Material Types

Material Master - Introduction

The material master is the starting point for the rest of the modules. 

What Material Types are there?

The material types that you use are configured in Customizing for the Material Master under 

Logistics Master Data : Material Master -> Material -> Control data -> Define material type attributes. 

The following list shows you the material types contained, for example, in the standard SAP R/3 System, and what their different roles are: 

DIEN (services)
Services are procured externally and cannot be stored. A material master record of this material type can always contain purchasing data. 

FERT (finished products)
Finished products are produced by the company itself. Since they cannot be ordered by Purchasing, a material master record of this material type does not contain purchasing data. 

FHMI (production resources/tools)
Production resources/tools are procured externally and used in the manufacture of products. A material master record of this material type can contain purchasing data, but no sales data. It is managed on a quantity basis. Examples of production resources/tools are apparatus, equipment, and measuring and testing devices. 

HALB (semifinished products)
Semifinished products can be procured externally (sub-contracting) as well as manufactured in-house. They are then processed by the company. A material master record of this material type can contain both purchasing and work scheduling data. 

HAWA (trading goods)
Trading goods are always procured externally and then sold. A material master record of this material type can contain purchasing and sales data. 

HIBE (operating supplies)
Operating supplies are procured externally and required for the manufacture of other products. A material master record of this material type can contain purchasing data but no sales data. 

NLAG (non-stock material)
Non-stock material is material that is not held in stock because it is consumed immediately. (Office supplies such as stationary. You need to create purchase order and accounting document for payment but the stock balance is always zero as it is issued out immediately to the various department.) 

ROH (raw materials)
Raw materials are always procured externally and then processed. Since raw materials cannot be sold, a material master record of this material type contains no sales data. 

UNBW (non-valuated materials)
Non-valuated materials are managed on a quantity basis, but not by value. 

VERP (packaging materials)
Packaging materials are used to transport goods and come with the goods free of charge. A material master record of this material type is managed both on a quantity basis and by value. 

WETT (competitive products)
Competitive products have their own material master records created from the Basic Data view. The competitor's number, which is stored in the material master record, assigns the material to a particular competitor. 

Maintain the Material Type

OMS2 - Material Type Maintenance - Create/Change/Display 

Steps:- 

• transaction OMS2 
• click Change 
• key in the Material Type you want to change e.g. FERT then hit enter 

The Views belows allows you to choose the Views for each Material Type. 
(Press the Page up/Page Down keys to scroll the views) 

If you tried to change from FERT to HAWA in 4.6x, you will receive an error message :-
The material type cannot be changed. This is not allowed if only external procurement is defined for the new material type, or if the new material type has a different account category reference than the old material type. 

To overcome it, goto OMS2 and change the HAWA material type.
In the Internal/external purchase orders sections:
                                         Original                 Changes
Ext. purchase orders               2                           1
Int. purchase orders                0                           1 

Screens in Material Master

• MM01 - Create, MM02 - Change, MM03 - Display and MM06 - Flag for deletion. 
• MM04 - Display the changes done to the material master. 
• MMAM - Change the Material Type.  for e.g. from FERT to HALB 

Configure the Material Master Screen MM01 / MM02 / MM03 

OMSR - Assign the field to the field group
OMS9 - Maintain the data screen field 

Unit of Measure

In the material master, there is a Units of measure button for users to store in the different conversion rate.  This sample program (ZUNT) extract the data from the unit of measure conversion table. 

In the Material Master the moving average price are affected by:-

• Goods Receipt for Purchase Orders 
• Transfer from Plant to Plant 
• Invoice Receipt 
• Settlement 
• Price Change 

Common configuration changes-

• define new material group (OMSF) 
• define new valuation class (OMSK) and automatic posting (OBYC) 
• define new material account assignment group (transaction OVK5) and
Customer/Material/Account keys (transaction VKOA) 

Block materials from inventory posting

After blocking, when the user do a inventory posting, they will get this error message :- 

E: Material xxxxx has status Blocked for procmnt/whse
 

To activate the blocking :- 

Goto transaction MM02 - Purchasing View 

Type in 01 at the MM/PP status field and save it 

Create Delivery Log - Material xxx is blocked

During the Create Delivery (VL01), SAP prompt you a log that Material xxx is blocked. 

During the Sales Order Create/Change for that material,  there might be some update termination that causes the locked of the material  (Windows hanged or power failure). 

You can check using transaction SM12 - type an "*" at the User name field. 

Check whether the material is in the locked list. 

If it is in the locked list, asked the user to log out before you delete it from the locked list. 

Maintain Storage Location

MMSC - Collective entry of Storage Location for a material. 

Insert new or delete un-used Storage Location. 

Maintain whether the storage location was included or excluded from MRP run. 

Block Storage Location from further posting

1. You can block the storage location of a material without affecting the rest of the location using the same material.
    Create a Physical Inventory document for the storage location with transaction MI01

    Select the Posting Block checkbox.
    This would prevent transactions from occuring until you either post or delete the physical inventory document.
    (There are no impact, unless you do a post difference for the physical inventory document.) 

2. Another method is to rename the storage location name. 

    Go to transaction OX09
    Edit -> Copy as (copy the original storage location to a new name, replacing the first character e.g. ZXXX)
    Edit -> Delete    (delete the original storage location) 

Do the reverse if you want back the original storage location. 

Accounting document number range for MM

Transaction OMW9

Document Type - Double click on desire transaction code to check the document type for number range.
                              (e.g. MR21 Document type - PR) 

Financial accounting document type - Assign the document type to a number range and account type.
                                                              (e.g. PR - Account type allowed for posting will be MS) 

• Double click on the document type PR. 
• Assign an unique starting number range that was not used.  e.g. 88 
• Choose the Account type for Material and G/L account (MS) 
• The rest of the fields are optional (you can leave it as blank) 

SAP definitions for account type - 

• A - Assets 
• D - Customers 
• K - Vendors 
• M - Material 
• S - G/L accounts 

Number ranges for financial accounting document type - Assign the number range to the running number range. 

No.      Year (till)     From number       To number        Current number    Ext (no tick internal or tick external)
88        9999          8800000000        8899999999    Track by SAP      Blank 

Accounting document will be generated if there are stocks during price change, if you don't have any stocks, no accounting document will be generated as there are no inventory to revaluate for price differences. 

Valuation Class for Material Group

In 4.6x and 4.5b, you can assign valuation class to Material Group. 

It is useful in the sense that user do not have to manually do an Account Assignments. 

For stock items, valuation class cannot be changed whenever the stock on hand is not zero. 

Valuation class are tied to a G/L account. 

A change of valuation class means a change of G/L account. 

In FI concept, you have to debit and credit to balance the G/L account.  That is why your stock must be zero before the system allows you to changed the valuation class.  If it is not zero, you have to either transfer it to another material or do a dummy issues.  After changing the valuation class, do a reversal entries for the stocks which you have transfer out or you have done a dummy issues. 

IMG - Material Management  -> Purchasing -> Material Master -> Entry aids for items without a Material Master

G/L Accounts in MM Account Determination

The program RM07C030 check all the G/L account define in your Material Master valuation class. 

Search is via Company code and Valuation area. 

Compare fields status for movement types against General Ledger

Use SA38 then run RM07CUFA