Why are the existing ordering codes not sufficient?

The order relevant ordering code is the SP number which is not descriptive though because it is simply a number that has no particular meaning. This means that you can´t see which product is behind the SP number (e.g. a discrete or microcontroller). It is also not possible to see differences between SP numbers.
Our descriptive ordering code is the salesname. By knowing its nomenclature you can easily determine the product group and the product attributes. However, one Salesname (e.g. the microcontroller SAB C165-LM) can have several SP numbers. There are many reasons why this can happen: Different packing types, green and grey versions, customer specific versions etc.
So using the SP number is not convenient because the product behind it is not visible, using the salesname is not sufficient because it can have many ordering codes. The OPN solves both problems by creating an ordering code on the SP level that shows all relevant attributes.