"Define Material types"

Define the material types in this menu option. You group together materials with the same features into material types for example finished products, raw materials, services, etc.

The common features of a material type include:

Field reference for field selection

You define via a field reference,

which fields have to be maintained when a material master is created

which fields can be maintained

which fields are not displayed

Maintenance responsibility of the various user departments (for example, planning and sales and distribution).

When you assign responsibilty for maintenance to a particular user department, you automatically define the screen sequence for master data maintenance.

Control of the procurement type by internal or external purchase order, that is, in-plant production or external procurement

Control of number assignment

Type of inventory management

You can control how quantities and values are updated for each material type.

Price control

You can have the stock of a material valuated depending on material type using various prices:

standard price

moving average price

You can mark price control as binding in each case. In this case, the proposal in the material master record cannot be changed.

Allocation of stock accounts and consumption accounts

The permitted valuation classes , which you defined in inventory accounting, are specified for each material type. Using the valuation type in conjunction with other factors, you define which G/L accounts must be updated during a valuation-relevant business transaction (for example, goods movement.

Requirements

First you must have defined the plants and valuation classes which control the type of inventory management and the allocation to stock accounts and consumption accounts. Only then does the SAP System propose the plants and the valuation classes when you maintain the material types. Information on the valuation classes can be found in the section "Define valuation classes".

SAP Recommendation

If you define your own material types, you should use the keys that start with the letter Z. SAP has reserved these name conventions for this purpose in the standard system.

Actions

1. Check to what extent you can use the defaults for the material types which are contained in the standard SAP R/3 System.

2. Adapt the existing material types to your requirements.

3. Create a new material type if necessary:

Specify an SAP sample material type or a material type which you have previously defined for copying.

Make the necessary changes for the new material type on the individual maintenance screens.