How To Fix MH139 - You can maintain only reference plants for generic materials

MH139 - Overview

• Message type: E = Error

• Message class: MH - Maintain Material Master Data (Retail)

• Message number: 139

• Message text: You can maintain only reference plants for generic materials

What causes this issue?

The data for a generic material and for a special plant that is not a
reference plant can be used neither in maintenance nor by operational
functions. For this reason, it is not possible to maintain such data.
The reference data for variants and special plants that are not
reference plants is at the level of the variant itself and of the
respective reference plants.

System Response

The system issues an error message and will not allow you to continue with this transaction until the error is resolved.

How to fix this error?

Error message extract from SAP system. Copyright SAP SE.

Smart SAP Assistant

• What is the cause and solution for SAP error message MH139 - You can maintain only reference plants for generic materials ?

  The SAP error message MH139, which states "You can maintain only reference plants for generic materials," typically occurs when you are trying to maintain or create a material master record for a generic material type, but the system is expecting a reference plant to be specified.
  
  Cause:
  
  Generic Material Type: The material you are trying to maintain is defined as a generic material. Generic materials are used in scenarios where the specific details of the material are not yet known, and they are often used in the context of variant configuration or when dealing with configurable materials.
  Reference Plant Requirement: For generic materials, SAP requires that you specify a reference plant. This is because generic materials do not have specific data associated with them until they are assigned to a reference plant.
  
  
  Solution:
  To resolve the error MH139, you can follow these steps:
  
  
  Specify a Reference Plant:
  
  When creating or maintaining the generic material, ensure that you