Manufacturer field in 01 INSPECTION LOTS

[former_member2091]

Hello All,

We want to populate "manufacturer" in 01 type inspection lots. If I try to manually create a lot, we can enter manufacturer here. From forums I understood that there are 3 ways

1. MPN : This is not feasible for us.

2. Entering manufacturer in Purchasing vew: Also not feasible as there are mulitple manuf.

We enter manufacturer manually at MIGO and need it to move in 01 lot created against GR.

If it is possible from standard or any enhancement that you folks have done and succeeded. Any forum or blog link will be of big help.

[former_member42743]

Are you using MPN's at all? I mean that is what it is designed for.

Using MPN's you can change the manufacturer at GR if it doesn't match.

As far as I know the manufacturer field is designed to be used primarily with MPN's.

I'm not aware of other ways of populating. Didn't know you could do it from the purchase order without an MPN. I'll have to test that.

Craig

[former_member2091]

Hello Craig,

We tried and tested MPN functionality but the client believes it is too cumbersome to implement.

We are manually entering this field in POs (there are multiple checks implemented at multiple levels). I have read many forums and believe that there is no other standard way to populate this field in inspection lot.

I have two possible solutions and hope you can share your views also,

1. Custom program that will edit QALS table and add manufacturer based on material document.

2. Custom report that will simply give 1 to 1 mapping of inspection lots with manufacturers ( field will be still blank in the inspection lot ).

[former_member42743]

Hmm. I always hate it when I hear someone say that.... "It's too cumbersome". That usually means they don't have the resources to clean up the data required to implement. Or the data is so dirty they see no way of doing it and don't want to admit it. This often happens when someone up top wants to do "A" but doesn't fully understand the resources required to do "A". And the folks below really don't want to change, and don't understand or see the value in doing "A".

Which also means "A" has probably not been "sold" properly to them to get them invested in it. There are only two ways to sell from the top down. One is to make the case for "A" and provide the resources requested. Or two is to mandate it and make the resources available. In either case, if the resources aren't provided you'll have both crappy data and an unhappy workforce.

Sorry for the soapbox...

If this is in any type of regulatory field, they are already doing pretty much what the MPN process is doing, even if they are doing it out of the system. And it's fraught with a lot of potential for errors.

Is there a particular part of the process they find cumbersome? I had a lot of push back too initially. But a lot of it is just learning how to use it.

Also, by the time you develop, test and implement a custom solution, you'll spend way more effort then can be rationally justified.

You'd be better off putting those $$$ to building reports or tools for the standard SAP MPN process that might make it less cumbersome.

The problem with many custom solutions is that they are based on today's world and what has been done. Instead of what CAN be done and SHOULD be done.

So how is the manufacturer getting into the material document? How is it being entered at the time of GR? Are your manufacturer and vendor (who the order goes to), ALWAYS one and the same? Can the same manufactured part be obtained from two different suppliers? Can you get the same product from two different manufacturers? Three? Four? What about 4 years from now? Or 8 years. Will you need to multi source materials? Have multiple manufacturers? Will the design allow comparison between different manufacturing sites of the same company? Different suppliers supplying the same manufactured product?

I'm doubtful any customize solution will allow for vendor evaluation in SAP properly. I'm also doubtful that standard SAP reports will work properly with a customized solution.

You can usually customize almost anything you want. It doesn't mean you should.

1) Hard to say on this because I don't know how you structure your supplier numbers, manufacturer numbers, payors, Ship-from, etc....You can stick a number in there probably. Will it provide the info you want I don't know. That field in QALS is tied to other QM functionality such as assignment of inspection plans, specifications, quality levels, source inspections, notifications, etc. etc.. Much of which you may not probably use now... but like I said, custom solutions usually lock the client into the here and now without regard to future possible uses or changes in the business.

2) a report like that will probably be a white elephant for years to come. I can almost guarantee that however you write it now, there will be constant changes and issues to deal with "exceptions" and one offs, new business changes, and new ways of doing things.

Craig