Helping you configure to order

Engineering-based Configurator Model Design, Architecture and Programming
Introduction Make steps optional Configuring routings Model design Summary

Introduction

Oracle provides a very nice way to simultaneously configure a model Bill of Material (BOM) and its associated manufacturing routing.

You need to consider:

  • Required and optional steps in your manufacturing routing.
  • Required and optional items used at each routing step.
  • Model structure.

This section will discuss:

  • How to configure manufacturing routings in Oracle.
  • Techniques to help you design your model BOM.

Making Oracle routing steps optional

To make a routing step optional, follow three simple steps:

  1. Define a routing step and make it optional.
  2. Associate the routing step to an item in a model BOM.
  3. Define the item as optional.

Note that you must define both the routing step and its associated item in the model BOM as optional.

Use the “Main” tab of the Routing form to define a routing step as optional.

Figure 1:  The Oracle Routing form “Main” tab

Use the “Main” tab of the Oracle Bills of Material (BOM) form to associate routing steps to an item in a model BOM.

Figure 2:  The Oracle BOM form “Main” tab

Use the “Order Management” tab of the BOM form to define an item in a model BOM to be optional.

Figure 3:  The Oracle BOM form “Order Management” tab

Configuring routings

Obviously, not all configurations will require all items or manufacturing routing steps.  The User Interface is used to drive rules that select optional items from the Configurator model BOM.  Selecting optional items also selects their associated optional routing steps.

This simple and straightforward process allows simultaneous configuration of Configurator model BOMs and manufacturing routings.

Designing Configurator model Bills of Material

The Oracle Configurator does not place any limitations on model structure. You may create as many levels in your BOM as you need to define your product and you may include both required and optional items at any level.

However, you may only associate routing steps to items in the first level of a model BOM.  This means that you must place an optional item in the first level of your model BOM for each optional step in your routing.

In some cases, it may be desirable to collect a set of similar components into an Option Class.  An Option Class behaves exactly like a Phantom BOM – except that you may include optional items.

Since an Option Class itself may be optional, you can associate an optional routing step to an Option Class.  In this way, you can design a manufacturing routing with an single optional routing step for a set of parts.

If you wish to define a routing step that uses no physical parts at all (such as a test or calibration step), simply define a Phantom item, add it to the model BOM, make it optional, and associate an optional routing step to it.

Figure 4:  A Configurator model BOM with optional routing steps

Summary

  1. Routings and Bills of Material can be simultaneously configured.
  2. Optional routing steps are associated with optional items at the first level of a model Bill of Material.
  3. Selecting an optional item selects its associated optional routing step.
  4. Use Option Classes to associate a routing step with multiple items.
  5. Use optional Phantom items to configure optional routing steps that do not consume physical items.

Please contact Aeolus Solutions today to see how we can help you streamline your manufacturing routings!