunction with Extended Warehouse Management (EWM), inventory levels and capacities can be better planned and managed. This enables more efficient use of warehouse resources and improved delivery capability. By connecting to 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 toward Industry 4.0, but also the foundation of a digital factory.
4process helps you from the very beginning with the introduction of SAP Digital Manufacturing. We provide expert support in connecting to your existing system, transferring your master data, and setting up your processes and systems.
Arrange your personal consultation now so that we can work together to develop a sound strategy. We would be happy to support you in designing and implementing your digitalization projects!