Software AG Case Studies Rolling Out SAP® Faster, Simpler & Safer Saving $100 Million

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	Rolling Out SAP® Faster, Simpler & Safer Saving $100 Million Software AG

Rolling Out SAP® Faster, Simpler & Safer Saving $100 Million

Software AG

Technology Category	Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP) Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
Applicable Industries	Consumer Goods
Applicable Functions	Discrete Manufacturing Procurement
Use Cases	Manufacturing System Automation Supply Chain Visibility Predictive Maintenance
Services	System Integration Software Design & Engineering Services
Challenge	The multinational conglomerate corporation, a multibillion-dollar global manufacturer producing industrial, safety and consumer products, faced several challenges. The company decided to globally deploy SAP in 2010. However, the complexity of local legacy configurations strangled the SAP initiative. Millions of dollars were spent monthly on consultants to make changes at the plants and their legacy Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). Four years into a five-year project, the company’s global SAP deployment was only 10 percent complete. The company needed a solution to accelerate SAP integrations at plants across the enterprise—making SAP deployment faster, simpler and safer while leveraging and extending legacy investments. Read More
About Customer	The customer is a long-established multinational conglomerate corporation. This corporation is a multibillion-dollar global manufacturer producing industrial, safety and consumer products. The company consistently ranks high on Forbes and Fortune magazine lists. It has numerous technology platforms and makes everything from household goods to medical devices and communication materials. In its long history, the company has amassed dozens of plants across the Americas, Asia and Europe— each plant investing in a unique set of legacy systems, applications and configurations to manufacture different products. Read More
Solution	The company turned to webMethods, a solution they had been using since 2001 for order-to-cash processing through SAP and webMethods Optimize to monitor intercompany and customer orders. webMethods was selected because of its unique ability to quickly incorporate both modern and legacy MES applications, other supply-chain execution applications, such as warehouse management systems and transportation management systems, as well as central ERP systems. After a 1 1⁄2-year intensive collaboration with the company, including 17 architectural refinements, a new concept was born: the Manufacturing Integration Layer (MIL) based on the webMethods Integration Platform. The solution is expected to save $100 million in deployment costs. The MIL makes SAP deployment effortless across all plants. Reusable services—not restrictive, custom point-to-point integrations—are used to integrate legacy systems with SAP. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration

Applicable Industries

Consumer Goods

Applicable Functions

Discrete Manufacturing

Procurement

Use Cases

Manufacturing System Automation

Supply Chain Visibility

Predictive Maintenance

Services

System Integration

Software Design & Engineering Services

Challenge

The multinational conglomerate corporation, a multibillion-dollar global manufacturer producing industrial, safety and consumer products, faced several challenges. The company decided to globally deploy SAP in 2010. However, the complexity of local legacy configurations strangled the SAP initiative. Millions of dollars were spent monthly on consultants to make changes at the plants and their legacy Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). Four years into a five-year project, the company’s global SAP deployment was only 10 percent complete. The company needed a solution to accelerate SAP integrations at plants across the enterprise—making SAP deployment faster, simpler and safer while leveraging and extending legacy investments.

About Customer

The customer is a long-established multinational conglomerate corporation. This corporation is a multibillion-dollar global manufacturer producing industrial, safety and consumer products. The company consistently ranks high on Forbes and Fortune magazine lists. It has numerous technology platforms and makes everything from household goods to medical devices and communication materials. In its long history, the company has amassed dozens of plants across the Americas, Asia and Europe— each plant investing in a unique set of legacy systems, applications and configurations to manufacture different products.

Solution

The company turned to webMethods, a solution they had been using since 2001 for order-to-cash processing through SAP and webMethods Optimize to monitor intercompany and customer orders. webMethods was selected because of its unique ability to quickly incorporate both modern and legacy MES applications, other supply-chain execution applications, such as warehouse management systems and transportation management systems, as well as central ERP systems. After a 1 1⁄2-year intensive collaboration with the company, including 17 architectural refinements, a new concept was born: the Manufacturing Integration Layer (MIL) based on the webMethods Integration Platform. The solution is expected to save $100 million in deployment costs. The MIL makes SAP deployment effortless across all plants. Reusable services—not restrictive, custom point-to-point integrations—are used to integrate legacy systems with SAP.

Impact #1	Reduced time, cost and risk of SAP roll out
Impact #2	Improved operational agility
Impact #3	Informed decision making with better visibility

Impact #1

Reduced time, cost and risk of SAP roll out

Impact #2

Improved operational agility

Impact #3

Informed decision making with better visibility

Benefit #1	$100 million saved in deployment costs
Benefit #2	SAP deployment accelerated across all plants
Benefit #3	Inventory visibility achieved in just three years, compared to the initial estimate of six years

Benefit #1

$100 million saved in deployment costs

Benefit #2

SAP deployment accelerated across all plants

Benefit #3

Inventory visibility achieved in just three years, compared to the initial estimate of six years

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Overview

Rolling Out SAP® Faster, Simpler & Safer Saving $100 Million

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit