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 Selecting a Bill of Material Alternative

In the material master record of the material to be produced you use the key AlternSelection (MRP) to define how a bill of material alternative is selected.

You can choose between the following three selection strategies. For all strategies, a bill of material alternative can only be selected if it is valid at the specified explosion date and matches the specified lot size.

  • Selecting by order quantity

The system selects here the bill of material alternative that has the relevant lot size range for the order quantity. Further selection takes place according to the Priorities for BOM Usage .

  • Selecting by explosion date

Here the system selects the bill of material alternative that is valid according to the setting Bill of material by date for the explosion date (see Define alternative determination for multiple BOMs in Customizing for production orders).

  • Selecting by production version

Here the system selects the bill of material alternative that is stored in the valid production version. If a routing is defined in the production version then it is also copied into the order.

Note Note

If there are several production versions, either the system decides automatically which production version is used, or you choose the production version manually. You make the settings for this in the order type-dependent parameters (Production version indicator in Customizing for Shop Floor Control by choosing Start of the navigation path Master Data Next navigation step Order Next navigation step Define Order-Type Dependent Parameters Next navigation step ). End of the navigation path

If the bill of material alternative in the collective order is selected both in the leading order and in subordinate orders using a production version then the system functions as follows:

First the system determines the production version of the leading order.

For subordinate orders it searches for a production version with the same key (for example, 0001). If a valid production version exists with the same key then this production version has the highest priority in the selection.

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If several valid alternatives exist after the selection then the system copies the first of the alternatives to the order.

Note Note

If no valid bill of material can be selected for the material then you have two options:

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  • you can enter another material. The system then tries to select a BOM for the material according to the same criteria.

  • you can work without a BOM. In this case you must add the required components manually. How to add components manually is described in Manually Adding or Changing Components .

Note Note

You can find out more about BOM explosion and the automatic selection of alternatives in the document PP - Production Planning/Material Requirements Planning.

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