Häufig gestellte Fragen
What distinguishes variant manufacturing from one-off production?
Variant manufacturing builds on a reusable design principle from which many configurations can be derived via a characteristics and rules model; it primarily covers the manufacturing strategies configure-to-order and, in part, make-to-order. Pure one-off or contract manufacturing in the sense of engineer-to-order, by contrast, starts more from a blank slate with a substantial design share created anew for each order. In practice, the boundaries are fluid, because many machine builders mix standard variants with order-specific special adaptations. A robust classification of your own business therefore requires a case-by-case analysis, ideally with industry-experienced, vendor-independent ERP selection support.
Do I need a separate CPQ system alongside the ERP?
Not necessarily, because the decisive difference lies in the purpose: a variant configurator in the ERP generates technically correct bills of materials and routings, while CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) is positioned in sales and is usually closely intertwined with CRM and the quotation process. If the ERP configurator is powerful enough and no 3D visualisation or guided field-sales selling is needed, the ERP alone is sufficient in many cases. For sales-driven providers with complex quotations, a dedicated CPQ such as Tacton, camos or encoway can be worthwhile, handing the finished order over to the ERP. The price of this variant, however, is the duplicate maintenance of the rule set and master data in two systems, which must be kept organisationally in sync.
How does automatic BOM generation work in the configurator?
Instead of maintaining a separate bill of materials for each variant, a generic, configurable product is stored with characteristics such as length, voltage or material, frequently containing all possible items as a so-called maximum or 150-percent BOM (super BOM). Via a rule set made up of conditions, selection lists, variant tables and calculations, the configurator derives an order-specific bill of materials including routing from the concrete combination of characteristics. This makes it possible to generate, from a few dozen characteristics with several values each, an arithmetically very large number of valid variants — reaching into the millions — without a single bill of materials having to be created manually. The prerequisite, however, is a cleanly modelled and maintained rule set that captures deep product and process knowledge.
How long does implementing a variant configurator take?
The effort frequently amounts to several months in parallel with the ERP project, because the rule set has to be built up step by step and refined over several iterations; the specific duration depends heavily on product complexity and data quality. Successful projects model the characteristics model already in a preliminary phase and start with the highest-revenue product families instead of mapping all variants in one big bang. Experience shows that a substantial share of projects exceeds the original schedule, frequently because the variant model only emerges during the ongoing implementation. Realistic planning, clear maintenance responsibility and a test library with real customer configurations noticeably reduce this risk.
Which architecture suits predominantly standard versus engineering-heavy products?
If the focus is on a high share of standard variants with little order-specific design effort, a configurator integrated in the ERP is frequently the most economical choice, because master data, rule set and order sit in one database and interface costs are eliminated. If, on the other hand, the engineering share with genuine new design per order predominates, the variant logic often sits better in the PLM, tightly coupled with the ERP. A third route is an upstream CPQ for sales-oriented configurations with a modern interface and 3D display. Which approach fits depends on the ratio of standard to engineering share and on whether the emphasis lies in sales, design engineering or production.
Does SAP offer a configurator for variant manufacturing?
Yes, SAP provides its own variant configuration for variant manufacturing, known in the classic environment as LO-VC (Logistics Variant Configuration). In SAP S/4HANA there is additionally Advanced Variant Configuration (AVC) as a newer generation that builds on the HANA database and offers a modernised, Fiori-based interface. AVC has been positioned by SAP as the future standard for variant configuration in S/4HANA, while LO-VC remains available in maintenance mode in the on-premise or private edition environment; for new projects and migrations, the choice between — or the switch between — the two engines should therefore be clarified early. Internationally operating corporations frequently use these functions as part of S/4HANA, while integrated configurators from other vendors also play a role in the mid-market.