Introduction
SAP Digital Manufacturing 2024 Q4 Release (2411) is around the corner, planned to go live in November 9th for Quality and November 23rd for Productive spaces. What´s New information is released, and in this blog I will cover some of the planned highlights (*Subject to change).
Make sure you check SAP Note #3513927 - Additional Information and Manual Activities for SAP Digital Manufacturing, Release 2411, and prepare for the manual activities required.
Service Orders
Service orders are used for managing post-sales service and repair processes in the manufacturing industry. When a product is returned to your plant, a service order allows you to control the service and repair tasks performed on the shop floor. You can view and release service orders, which are electronic documents that provide the information needed to complete service and repair work.
From 2411 release onwards, you can now download and execute service orders (of type SM01) from your SAP ERP or SAP S/4HANA system to SAP Digital Manufacturing.
The downloaded service orders are displayed in the brand new Manage Service Orders app, and can be released for execution in the shop floor. For service orders, the precondition is that the order quantity is 1, tracking direct labor via Time Tracking capability is supported for service orders, and you can start and complete SFCs created for service orders using the Work Center POD, the Operation Activity POD, and APIs (/sfcs/start and /sfcs/complete).
If you implement the corresponding Collaboration Links and Collaboration Directives below, enabling the integration scenario, the start and completion of each operation activity is communicated to your integrated ERP system.
- COLLAB_TT_DIRECT_LABOR_RECORD_SRV_APPRV / ERP_TT_DIRECT_LABOR_RECORD_SRV_CRT
Collaboration for approving direct labor time for service orders COLLABORATION_SRV_ORDER_CONF_START / ERP_SRV_ORDER_CONF_START
Collaboration for confirming the service order operation start
COLLABORATION_SRV_ORDER_CONF_COMPLETE / ERP_SRV_ORDER_CONF_COMPLETE
Collaboration for confirming the service order operation completion
Two new object-based role templates are available for Manage Service Orders app:
- Service_Order_Read
- Service_Order_Manage
To work with the Manage Service Orders app, you need to assign the following role templates additionally to your users:
- Service_Supervisor
- Launchpad_Access
- Plant_Read
- Product_Read
Order API (v1/orders) was enhanced to support service orders by adding the following parameters:
- erpServiceActivityType (relevant for service orders only)
- serviceWork (relevant for service orders only)
- serviceWorkUnit (relevant for service orders only)
- serviceWorkIsoUnit (relevant for service orders only)
- serviceDuration (relevant for service orders only)
- serviceDurationUnit (relevant for service orders only)
- serviceDurationIsoUnit (relevant for service orders only)
- numberOfServiceCapacities (relevant for service orders only)
Service Order Component Consumption data can be uploaded via this API, for data that isn't available in SAP Digital Manufacturing and add the as-built information to the service SFC.
- POST /assembly/v1/serviceOrder/asBuilt/upload?plant=<plant>&sfc=<sfcId>
You can use this endpoint to upload the component consumption data for a specific SFC of a service order within a plant. The details must be uploaded in the csv file format. The mandatory parameters are plant, SFC, and at least one component in the csv file.
New OEE MDO
Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is a metric for measuring manufacturing performance. OEE is calculated using the Availability, Performance, and Quality Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). OEE value is then transformed and stored in the brand new OEE (MDO), including:
- The MDO holds values for completed shifts
- The MDO holds values including the individual losses per resource per shift.
Note: There's no initial load available for this MDO. That means you can only access data starting with release 2411 of SAP Digital Manufacturing.
The Manufacturing Data Object OEE has the following attributes that you can use for your analytics.
Note: Attributes that represent duration in time are measured in "seconds".
| AVAILABILITY | The ratio of the amount of time a resource was productive to the amount of time the resource was expected to be productive. |
| BREAK_DURATION | Break time assigned for a shift. |
| CREATED_AT | Date and time of creation of the record in OEE MDO in SAP Digital Manufacturing for execution |
| LAST_UPDATED_AT | Date and time of last update of the record in OEE MDO in the database of SAP Digital Manufacturing for insights |
| LOADING_TIME | Period of time during which a resource is expected to be available for production minus the scheduled production interruptions, such as maintenance stops, or shift breaks. |
| NET_OPERATING_TIME | Amount of time required to produce the actual quantities (yield and scrap) based on the designed speed. It is calculated using the formula: Actual Quantities Produced (yield and scrap) x Standard Rate |
| NET_PRODUCTION_TIME | Total Production Time minus downtimes that occurred during the Total Production Time. (Total Production Time - Downtime) |
| OEE | Overall equipment effectiveness (= Availability x Performance x Quality) |
| PERFORMANCE | The ratio of the amount of time needed to produce good and bad quality items to the amount of time that would have been needed to produce these items based on the designed speed. It is calculated using the formula: Performance = Net Operating Time / Net Production Time |
| PLANT | Plant in which the OEE calculation is performed. |
| QUALITY | The ratio of time needed to produce good quality products to the total number of quantities produced (yield and scrap). It is calculated using the formula: Value Operating Time / Net Operating Time. |
| QUALITY_LOSS | The number of poor quality items (scrap) multiplied by the designed speed (standard rate). It is calculated using the formula: Quality Loss = (Actual Quantity - Quality Output) x Standard Rate |
| RESOURCE | Resource for which the OEE calculation is performed. |
| RUNNING_TIME | Loading time minus the amount of time that was lost because of unscheduled interruptions of the production |
| SHIFT | Name or identifier of the defined shift. |
| SHIFT_DURATION | Duration of the shift. |
| SHIFT_END_DATETIME | The date/time when the shift ends. |
| SHIFT_START_DATETIME | The date/time when the shift starts. |
| SPEED_LOSS | Time that wasn't used for production because the actual production speed was slower than planned. It is calculated using the formula (Net Production Time - Net Operating Time). |
| TOTAL_SCHEDULED_DOWN | Total amount of time allocated for scheduled or planned maintenance activities. |
| TOTAL_UNSCHEDULDED_DOWN | Total amount of time for the unscheduled or unplanned interruptions. |
| VALUE_OPERATING_TIME | The Value Operating Time is calculated by removing the quality loss from the Net Operating Time. Value Operating Time = Net Operating Time - Quality Loss |
| WORKCENTER | Work center for which the OEE calculation is performed. |
Enhanced support of Make-to-Order (MTO) scenarios
Several enhancements and new capabilities are introduced, to improve the support of Make-to-Order (MTO) scenarios, including:
MTO Goods Issue
The system now includes data about SalesOrder, SalesOrderItem and InventorySpecialStockType in the request payload for non-EWM goods issues, and send this information to the integrated ERP system.
The MTO implementation in goods issues works when integrated with SAP S/4HANA and SAP ERP.
MTO Goods Receipt
MTO production is implemented in goods receipts for all scenarios. This includes goods receipts triggered in PODs, production processes, and public APIs. This feature supports finished goods but not co-products and by-products.
For goods receipts of finished goods, the system includes data about SalesOrder, SalesOrderItem, and InventorySpecialStockType in the request payload, and sends this information to the integrated ERP system. All goods receipt integration scenarios contain this information except for the following:
- Automatic goods receipt integration triggered by quantity confirmation
- Goods receipt integration triggered by SFC complete
After you post goods receipts, you can see Sales Order and Sales Order Item fields in the respective stocks in the Manage Floor Stocks app. MTO implementation in goods receipts only works when integrated with SAP S/4HANA and SAP ERP.
MTO Inventory
In correspondence with MTO implementation in inventory download and goods receipt scenarios, we've made the following enhancements in the Inventory API:
GET /inventories
Added the salesOrder and salesOrderItem properties in the request and response payload.
POST /inventories/advancedQuery
Added the salesOrder and salesOrderItem properties in the request and response payload.
GET /inventory/goodsRecipts
Added the salesOrder and salesOrderItem properties in the response payload.
To support MTO production, the system lets you download inventory along with the respective sales orders and sales order items. You can do this through the following goods movement types:
- 311E: Floor stock transfer of special stocks reserved for sales orders
- 411E: Floor stock transfer from sales order stock to own stock
- 413E: Floor stock transfer from one sales order stock to another sales order stock
After you post these goods movements, you can see Sales Order and Sales Order Item fields for sales order stocks in the Manage Floor Stocks app. MTO implementation in inventory download only works when integrated with SAP S/4HANA and SAP ERP.
Component Consumption Reconciliation
The brand new Component Consumption Reconciliation app allows you to review and correct failed component consumption transactions. You can use this app to ensure accurate inventory management and to complete component consumption transactions.
When you post a component for assembly, the inventory of the component is reduced in case of successful consumption. In the event of failure for a consumption request, the inventory isn't reduced, and the failed transactions are displayed in the Component Consumption Reconciliation app, including features like:
- Review and correct failed transactions.
- Display the transaction status of a component in the Inventory Status Sync column.
- Edit the records that are in failed sync status. The other records are in display only status.
- Edit the Inventory ID, Storage Location, Batch Number, Serial Number and Handling Unit Number, in case of failed transactions.
- Retry the transaction without making any change.
Nonlinear Routings with Parallel and Alternate Sequences
You can now download nonlinear routings with parallel and alternate sequences from SAP S/4HANA.
Nonlinear master routing downloads follow the standard process for routing downloads from SAP ERP. The download results in either a master routing, or an order-specific routing on the SAP Digital Manufacturing side that contains standard, parallel, and alternate sequence branches. If you transfer an order with a nonlinear routing that includes alternate sequences, SAP Digital Manufacturing converts these alternate sequence steps to standard sequence steps when the alternate sequence is chosen for order execution on the SAP ERP side. The following limitations apply:
- Parallel or alternate sequence values can contain only alphanumeric characters. Special characters aren't supported in SAP Digital Manufacturing.
- Routings cannot start or end with multiple operation activities. All routings start and end with a single operation activity only.
- Routings with parallel sequences are transferred during the download of master routings or production orders from SAP S/4HANA only.
- Routings that contain parallel and alternate sequences support only the default value for the order processing mode: Use ERP BOM and Routing.
- To support alternate sequences in routings on the SAP Digital Manufacturing side, make sure nonlinear routings on the SAP ERP side contain unique operation activity numbers across the entire routing.
- Nonlinear routings don't support the exclusion of operations marked as Not Relevant for MES when you activate the Not Relevant for MES flag in the control key on the SAP ERP side. This flag setting is ignored during nonlinear routing download from SAP S/4HANA.
- Nonlinear routings with suboperations aren't supported for download from SAP S/4HANA.
- Nonlinear structures, such as parallel or alternate branches, aren't supported for recipes at either the master or order levels.
Submit Inspection Results in Work Center POD and Operation Activity POD
In the Work Center POD and the Operation Activity POD, you can synchronize inspection results back to your integrated SAP ERP, SAP S/4HANA, and SAP S/4HANA Cloud system by choosing Submit Results. This change aims at harmonizing the user experience in the Order POD and the Work Center POD / Operation Activity POD. For this functionality, you need to implement the following elements:
Other Enhancements and new Capabilities
- Several new APIs and API enhancements
- Several Manage Business Settings enhancements
- Several Manage Time Tracking enhancements
- Several Manage Visual Inspection Results enhancements
- Enhanced Naming Patterns for Serialized SFCs
- Enhanced Production Change support, includinding brand new POD Plugin
- Introduction of SAP Digital Manufacturing for Issue Resolution
- Assign Multiple Processors to Alerts in Manage Alerts
- Nonconformance File Download
- Asynchronous Automation Sequence Calls
- New OrderSchedule MDO
- Manage Employee Skills using Manage Skills Template
- New Implementing Core Plugin Extensions capabilities
- Importing Production Process Across Runtime
And much more! Check the What´s New to see them all.
Do you like this post? Please let me know in the comments section what you think. Any feedback is highly appreciated.
Or, if you have any questions, please check SAP Community Q&A Area, or comment down below.
Thanks,
Manoel Costa
