Customer requirements are becoming increasingly individualized. Instead of off-the-shelf solutions, they should be complex variants. At the same time, orders should be executed promptly and at prices similar to mass production, even from batch size 1.
To address this apparent contradiction, there are software solutions for variant configuration. They ensure maximum efficiency in production, even with the smallest order quantities. Individual customer inquiries for special variants can be answered precisely. Employees can use variant configuration to quickly find out which prices, costs, materials and profit opportunities are associated with a product variant.
SAP Variant Configuration (SAP VC) has always been a dedicated solution for SAP landscapes. It supports the creation of configurable products in order to simplify handling in production and sales. With the introduction of SAP S/4HANA, SAP is providing a new solution with SAP Advanced Variant Configuration (SAP AVC), which has many new features. For example, there are optimizations in the area of object dependencies, a completely new Fiori interface for characteristic value assignment and the first options for creating material variants directly.
top VC is an add-on for SAP ERP and SAP S/4 HANA with great benefits for variant configuration and, like top MES and top xRM, can be integrated into both ERP systems without an interface. As a specialist for industries in variant-rich manufacturing and procurement, top flow has developed a unique product based on SAP variant configuration with its top VC software.
With top VC, those responsible can manage variant-rich products without major effort in daily business and create individual quotations for product variants in seconds. top VC combines SAP variant configuration with the option of generating master data ready for series production at the touch of a button. This means that processes can be started with both make-to-order production and anonymous production.
The starting point for top VC’s variant engine is the sales document item with configuration. The variant engine can now be started manually or in the background, triggering the multi-level creation of material variants. The software solution also offers automated follow-up processing when a new variant is created, e.g. calculations, pricing systems, master data in purchasing. Manual activities are eliminated, while the data quality of the generated master data is increased.
This subsequent processing is also possible with SAP AVC, i.e. SAP generates the material variant when returning from the configuration, which is then immediately extended by the additional steps defined in top VC (see below).
Certain activities can be supported by customizing using top flow variant configuration:
All company departments can benefit from the consistent use of material variants – from sales to purchasing and service to production and manufacturing. The material variants that are generated help to ensure that the information chain is seamless and always up to date.
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