Posts Tagged ‘Industries’
mercoledì, novembre 2nd, 2011
Bühler, an automotive components manufacturer, has plants worldwide. (photo: Fotolia)
The midsized family-run automotive components manufacturer Bühler Motoren GmbH is realizing its global aspirations by moving into new territory. Supporting its efforts is SAP industry solution it.automotive supplier, with processes running exclusively on SAP.
Gerhard Denk does not like making decisions from the confines of his desk. Whatever country the CIO of Bühler Motoren GmbH happens to be working in, he takes time to step out onto the factory floor and talk to employees. “If you know where the crux of a problem lies, then you can sort it out in good time,” says the experienced manager. “And it is not just about IT. Most of all, it’s about leadership. You need to motivate and get employees on board with this kind of project – taking the time to listen really pays off.”
Presumably, it is precisely this successful combination of expertise, humanity and persuasiveness that allows Denk to easily inspire people. It is thanks to his and his team’s success that the SAP solution was rolled out uniformly at Bühler worldwide. And as a result, each of the 1,600 employees at Bühler’s global sites can now follow the same process in the same software.
Bühler manufactures parts for Ford, Chrysler, General Motors, and VW. (Photo: Bühler GmbH)
Tags: aim, Analysis, basis, Bühler, Business, CIO, control, country, Everyone, GmbH, Implementation, Industries, industry, Management, manufacturer, model, Motoren, part, process, product, Production, project, solution, structure, supplier, System, team, territory, time, underway
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martedì, ottobre 25th, 2011
REACH conference: leading companies in chemical industry meet with SAP (photo: Andreas Endemann)
Although many people have not even heard of REACH, the European Community Regulation that places complex requirements on companies in the chemical industry and their IT, it directly or indirectly affects large portions of the economy. This European Community regulation is meant to protect consumers and the environment by governing the handling of all chemical substances in circulation in the European Union. It also stipulates extensive documentation duties that manufacturers – the chemical industry, in other words – have to fulfill.
Every year, at SAP’s invitation, AkzoNobel, BASF, Unilever, and other leading chemical companies meet to discuss the current issues and requirements (or, if you ask some, the trials and tribulations) related to Regulation (EG) No. 1907/2006, which began to fundamentally change chemical legislation in June of 2007.
The challenge of REACH
The acronym REACH stands for the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals. According to the regulation, only chemicals that have been registered in advance may be put into circulation within the European Union. This registration requires manufacturers and importers to list and define all chemical substances in terms of their composition, quantity, application, and toxicity to humans and the environment. Compiling and preparing this data, as well as ensuring its conformity with the regulation, is a mammoth task.
“We want to help you balance your risks and opportunities,” said Jürgen Schwab, former executive chairman of TechniData AG and now, following the acquisition by SAP, senior vice president at SAP. With the application SAP Environment, Health, and Safety Management (SAP EHS Management), companies can guarantee compliance along the entire value chain, minimize operational risks, and increase their efficiency. “Our customers can benefit tremendously from the application – especially in how well it dovetails with SAP ERP and SAP’s industry solutions,” added Dieter Hässlein, vice president and chief product owner for SAP EHS Management. “This enables companies to easily consolidate all of the information scattered across their various areas into a manageable compendium.”
Lisbeth Svensson from AkzoNobel (photo: Andreas Endemann)
Tags: acquisition, AkzoNobel, application, attachment, chain, chemical, circulation, Community, Compliance, conference, Content, documentation, economy, EHS, environment, European, Everyone, factor, Handling, Industries, industry, Management, photo, president, reach, registration, regulation, Regulatory, safety, sustainability, TechniData, Union, vice
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giovedì, ottobre 20th, 2011
With the it.x-mobile solution it's possible to access ERP data from your iPhone. (Photo: JAB Anstoetz)
You find them everywhere – in private households, airports, hotels and holiday resorts, conference rooms and convention centers: fabrics, carpets, and upholstered furniture from JAB Anstoetz. The renowned company has 1,300 employees and its products can be seen wherever tasteful interior design is called for. Its portfolio contains around 3,000 items in more than 20,000 colors, and the product range changes constantly. This wide variety makes it difficult for interior decorators and designers, the traditional customers of JAB Anstoetz, to manage their assortments.
Until recently, the company would send customers long lists of prices and discontinued items once a year. The customers would then have to cross-check their entire inventory, which can often comprise 300 to 400 samples. JAB Anstoetz first tried simplifying the portfolio management process by digitizing it. For example, it installed scanners that were to record the inventory and price data and then forward this information to customers. But it soon abandoned this project because it would have required too high an effort to regularly update the data.
Tags: accounting, Anstoetz, Business, catalog, Company, conference, Convention, customer, delivery, design, force, Furniture, Holiday, Industries, Information, inventory, iPad, iPhone, itelligence, Jab, Management, portfolio, price, product, project, range, Software, solution, System, Technology
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mercoledì, ottobre 12th, 2011
Get a sneak peek at SAP CRM Sales, for iPad and iPhone (photo: Christiane Stagge)
Social media, mobile CRM software, and on-demand solutions were again the main topics at the annual CRM-expo. Around 160 exhibitors gathered in Nuremberg on October 5 and 6 to present new products, strategies, and software for customer relationship management. Mobile CRM and mobile social media were the highlights. As well as the areas of best practice, technology, strategy, and products and services, this year even had a mobile business area, in which visitors had the opportunity to attend presentations about the mobile Internet and mobile social media. But putting mobile business into practice is easier said than done. There was no WLAN in the exhibition hall on the morning of the first day, for example, and mobile Internet was nonexistent in the press center, too.
New in December: SAP CRM Sales
However, the SAP team didn’t let technological hiccups spoil the mood and showed us what’s in the pipeline. For customer relationship management, a new app will be available at the end of December: SAP CRM Sales. This is basically the version 2.0 of Sybase Mobile Sales for SAP CRM. At the end of the year, the app will get a new name as well as a new release. The application is designed for both the iPhone and the iPad. Regardless of whether you’re on the road or at a presentation to a customer – the app always gives you all the data you need, such as sales figures or delivery dates, on all devices. The functions comprise account management, contact management, lead management, activity management, opportunity management, native app integration, and report functions.
New app: SAP CRM Sales (photo: Christiane Stagge)
Tags: app, attachment, Business, CRM-Expo, customer, December, delivery, end, example, Industries, Internet, Management, mobile, New, October, opportunity, photo, Practice, product, relationship, Software, strategy, Sybit, Uniserv, Version, year
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lunedì, ottobre 10th, 2011
Large, global enterprises can greatly benefit from a shared services center (image: Fotolia)
Every type of business must overcome certain obstacles in order to run efficiently and cost-effectively. Large enterprises, however, face particular challenges, both logistically, due to numerous employees spread across several sites, and technically, due to many disparate ERP systems that process a high volume of transactions.
For many years, large enterprises that want to overcome such obstacles have chosen to implement a shared services center. To learn more about how financial shared services has evolved and its current role in business today, SAP.info spoke with Susie West, founder and CEO of sharedserviceslink.com, an organization that focuses on educating the financial shared services community through conferences, master classes, and webinars.
Tags: automation, basis, Business, Center, com, cost, Event, example, finance, founder, Framework, Industries, Info, mentality, order, organization, problem, process, rest, role, Service, Shared, sharedserviceslink, Software, System, today, type, volume, way
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mercoledì, agosto 10th, 2011
Brazilian banks prepare for growth with SAP for Banking solutions (image: Fotolia)
With an impressive growth of 7.5% in 2010 and a strong currency, Brazil is moving up in global economic rankings. In fact, it recently overtook Italy as the world’s seventh largest economy. And now the country is preparing to host the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Brazilian banks are getting into position too, as they reengineer critical processes and set up new infrastructure and services to accommodate anticipated growth.
Two Brazilian banks – Banco Regional de Desenvolvimento do Extremo Sul (BRDE) and Banco Intermedium – are moving forward with their plans for expansion. Both banks have selected SAP for Banking solutions to support them in the years ahead.
As part of its modernization project, BRDE plans to deploy the entire SAP platform, including SAP ERP and core banking solutions. The goals of the project include consolidating processes to increase the bank’s competitiveness and improving customer channels, including Internet-based services. The implementation project is scheduled to take two-and-a-half years, with the expected outcome that the bank will be well positioned to handle its long-term growth.
Banco Intermedium, from Minas Gerais, also selected SAP to cope with the demands of its expansion. The bank recently became an authorized financial agency of home loans for Minha Casa Minha Vida (My House, My Life), a government-sponsored social housing program to encourage home ownership among Brazilians. The implementation of SAP for Banking is being done by Original Technology, an SAP partner.
Tags: Banco, Bank, banking, banking industry, Brazil, BRDE, country, currency, deploy, economy, expansion, fact, growth, Implementation, Industries, Infrastructure, Intermedium, Markets, Modernization, Olympic, part, project, reengineer, Regional, SAP for Banking, world
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venerdì, agosto 5th, 2011
SAP Business Communications Management: the software for dialog marketing (image: Fotolia)
Uniorg carries out implementation of SAP Business Communications Management
Alivello has become the first company in the field of dialog marketing to begin using SAP Business Communications Management. This IP-based communication software replaces telecommunications equipment running in parallel with a standardized platform that manages every channel of contact. SAP Business Communications Management also integrates with applications such as SAP ERP and SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) without the need for middleware, thus making phone conversations another component of business processes. The SAP partner Uniorg handled Alivello’s implementation project in just four weeks.
SAPERION survey finds e-archiving on the rise
A survey SAPERION conducted among the attendees of its recent user conference found that 50% already use electronic archiving systems, with another 15% planning to implement a similar form of document management. The survey also indicated that companies are not making the most of their options in this area – particularly with regard to digital personnel files – and that insecurity still exists in complying with provisions of data protection. According to SAPERION product manager Dr. Martin Bartonitz, electronic archiving systems give users detailed access control, especially over said digital files.
OpenText ECM + Microsoft SharePoint = savings and productivity
In the face of ever-increasing legal requirements, the energy industry, insurance companies, and banks have to invest constantly in gaining and keeping their customers’ trust. Now, two IDC studies have shown that companies that combine OpenText Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solutions with Microsoft SharePoint can meet their obligations while achieving a high ROI. They also determined that one of the keys in doing so is choosing a company-wide platform for process-oriented content management.
This reduces IT costs by an average of 8% every year, while users benefit from an increase in productivity of up to 68%. The studies also found that the corresponding investments can pay for themselves in just eight months (10 months in the field of finance). Both reports are available under the heading “Resources” at OpenText and Microsoft’s joint Web site, www.better-together-central.com. Those interested can also calculate their prospective ROI using the site’s “Benefits Analyst” tool.
Next page: SAP Business ByDesign, client consolidation, mobile stocktaking
Tags: Alivello, app, Business, ByDesign, Communications, Content, customer, dialog, ECM, Experts, field, Implementation, Industries, industry, Lufthansa, Management, marketing, Markets, Microsoft, need, OpenText, platform, productivity, relationship, SAPERION, SharePoint, site, Software, solution, Solutions, survey, Uniorg
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giovedì, agosto 4th, 2011
Fiat, Nestle, Dell: These companies discovered the pros and cons of Web 2.0 (image: Fotolia)
It’s July of 2007 in Turin, Italy. With an automotive industry crisis in the offing, the Fiat group presents a reinterpretation of a historic compact car: the new Fiat 500. In spite of the state of the global economy at the time, this smart little retro number defies the odds and hits the market with the force of a hundred Sophia Lorens.
The originally planned annual production run of 120,000 units sells out in a matter of weeks, and feverish demand for the vehicle pushes the corresponding waiting period to as many as eight months. Fast-forward to early 2008: Virtually every market has begun to founder, yet Fiat announces its plan to increase its annual production of the Fiat 500 to 190,000 units. What did the group do right? It can’t have been the price; the downtown two-door isn’t exactly a steal.
Brainstorming with the masses
“The group recognized the importance of getting potential customers involved very early on in the Fiat 500’s development,” explains Alexander Körner, CEO of the German marketing consultancy lemon5. “This had never been done before in car manufacturing. Up to that point, companies had always tried to cast a veil of secrecy over their prototypes.” Fiat, meanwhile, set up special Web sites and tapped online forums, blogs, and other sources for new ideas. For its communication and marketing purposes, the manufacturer was also quick to secure the domain fiat500.com. There, visitors have the chance to help shape the appearance and appointments of upcoming production models.
Coinnovation, crowd-sourcing, and user-generated content are the topics currently keeping marketing managers up at night. They wonder, for example, how they might leverage the wisdom of the masses in developing and advertising products. They also worry about getting caught napping on the next trend – or not knowing what people are saying about their companies and offerings, as well as where and when.
“In the age of Web 2.0 and social media, those in marketing and customer care are casting aside many lessons learned over the past 50 years,” observes Körner. “The way they communicate is changing.” Companies used to scatter their messages over a wide swathe of the market, thus launching their brands entirely in their own image.
Today, social media have given consumers much more influence in this process. “Social media have put an end to one-way communication. Now, everyone can share ideas with anyone,” explains Yasan Budak, cofounder and authorized signatory of Vico Research & Consulting.
Fiat involved customers from the very beginning with collaborative websites (image: Fotolia)
Tags: advertising, Budak, Business, car, communication, Company, Content, crisis, crowdsourcing, Dell, economy, Fiat, force, founder, group, Industries, industry, July, market, marketing, McKinsey, Nestlé, number, offing, online, Production, reinterpretation, retro, Social Media, spite, state, time, use, way, Web, Web 2.0
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venerdì, luglio 29th, 2011
Alivello bases its marketing on SAP Business Communications Management (image: Fotolia)
HumanConcepts unveils new suite for organizational planning
HumanConcepts has announced a new software suite for planning organizational structures. This SaaS platform is to enable users to visualize and analyze employee information, as well as manage organizational changes. Comprised of fully integrated components, the suite also comes with a user-configurable interface.
HumanConcepts Organizational Planning Suite includes components for visualization, planning and modeling, and archiving, along with a connector that facilitates both company-wide and mobile access. The suite is capable of merging data from applications for talent management, human capital management, enterprise resource planning, and other areas, and is to be offered in SaaS and on-premise versions.
Atos acquires Siemens IT Solutions and Services
The international IT service provider Atos has completed its purchase of Siemens IT Solutions and Services. The company has also signed a seven-year, €5.5 billion IT outsourcing contract with Siemens. According to its own figures, Atos is now one of the top 10 IT service providers in the world, with its recent acquisition having doubled its capacity in managed services. The company’s 30 data centers, 900,000 SAP users, and 90,000 supported servers now also make Atos one of the providers of cloud computing.
OpenText introduces Integration Center 8
The native connector Integration Center 8 is designed to simplify access to various information sources and types – whether structured or unstructured – from within OpenText ECM Suite 2010. The solution supports application scenarios involving the integration of company systems, the decommissioning of legacy systems, content migration, and the management of locally stored data.
In the partner news from recent weeks, SAP.info takes a look at real-time quality management with MES CAT Suite, audit-proof sales tax checking with MSecureTrade, and cloud management with vFabric 5 from VMware.
Read on: vFabric 5, MES CAT Suite & SAP Business Communications Management
Tags: Alivello, Atos, cloud, Daniel Hardt, Experts, HumanConcepts, Industries, Integration Center 8, Java, Markets, MES, MES CAT Suite, OpenText, Saas, Siemens, Siemens IT Solutions and Services, Solutions, Uniorg, vFabric 5, VMware
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