Configure and Use Process Lots in SAP Digital Manufacturing

[ManoelCosta]

Introduction

SAP Digital Manufacturing supports full Process Lot handling capabilities, including two new plugins: Process Lot and Process Lot List, besides a bunch of other enhancements on existing APIs, PODs and Plugins to support Process Lots.

A Process Lot is a fundamental concept in manufacturing and production management, where it refers to a collection of SFCs (Shop Floor Control) that share a common identification number.

This unique identification number assigned to each process lot serves as a means of tracking and managing the related SFCs throughout their lifecycle. If an SFC belongs to a process lot, you cannot process this SFC separately from the process lot. Essentially, Process Lots allows for efficient control and coordination of production activities.

In this blog post, we will see a short demo of Process Lot usage in SAP Digital Manufacturing and how to configure it behind the scenes before usage.

Demo

https://sapvideoa35699dc5.hana.ondemand.com/?entry_id=1_szb1gc6w

Supported Scenarios

You can do the following actions with a Process Lot:

• Create process lot​s

• Find process lots​

• Add members to process lots​

• Remove members from a process lot ​

• Delete process lots​

• Start process lots

• Complete process lots

• Sign off process lots

• Log nonconformances against process lots

• Manage Time Tracking and Labor On/Labor Off against process lots

Configuration

You can configure and use Process Lots for Discrete Industries in both Work Center and Operation Activity PODs.

To begin with, you must create a brand new POD or copy an existing one, and adjust the respective POD Selection plugin to use "Process Lot" as the "Default Main Input Type":

Work Center POD

Operation Activity POD

Then, you must adjust the Work List plugin to use a List where:

• Multiple Selection is OFF

• Work List Type as "Process Lot"

• Process Lot column is added

See below:

Next, you must create a new Page in your POD with the structure below:

• Process Lot List plugin

• Process Lot plugin

• Hidden Horizontal Toolbar with a hidden Action Button

Once you add the Action Button, open the Configuration panel, switch Visible property to "OFF" and click "Assign Actions" to add Process Lot List plugin as an Action, as you can see below:

You can also turn the whole Horizontal Toolbar invisible:

Then, select Process Lot List plugin and set the Action Button you just created in "Process Lot Button" property at Configuration panel:

Finally, add a brand new Navigation Button to your POD Main Page, and define the Process Lot page in "Navigate to Page" property as seen below:

Save the POD, publish and run it.

Restrictions

You can add SFCs to a Process Lot and process them together, performing Start, Complete, Signoff and Log NC activities, as long they have the same status and belong to the same routing.

Process Lots have the following restrictions:

• SFCs with the statuses Scrapped, Invalid, Deleted cannot be added to a process lot.

• Inserting process lots into process lots

• Processing more than one process lot

• Using routing actions such as Scrap, Return, or Done

• Using routing services such as NC Disposition

• Using nested routings

For information about the maximum number of SFCs that can be added to a Process Lot, see SAP Note 3355448.

Demo

https://sapvideoa35699dc5.hana.ondemand.com/?entry_id=1_szb1gc6w

Conclusion

In conclusion, the concept of a Process Lot plays a crucial role in efficient manufacturing and production management. By assigning a unique identification number to a group of SFCs, you can process them all together as one.

Process lots enable reusability and flexibility in accommodating different SFCs over time. The restriction of processing SFCs within their respective process lots ensures proper tracking, control, and traceability throughout the manufacturing process.

This approach simplifies production management, enhances operational efficiency, and promotes consistency in delivering high-quality products. Overall, process lots are a valuable tool for optimizing manufacturing operations and ensuring smooth and controlled production workflows.

Experiencing SAP Digital Manufacturing

You can have a glimpse and experience several aspects of SAP Digital Manufacturing via the Interactive Value Journeys below:

Discrete within SAP Digital Manufacturing and S/4HANA Cloud

Process Industry within SAP Digital Manufacturing and S/4HANA Cloud

Tool Management within SAP Digital Manufacturing

Resource Orchestration within SAP Digital Manufacturing

Production Process Design within SAP Digital Manufacturing

Shop Floor Orchestration with SAP Digital Manufacturing

Time Tracking within SAP Digital Manufacturing

SAP Digital Manufacturing for Insights

Nonconformances Processes within SAP Digital Manufacturing

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

[IreneCano]

Hi Manoel, thank you for this helpful blogpost 🙂 I wanted to ask about the visibility of the action button. What difference does it make in the overall configuration of the POD for it to be invisible or not?

[ManoelCosta]

Hello Irene,

This Action Button is mapped to and used by the "Create" button of Process Lot List plugin, so it does not need to be visible at all, as it is not directly clicked at any time. Rather, it is triggered when "Create" is clicked on Process Lot List plugin.

Hope it clarifies,

Manoel

[suciuemanuel]

Hello Manoel,

I created the POD with all the mentioned elements in this post but I get an error: "Invalid SFC Router" when I try to add more that 1 SFCs to a Lot (same material/order/routing/status).

Dou you have any idea what does that cover? Did I miss a step or is a different issue?

[ManoelCosta]

Hello Emanuel,

Process lots don't support the following actions:

• 
  

  Inserting process lots into process lots

  
  


• 
  

  Processing more than one process lot

  
  


• 
  

  Using routing actions such as Scrap, Return, or Done

  
  


• 
  

  Using routing services such as NC Disposition

  
  


• 
  

  Using nested routings

  
  

Perhaps your Routing matches some unsupported scenarios above?

Manoel