Project Manufacturing using PS

Question

Dear Sir,
We are in the business of manufacturing Industrial Machine as per customer requirement and 70% engineering is done fresh for  every customer order .
We are using Project System for manufacturing and have followed the following appraoch :
a) On Receipt of Customer Order , we first create a Project .  Parallely Engineering activity , BOM preparation , Roting preparation is started . We are not creating WBS BOM .
b) For Advance procurement , relevant items are attached under an activity in a WBS
c) FERT item requirement is attached  in the Project  under an activity in the WBS.  We are not using BOM transfer apparoch.
d) MRP run is made against the project (MD51) and Planned Order , Purchase Requisitions gets generated .
e) As BOM/Routing  preparation is still in progress , SO MRP run is made multiple times .  For a Project on average we make MRP run approx 5 times .  At this stage BOM/Routing reaches to 100%.
We seek the guidence from the experts gurus  that whether the apparoch being followed by us is a correct one . Incase the above approach is not the correct one ,  we request expert gurus to kindly guide us about the best apparoch to be followed .
We will be highly greatful for the kind help pl .
With Regards
Sonia Agarwala

Answer 1

Hi ,
You may want to consider adding Pre-sales process. One of the order winning criteria in MTO environment is  Quotation meeting customer requirement.
SAP has easycost planning objects available to cater to it. Process starts with inquiry.
1) Create inquiry for customer request. Define service material in material field in VA11
2) Create Project copying closest executed in part ( you have said 70% is engineered fresh, then project is 30 % correct at the time of copying)
3) Amend project to add/chnage/delete components & network activities. Add miilestone payment you wish to propose in quotation.
5) Add project no in inquiry (Accoutn assignment in Line item )
4) Use DP81 traxn to create quotation.Easy-cost planning need to be configured to calculate price( Cost+ mark up scenario possible) There are possibilites to pull as many deatils as you wish in quotation ( As line items) from project structure. It is possible to list major assemblies that will be delivered to customer( Make- To - Order variations). It is also possible to replace Service item used in inquiry with 'Material masters' of FERT & itemization in Quotation. Milestone dates from project will be copied you can propose % billing arrangement at each date to customer.
5) Able to revise quotation seamlessly & resond to customer changes/addtioal request. Revised quotation reflects your ability understand customer request & changes are seamlessly reflected in qty,  total price & dates.
6) Upon confirmation of Sale, Sales order can be created copying quotation. All hard work/ iteration of commnucation with customer , need not be defined in system again. Order Acknowledgement will reflect agreements with customer.
One of the key challange in MTO environemnt is integrity of what is delivered as against what was promised & if you are using SAP , it can be achieved , if you capture 'Pre-sales' process in SAP.
Easier said then done, though. We did a Crew-boat building project recently & SD, FI, CO consultant are opposed to ideas of putting inquiry/quote process in SAP.
my 2 cent worth,
Jatin