Characteristics in APO 

Use

In APO, you use characteristics for forecasting purposes in the Demand Planning component, and for planning purposes in integrated Product and Process Engineering (iPPE), and Characteristics-Dependent Planning (CDP).

Features

Demand Planning

The Demand Planning component functions on the level of assemblies, and works with characteristics such as "customer" and "customer group".

This component enables you to perform characteristics-based forecasting, in other words, you can create a forecast based on the characteristics of configurable products in Demand Planning. For example, if you know that 100 red cars, 200 green cars, and 300 blue cars are sold every month, you can perform a probability distribution of the characteristic values. Using this probability distribution, you calculate the number of parts (for example, engines or gearboxes) required. You can also forecast the demand for a combination of several characteristics, which allows you to take the interdependency of the demand for these characteristics into consideration. However, the results of characteristics-based forecasting in this component cannot be interpreted in the Supply Network Planning component. For more information on characteristics in Demand Planning, see Characteristics-Based Forecasting.

Characteristics-Dependent Planning

Characteristics-Dependent Planning uses characteristics for planning in refinement industries such as Mill Products, Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, and Semiconductors. A distinguishing feature of these industries is that a variety of end products are created from a basic material with specific attributes. The intermediate and end products are manufactured in various processing steps from a basic material such as steel or pulp. The end product, such as the paper produced from wood pulp, is often packed in an additional component such as plastic.

The required attributes or characteristics of the intermediate product are derived either from the attributes which a customer specifies for the desired product in the purchase order, or from the planned process steps and considerations regarding the optimal use of resources and materials.

In CDP, the characteristics of the end item define the characteristics of lower-level products. The characteristics are determined by the selected production process, and are propagated from the end item. Unlike the characteristics in the iPPE which have the standard R/3 configuration, they are unknown at sales order entry.

The production process also distinguishes refinement from assembly industries. In refinement industries such as those already described, materials and products are generally described by their attributes. Product groups displaying similar basic attributes are combined, and individual features are described using characteristics. Products of this nature are referred to as configurable products.

The block planning feature in CDP enables you to pre-plan resources for products with defined characteristics. You use block planning in order to minimize setup times, to forecast maintenance intervals, and to achieve minimum lot sizes for components and/or input materials.

Integrated Product and Process Engineering

Integrated Product and Process Engineering uses characteristics for planning in Assembly industries such as Automotive, High-Tech, and their respective suppliers. As in refinement industries, characteristics describe the end item or sellable product. Components and subassemblies are defined or selected using characteristics of the end item, and can also be configurable products. Characteristics are entered at sales order entry in iPPE.