SAP implemenation in Casting Industry

Question

Hi,
We are doing implementation for Casting Industry.
There are many stages in the process.
1) Core Manufactruing
2) Moulding
3) Motlen Metal
4) Casting-Pouring
5) Shot Blasting stage 1
6) Fettling
7) Re-shotblasting
8) Painting
9) Packing
Can any one guide me for following.
1) We should go for 9 Material codes.
or
2) Two matrial codes one before Pouring and second after pouring of metal
or
3) Any one has experience in Casting plant implementation.
There are approx 30 products each are manufactured everyday & with above 9 stages we are landing to 270 Production order a day. It will be very hactic activity for Releaseing, confirming , etc to the client.
Any one has good experience or expertise, please advice.
Regards,
Manish

Answer 1

Manish,
1) We should go for 9 Material codes.
Probably not, but only your client can tell you.  Does he need to store inventory at any/all of the intermediate stages of production?  Does he have reporting requirements about the valuation of the material(s) at various stages of production?  What is the amount of time it takes to process something from RM stock to FG stock? How much commonality is there between the various components of the 30 FGs? Will any of the levels (from RM to  FGs) be manufactured as MTO or MTS? Are there any quality inspection/sampling requirements at intermediate stages? What kind of material traceability will be required?  You must get these and other important answers during your investigation phase of the project, before you can even begin to make a recommendation to your client.
2) Two material codes one before Pouring and second after pouring of metal
Maybe.  Or, maybe even only one material number (just the FGs) from the beginning to end.  Your client will decide when you give him the options.
There are approx 30 products each are manufactured everyday & with above 9 stages we are landing to 270 Production order a day. It will be very hectic activity for Releasing, confirming , etc to the client.
I guess this calculation is based on the '9-intermediate-materials-per-FGs' scenario.  This may or may not be acceptable, only your client can answer.  I have worked in environments where 1,000 production orders per day was acceptable, and also in environments where 30 orders a day was unacceptable.
As a side note, just because you manufacture something every day does not mean you must have an order every day.  You can enter a production order for a quantity that equals 10 days worth of manufacturing capacity, and the system is just as happy as it would be if the order only consumed 1 day's capacity or 1 hour's capacity.  The shop floor people just keep working on the longer orders until they are done.  The size of the production or process or planned order is dependent again upon the client and his business requirements.
Many of the above decisions will have to be made in concert with requirements from functional areas other than PP.  Usually during an implementation, all the functional areas will work together to come up with the solution(s) that best fit the client's requirements.  
I have never worked in casting.  However, SAP does have a Best Practice for Fabricated Metals that may be helpful.  Here is the Building block library
http://help.sap.com/bp_fm604/FM_US/html/Content_Library_FM_EN_US.htm
Best Regards,
DB49