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apsolut successfully completes SAP Ariba Buying Snap project for Zentis
Company
Zentis
Branch
Food Industry
Products
Fruit preparations, jams, confectionery
Number of employees
1,900
Turnover
830 million €
Headquarters
Aachen, Germany
Websitewww.zentis.de
Re-Start at A Higher Consulting Level
The previous tool used for indirect procurement at Zentis had become obsolete and was extremely limited in its configuration options. As an example, a small number of “power users” had to create the orders for each department and Purchasing department staff had to manually carry out certain maintenance activities. When it became clear that the tool could not be rolled out globally across organisations, it was obvious that a new solution was needed.
As Zentis already had an SAP-based system landscape and had amassed several years of experience with SAP Ariba Commerce Automation, they quickly decided to opt for the Snap mid-sized business edition of SAP Ariba Buying. A cost-effective implementation partner was quickly identified.
Project scope: Initially, around 400 employees were to be able to order indirect materials and services, including trade services and training courses, via a central platform.
The project at Zentis started with optimism, but this quickly faded. “12 weeks after the project kick-off, very little actually worked,” recalls Patrick Tydex, Project Manager at Zentis. “So we decided on a re-start with a different partner. This time around, we wanted to work directly with an expert with full understanding of the system.”
People recalled the positive experiences with apsolut during implementation of SAP Ariba Commerce Automation and onboarding into the Ariba network as a supplier in the USA. Shortly after the initial contact, there was a two-day meeting in Aachen, which successfully ushered in the new start.
"apsolut pro-actively asked us questions from the outset, discussed our aims and created a new roadmap. This approach was the complete opposite of the original project and it worked fantastically,"
explains Tydex.
apsolut’s expertise shone through on multiple occasions, such as when transferring configurations from the test system to the production system and when configuring the filter rules, which were reduced from 800 in number to just a few.
The roll-outs have since been completed in Germany. Two plants in the USA are set to follow next, possibly followed by plants in Eastern Europe. The team around Patrick Tydex and his colleague Adrian Oertel are considering implementing additional tools and processes. In any event, the process will be gradual and will start by exploiting the newly created potential. At Zentis, you know that you have a partner to provide reliable advice and implementation by your side.
Implemented tools
SAP Ariba Snap Buying
High-quality training materials for all end users
Backup and migration of attachments to purchase requisitions from the expiring Ariba realm of Textile Effects via API
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Hubert Buchsteiner, Group Vice President Purchasing, ZKW Group
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Patrick Tydex, Project Manager, Zentis
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Julia Führer, IT Inhouse Consultant Procurement, BIOTRONIK
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Zinah Matar, Digital Business Development Manager, Juffali Commercial Vehicles
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Sarah Eve Wiedemann-Geiß, who oversees purchasing and supplier management at Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall
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Steffen Bauer, Project Manager, BITZER
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