Taking Things Apart: The Dismantling Process in SAP PP

While SAP Production Planning (PP) excels at managing assembly lines, what about situations where you need to break a finished product down into its components? This process, known as dismantling or disassembly, can be crucial for various scenarios like product returns, refurbishment, or recycling.

Here, we’ll explore how to leverage SAP PP for dismantling:

Why not just reverse the production order?

While reversing a production order might seem like the simplest solution, it has drawbacks. It doesn’t capture the costs associated with dismantling and can mess with historical production data.

The Dismantling Production Order

SAP PP offers a more robust approach: the dismantling production order. This order type allows you to:

• Define a dedicated process: Create a separate order type for dismantling activities. This ensures proper cost tracking and avoids confusion with regular production.
• Utilize reference operation sets: Designate a reference operation set outlining the steps in dismantling the product.
• Component Management: In the bill of materials (BOM), include the finished product in a positive quantity and its components in a negative amount. This reflects the material flow during disassembly.

The Dismantling Process Steps

1. Create the Dismantling Order: Use transaction CO07 to create a production order for dismantling. Select the dedicated order type and reference operation set.
2. Define Bill of Materials:  Enter the finished product with a positive quantity and its components with harmful quantities. This tells the system the components you expect to recover from disassembly.
3. Confirmation and Goods Movement: Confirm the production order (CO11N) to record the dismantling process. You can also use MIGO to address a goods issue referencing the production order. This step automatically updates the stock levels of the recovered components.
4. Production Order Completion:  Once dismantling is complete, use CO02 to close the production order with a final confirmation (TECO).

Benefits of Using a Dedicated Dismantling Process

• Accurate Cost Tracking: Separate order types ensure dismantling costs are appropriately captured.
• Improved Inventory Management: Recovered components are automatically added to inventory.
• Enhanced Transparency: Dismantling data is separated from regular production data.

Additional Considerations

• You should customize SAP PP to cater to specific dismantling needs, such as capturing the condition of recovered components.
• Consider integrating with other modules like Material Management (MM) to handle recovered components efficiently.

By implementing a dedicated dismantling process in SAP PP, you can gain greater control over disassembly activities, improve cost visibility, and optimize your production operations.