In this post I discuss production scheduling in SAP. I have documented production planning in SAP throughout a series of posts. In this post I specifically cover production scheduling in SAP.

Important production schedules in SAP

There are many production schedules in SAP. The following production schedules are important for production plan:

1. Master production schedule (MPS): This is a long-term production plan that specifies the quantities of products to be produced for a specified period of time. The time horizon is usually several months or years.
2. Material requirements plan (MRP): This is a short-term production plan. The short-term production plan specifies the materials that are required for production. This is based on the bill of materials and the master production schedule.
3. Capacity requirements plan (CRP): This too is a short-term production plan. The capacity requirements plan specifies the capacity requirements for the production process. It takes into account the available capacity of the work centers and the demands derived from the master production schedule.
4. Production orders: These are instructions for the production process, specifying the quantities of products to be produced and the materials and resources required.
5. Capacity leveling: This is the process of adjusting the production schedule to ensure that the capacity of the work centers is used efficiently and effectively.

Transactions for schedule planning in SAP

Transaction codes are entered into the SAP terminal to directly access SAP transactions. The most basic production scheduling transactions in SAP are MD transaction codes. These transactions codes allow planners to create and change as well as display production plans and material requirement plans.

MD transactions and related transaction codes in SAP are the following:

• MD01 – Create Planned Independent Requirements
• MD02 – Change Planned Independent Requirements
• MD03 – Display Planned Independent Requirements
• MD04 – Collective Processing of MRP Lists
• MD05 – Individual Display of MRP Lists
• MD06 – Collective Processing of Stock/Requirements Lists
• MD07 – Individual Display of Stock/Requirements Lists
• MD08 – MRP for Stock Transport Orders
• MD09 – MRP for Stock Transfer Orders
• MD10 – MRP for Stock Transport Orders and Stock Transfer Orders

These transaction codes are used to create, change, and display production plans and material requirements plans, as well as to process and display MRP lists.

Production scheduling workflow in SAP

A production scheduling workflow in SAP will usually look somewhat like this:

1. Definition of production schedule itself. This involves establishing the quantities of products to be produced and the dates on which they are to be produced, taking into account factors such as customer demand, inventory levels, and capacity constraints.
2. Creating bill of materials (BOM). This involves specifying the materials and components that are required to produce the finished product.
3. Creating routing. This involves specifying the operations that are required to produce the finished product, along with the work centers where the operations take place and the times required for each operation.
4. Creating capacity requirements plan (CRP). This involves determining the capacity requirements for the production process, taking into account the available capacity of the work centers and the demands placed on them by the production schedule.
5. Creating material requirements plan (MRP). This involves determining the materials that are required for production, based on the bill of materials and the production schedule.
6. Creating and releasing production orders. This involves creating instructions for the production process, specifying the quantities of products to be produced and the materials and resources required, and releasing the orders for execution.
7. Monitoring and adjusting the production process. This involves monitoring the progress of the production orders and making any necessary adjustments to ensure that the production schedule is being followed and that the capacity of the work centers is being used effectively.

Adjusting a production order in SAP

Production order monitoring and control plays a major role in production scheduling. In SAP, a production planner will adjust production orders in several ways as part of the productions scheduling process:

1. Changing production order. You can use transaction code CO02 to change the quantity, start date, or finish date of a production order.
2. Confirming production order. You can use transaction code CO11N to confirm that the production order has been completed, indicating the actual quantities produced and the actual start and finish dates.
3. Posting goods receipt. If the production order is for a finished product, you can use transaction code MIGO to post a goods receipt for the finished product, indicating the actual quantities that have been produced.
4. Posting goods issue. If the production order consumes materials, you can use transaction code MIGO to post a goods issue for the materials, indicating the actual quantities that have been consumed.
5. Cancelling production order. If the production order is no longer necessary, you can use transaction code CO13 to cancel the order.

Weekly production schedule table (TA CA50)

In SAP PP, a weekly production schedule can be displayed on the production scheduling board. You can do this as follows:

1. Open the production scheduling board using transaction code (TA) CA50.
2. Access the “Planning board”.
3. In the “Selection” section, specify the work centers and the date range for the production schedule.
4. Click the “Execute” button to display the production schedule.

The production scheduling board will show the planned quantities and dates for the production orders, as well as the capacity utilization of the work centers. You can drill down further into the details of the production schedule if you need to.

Mass maintenance of routings (TA CA51)

Routings and routing maintenance is another important aspect of production scheduling in SAP. TA CA51 supports this in SAP. Production planners can use TA CA51 to perform mass maintenance of routings in SAP. This allows making changes to multiple routings at once.

Mass maintenance of routings can be done with TA CA51 in following way:

1. Access TA CA51 by entering the transaction code into the SAP terminal.
2. In the “Selection” section, specify the criteria for selecting relevant routings (material, plan, etc.).
3. In the “Change” section, specify the changes that you want to make to the selected routings (operations, work centers, etc.).
4. Execute TA CA51 by clicking “Execute”

Capacity requirements list (TA CA52)

The capacity requirements planning list will show the planned quantities and dates for the production orders, as well as the capacity utilization of the work centers. You can use the various buttons and filters on the toolbar to customize the display and drill down into the details of the capacity requirements.

Transaction code CA52 is used to display the capacity requirements planning list in SAP. The capacity requirements planning list shows the capacity requirements for the production process, taking into account the available capacity of the work centers and the demands placed on them by the production schedule.

To display the capacity requirements planning list in SAP, follow these steps:

1. Access TA CA52 through SAP terminal.
2. In the “Selection” section, specify the work centers and the date range for the capacity requirements.
3. Execute the transaction.

Related SAP documentation on SCDA

If you are interested in production scheduling in SAP as well as ERP-based production planning you might find some of the following articles interesting:

• Link: Production versions in SAP PP
• Link: Assigning components to operations in SAP PP routings
• Link: Sequence in SAP PP routings
• Link: Task list groups routing structures and operations in SAP PP
• Link: Routing types and routing creation in SAP PP
• Link: Work center hierarchies in SAP PP
• Link: Cost work center interaction in SAP PP
• Link: Work centers in SAP PP
• Link: Basics on bill-of-material in SAP PP
• Link: Important SAP PP planner roles
• Link: Important organizational units in SAP PP
• Link: Major production types supported by SAP PP
• Link: Production planning process in SAP
• Link: Basic intro to SAP ERP for logistics
• Link: Optimization via master production scheduling
• Link: Odoo open source ERP software

Linnart Felkl

Data scientist focusing on simulation, optimization and modeling in R, SQL, VBA and Python