What the Denner is to Switzerland, the Coho Winery is to Microsoft – the nation’s smoke and booze joint. With that, I have already outlined the topic for today. We are talking about bottles and cartons, in other words, sales units and packaging units in business terms. If you’re thinking, yawn – that’s boring again – you don’t know our specialists from the Rhenish lowlands. But before I head to the Lower Rhine, I’ll get to the bottom of my problem with a lot of black humor.

So the Coho Winery deals in everything that smokes and has proper revolutions, from the Amselfelder Fusel to the Fidel cigar. At the wine house Burg Tunichtgut we want to order the new vintage Chateau Croesus at the unbeatable price of 39 cents per bottle. Of course, our wine house supplies us only in whole boxes – you can not order bottles there. Per carton are then 6 bottles inside (sounds almost like the text problems that I had to solve in the 4th grade – If Coho Winery orders 10 cartons, how many bottles will be delivered? – Answer – So many bottles do not work at all in the wine house castle Tunichtgut!).

How does it work in the wine business. The dry Sausenheimer Höllenpfad is available in 0.75-liter bottles in packaging units of 6 or 15 bottles at just over 4 euros per bottle. Our Sandler King Eberhard – a true model boy – thinks to himself here and says to the wine seller: “I’ll order a whole box of 15 bottles right away.

Our wine seller to Eberhard: “The way I see it right now, we have a problem here.

Eberhard answers: “Problem? I have not ordered one! I want a carton of booze! Or is it too heavy?

Our wine merchant: “I can only sell you the Amselfelder individually!

Eberhard: “Never mind, give me a carton.” – “Six or 15 bottles?”

How the hell do I get it now that I can sell the wine by the case or individually. Variation article it is not. It is not a BOM item and it is not a configuration item. It is Amselfelder Fusel which is to be offered in different packaging units. I could also say at this point, in different container sizes, 1 bottle, 1 box of 6 bottles and 1 box of 15 bottles.

Create two more BOM items based on one bottle of Amselfelder Fusel and list the item there as the only BOM item and store it with quantities of 6 bottles and 18 bottles?

Or create two articles Amselfelder Fusel with the unit carton and select the sales unit carton, enter the contents 6 or 18 and store as reference size bottle?

But then no longer fits the base price. A bottle contains only 0.75 liters of booze and I can’t sell the snot on eBay. These are not actually bills of material but packaging units.

In vino veritas is what the Romans would say. But by the Teutates, I need a Cervisia for today to digest the whole thing first. Solution? None in sight. Oh well, I drink the Cervisia from the glass today. Bottles I can not stand any more for today….