What is SAP AFS? (Part I)

What is SAP

There are specific industries for which, due to their complexity, the standard SAP ERP cannot cover their requirements.

One of them is the apparel industry.

In order to adapt SAP ERP to their requirements, SAP AG has added the functionality AFS (SAP Apparel and Footwear).

This functionality is built over the standard SAP ERP, reason why most of its transactions won’t change. In this post and the next one, we will see the main additional functions this solution provides, especially in the area of Logistics and Manufacturing.

 

    1.  MATERIAL MASTER
  • Fashion market demands the launch of new and different articles in very short time spans, requiring, therefore, the maintenance of a high number of different Finished Products. But, in addition to that, for each model, it is necessary to specify the different sizes, colors, or other characteristics.

On the one hand, it is neccesary to specify all these characteristics for the Materials managed in stock (called SKUs – Stock Keeping Units).

    On the other hand, all of these different SKUs for one specific model, share a lot of information, so it wouldn’t be efficient to maintain them in each specific one, but in a different object (called model).
    In SAP ERP (without the AFS Solution), it would be necessary to maintain a different Material for each of these SKUs, or design some workaround using batch management and the classification system.
    But with SAP AFS, it is possible to manage this complexity through the Master Grid. Thanks to it, and with the use of the required characteristics it is possible to define for each model the range of characteristics that will define each of its SKUs.

    SAP AFS Master Grid

      • Furthermore, the same model can be a bit different depending on different characteristics. For instance, it is common to have different quality standards for the same model or differentiate them depending on the source country.

    To manage this requirement, in SAP AFS the concept of Categories has been introduced.

    When a Planned Independent Requirement or a Sales Order is entered into the system, it is necessary to enter its Category. And, through the Cover Strategy, this Requirement Category allows selecting the Stock Category with which it must be provided.

      • Finally, another new functionality offered in this solution is the existence of Seasons.
    Even being the same model, it can have different characteristics and different price depending on the Season to which it belongs.
    For managing this requirement, in SAP AFS it has been defined the Seasons.
    In the next post we will talk about the SAP AFS functionality in other Master Data and Processes.

    Previo
    What is SAP PP-PI?
    Siguiente
    What is SAP AFS? (Part II)