Indispensable

The question during the coffee break at the largest German-speaking information day on the subject of variant configuration in the Audimax in St. Leon-Rot was actually only hypothetical "What if variant configuration was taken away from you?" - "Then things would look pretty lousy in production and with deliveries of customer orders, and our company would have a serious problem.", it said.

In other words, they have become indispensable for customers who use SAP's variant configuration solutions on a daily basis for the purpose of a kind of "individual multi-production".

Companies have long since had their own departments or specialist units dedicated more or less exclusively to SAP LO-VC, which was created in the early 1990s, and to SAP IPC (Internet Pricing and Configurator) and SAP SSC (Solution Sales Configurator), which belong to the LO-VC family.

Rumor has it that a five-digit number of companies around the globe use LO-VC (at least); large companies as well as medium-sized enterprises. It is said that around 70 percent of all manufacturing companies configure products in one way or another.

LO-VC specialists and IT managers from numerous companies, including several from one, gladly accepted the info day offer, organized in terms of content and organization by SAP partner Sybit, headquartered in Radolfzell on Lake Constance.

SAP provides the premises and supports primarily with speakers. Sybit has been involved in sales configuration for over 15 years and was, for example, involved in the SAP IPC development. This info day was created on the basis of this cooperation.

LO-VC in S/4 Hana

This year's event at the end of June offered an even wider range of topics than in previous years, which was very well received by the participants. A VC expert from a well-known medium-sized manufacturing company commented:

"The fact that you can choose even more from a variety of current and relevant VC topics is a great thing."

The organizers offered a total of 20 selectable sessions at the one-day event. Four sessions were held in parallel in four different locations.

At the beginning, Rolf Schuhmann, Chief Technology Officer and Head of Innovations at SAP EMEA/MEE, skilfully and quite unobtrusively directed the attention of the audience in his keynote towards S/4 Hana and demonstrated the possible uses of the new Business Suite in times of digital transformation.

Afterwards, Marin Ukalovic, Industry Principal Discrete Manufacturing, SAP Deutschland SE & Co. KG, painted a big picture ("The Story") in terms of variant configuration and also included SAP CPQ (Configure Price Quote) and the use of SAP Hybris.

SAP also addressed the use of Variant Configuration on SAP Hana and the use of LO-VC in S/4 Hana in a special presentation.

Among other things, reference was made to significant performance improvements, especially in BOM resolution through Hana, proven in PoCs with customers. As it was said, "it is planned that LO-VC will be available in the S/4 Hana on-premise version".

Against variant complexity

The presentation by Treorbis (see also the E3 cover story in the July/August issue) entitled "Mastering Variant Complexity" was exceptionally well attended.

And it does so on the basis of Treorbis Variant, an SAP release-safe product configuration solution with multiple (but individually usable) VC modules and with uniform data management. Treorbis Variant, by the way, can be seamlessly integrated with other SAP solutions (such as SAP CRM).

Other presentation topics were (in excerpts): Hybris - Omnichannel Platform for Complex Products and Hybris Marketing: Marketing Complex Products - from the Target Group to the Individual, Visual Configuration with SAP IPC/SSC or (selective) innovations in SAP VC solutions.

The 8th Infoday Variant Configuration with SAP proved to be an excellent and cleverly designed event to promote the professional exchange of information and opinions on complex manufacturing in Germany - which is a major part of our economic strength.

The subject of variant configuration is to be seen from a sales perspective in Sybit's portfolio. Sybit does not configure in the classic ERP environment, but in the CRM and e-business area.

And complements advantageously with other SAP consulting firms, such as Treorbis, which focus on manufacturing configuration.