The Intermediates tab is responsible for the production of the product from the point of view of material management. The screen is divided into two halves. On the left side is the selection window for the intermediate products and on the right side you will see the detailed information:

 

 

*** Important Information about the selection behavior: ***

The detailed information is displayed in two display modes:

• Intermediate mode (1): The detail data is displayed batch-independent. This is the case if the production has not yet started or no batches are created at all because it is a discrete production. In the case of discrete production, all postings in the "Input" and "Output" tabs are made at the intermediate level because there are no batches.
• Batch mode (2): Batches are usually generated in process manufacturing. Once at least one batch has been created (row in the batch list), it is immediately switched to this mode when the tab is opened. The detail data of the so-called Batch-Intermediate is then displayed on the right side. In the same way, all postings in the "Input" and "Output" tabs are batch-related. Posting in intermediate mode is then no longer possible. However, all actual quantities of the input materials and the intermediate product results are cumulated. In turn, you can view this cumulative data in intermediate mode by pressing the "Unselect" button (3) to switch to intermediate mode.

Batch-related production takes place only in process production. In discrete manufacturing, this section is irrelevant.

 

Terminology: Relationship between batch and intermediate product

A batch can span multiple intermediate products. This is because the production steps for each batch are repeated within the batch production process, and thus the intermediate products are also produced several times in smaller quantities. This intermediate subset is called a "batch intermediate" that is listed in the batch list (2). 

Conversely, this does not mean that all of the listed intermediate products are created as a batch intermediate for each batch. The batch limit therefore depends on the production technique and not on the definition of a material workflow. Batch limits are recognizable if they are produced using workflows. The workflows are designed to have top-level planning workflow nodes that call subworkflows and thus generate the batch automatically. If the production is done manually (without workflows), then you have to generate the batches yourself and link them with the intermediate products so that you receive batch intermediates.

All batches that occur during production for an order-related BOM (sub-order) are listed in the Batches tab.

 

Button "New Batch" (4)

A dialog box will appear that will help you to generate many "batch intermediates" at once. The quantity specification refers to the unit of measure of the selected intermediate product. After confirmation with the "OK" button, new entries are generated in the batch list (2) as well as in the Batches tab. Each entry in the batch list (2) corresponds to a subset of the selected intermediate product the so-called "batch intermediate". Each batch intermediate refers to another batch in the Batches tab.  You recognize it by the unique batch number in the Batch-ID column.

 

Button "Assign Batch" (5)

If there are multiple batch intermediates during the batch run and you have already generated the batch by using the "New Batch" button (4) for another intermediate product, you must use this button to create a new batch intermediate product.

1. In the intermediate product list, select the intermediate product (1) for which you want to create a batch intermediate.
2. Select a batch in the Batches tab from which the new batch intermediate is to be created.
3. Press this "Assign Batch" button.

 

Button "Unassign" (6)

Select the batch intermediate in the batch list (2) to remove the assignment to the batch. The batch intermediate is deleted.

Please first read the section batch production in the introduction to understand the relationship between batches and lots.

When a batch is generated by an active workflow, a new lot with a unique lot number is automatically generated and linked to the batch. For manual production, you have to generate the lot yourself:

 

Button "New overall lot" (7)

Select the batch intermediate to which you want to assign a new lot and then press this button. A dialog appears in which the business object is opened for the management of lots. Please fill in the relevant data and confirm with the "OK" button. The batch intermediate is now linked to the new lot and the new number is displayed in the number column.

 

Button "New partial lot" (8)

In the case of continuous processes that are handled by a batch that has a long running time, it often happens that many batches are used as input material during this long run. This leads to a large and therefore inaccurate result of batch tracing (result tree with many elements). In order to improve the detail level, so-called "partial lots" can be generated during this long process. These partial lots must be passed as an additional parameter in the input- and output postings (Warehouse issue and receipt).

Select the batch intermediate to which you want to assign a new partial lot and then press this button. A dialog appears in which the business object is opened for the management of lots. Please fill in the relevant data and confirm with the "OK" button. Then you switch to the Input and Output tabs to perform postings with the new partial ticket.

Name	Description
Sequence	Consecutive number of all batch intermediates.
Lot-No.	Unique Lotnumber of the assigned Lot.
Batch-No.	Unique Batchnumber of the assigned Batch.
Target Quantity	Quantity to be produced of this batch intermadiate.
Actual Quantity	Produced quantity of this batch intermadiate (= Sum over all Output postings).