IBM Case Studies Supporting massive business growth on a global scale

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	Supporting massive business growth on a global scale IBM

Supporting massive business growth on a global scale

IBM

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing
Applicable Industries	Automotive Railway & Metro
Applicable Functions	Discrete Manufacturing Logistics & Transportation
Use Cases	Inventory Management Predictive Maintenance Supply Chain Visibility
Services	Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services Data Science Services
Challenge	Knorr-Bremse, a leading manufacturer of braking systems for rail and commercial vehicles, was facing a challenge. The company was experiencing significant growth, both organically and through acquisitions. This growth was leading to an increase in data volumes, which was slowing down its analytics capabilities and increasing costs. The company was using 60 SAP systems in a fully virtualized private cloud environment, with IBM DB2 managing the underlying data. However, as data volumes increased, the company found that its SAP Business Warehouse solutions were struggling to keep up with demand. The company needed a solution that would enable it to integrate acquired companies into its SAP application landscape, deliver comprehensive performance reports more quickly, and standardize processes across the group without slowing down decision-making or disrupting manufacturing and logistics workflows. Read More
About Customer	The Knorr-Bremse Group is a leading manufacturer of braking systems for rail and commercial vehicles. The company is headquartered in Munich, Germany, and operates more than 100 production sites in 29 countries around the world. It employs more than 23,900 people. In 2014, the company achieved sales revenues of EUR5.2 billion (USD5.8 billion). Every day, more than one billion people rely on Knorr-Bremse's systems. The company is constantly aligning its business to the changing requirements of its agile group structure. It is essential for the company to standardize processes across the group without slowing down decision-making at any level or disrupting manufacturing and logistics workflows. Read More
Solution	Knorr-Bremse decided to upgrade to IBM DB2 with BLU Acceleration. This solution enabled the company to run its growing SAP Business Warehouse faster with in-memory technology, without the need to invest in new infrastructure or training. The company was able to implement the new data compression features, reducing data volumes of already compressed data by up to 64 percent across all SAP Business Warehouse solutions. By activating BLU Acceleration, the company further reduced the size of its largest analytics databases by 10 percent. The upgrade was straightforward and seamless, and the company was able to roll it out step by step online and without downtime, ensuring operational processes were not disrupted. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing

Applicable Industries

Automotive

Railway & Metro

Applicable Functions

Discrete Manufacturing

Logistics & Transportation

Use Cases

Inventory Management

Predictive Maintenance

Supply Chain Visibility

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services

Data Science Services

Challenge

Knorr-Bremse, a leading manufacturer of braking systems for rail and commercial vehicles, was facing a challenge. The company was experiencing significant growth, both organically and through acquisitions. This growth was leading to an increase in data volumes, which was slowing down its analytics capabilities and increasing costs. The company was using 60 SAP systems in a fully virtualized private cloud environment, with IBM DB2 managing the underlying data. However, as data volumes increased, the company found that its SAP Business Warehouse solutions were struggling to keep up with demand. The company needed a solution that would enable it to integrate acquired companies into its SAP application landscape, deliver comprehensive performance reports more quickly, and standardize processes across the group without slowing down decision-making or disrupting manufacturing and logistics workflows.

About Customer

The Knorr-Bremse Group is a leading manufacturer of braking systems for rail and commercial vehicles. The company is headquartered in Munich, Germany, and operates more than 100 production sites in 29 countries around the world. It employs more than 23,900 people. In 2014, the company achieved sales revenues of EUR5.2 billion (USD5.8 billion). Every day, more than one billion people rely on Knorr-Bremse's systems. The company is constantly aligning its business to the changing requirements of its agile group structure. It is essential for the company to standardize processes across the group without slowing down decision-making at any level or disrupting manufacturing and logistics workflows.

Solution

Knorr-Bremse decided to upgrade to IBM DB2 with BLU Acceleration. This solution enabled the company to run its growing SAP Business Warehouse faster with in-memory technology, without the need to invest in new infrastructure or training. The company was able to implement the new data compression features, reducing data volumes of already compressed data by up to 64 percent across all SAP Business Warehouse solutions. By activating BLU Acceleration, the company further reduced the size of its largest analytics databases by 10 percent. The upgrade was straightforward and seamless, and the company was able to roll it out step by step online and without downtime, ensuring operational processes were not disrupted.

Impact #1	Knorr-Bremse started using the BLU Acceleration features without changing or expanding its existing IT infrastructure or system administration workflows.
Impact #2	By implementing new data compression features, Knorr-Bremse has cut data volumes of already compressed data by up to 64 percent across all SAP Business Warehouse solutions.
Impact #3	By activating BLU Acceleration, the company reduced the size of its largest analytics databases by a further 10 percent.

Impact #1

Knorr-Bremse started using the BLU Acceleration features without changing or expanding its existing IT infrastructure or system administration workflows.

Impact #2

By implementing new data compression features, Knorr-Bremse has cut data volumes of already compressed data by up to 64 percent across all SAP Business Warehouse solutions.

Impact #3

By activating BLU Acceleration, the company reduced the size of its largest analytics databases by a further 10 percent.

Benefit #1	Data volumes of already compressed data reduced by up to 64 percent across all SAP Business Warehouse solutions.
Benefit #2	Size of largest analytics databases reduced by a further 10 percent by activating BLU Acceleration.
Benefit #3	Certain reports now run 17 times faster, in only nine seconds.

Benefit #1

Data volumes of already compressed data reduced by up to 64 percent across all SAP Business Warehouse solutions.

Benefit #2

Size of largest analytics databases reduced by a further 10 percent by activating BLU Acceleration.

Benefit #3

Certain reports now run 17 times faster, in only nine seconds.

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Overview

Supporting massive business growth on a global scale

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit