CompanyBITZER
BranchRefrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump technology
ProductsComponents and services for refrigeration, air conditioning, process cooling and transport
Number of employees3,800
Turnover808 million €
HeadquartersSindelfingen, Germany
Challenges
Challenges
  • Introducing a digital self-service procurement system
  • Building a new commodity group G/L account structure for Indirect Spend
  • Implementing service orders and associated service recording sheets
  • Mapping out OPEX and CAPEX ordering processes
  • Defining a template for further global roll-outs
Solutions
Solutions

SAP Ariba Buying incl. Guided Buying

Advantages
Advantages
  • Transparency in procurement by implementing a highly user-accepted platform
  • Process automation and reduction of non-compliant expenditure (maverick spend)
  • Auditable processes and compliance through approval processes
  • Process optimisation through imported requisitions of the Maintenance
Why Apsolut
Why apsolut
  • Project experience with comparable customers
  • High level of know-how for integration of SAP Cloud solutions with SAP on-premise solutions

INCREASED EFFICIENCY, TIME AND COST SAVINGS IN P2O PROCESSES DUE TO SAP ARIBA

As one of the world’s largest independent manufacturers in the field of refrigeration and air conditioning technology, the BITZER Group, headquartered in Sindelfingen, Germany, can truly be categorised as a “hidden champion”. However, this also applies to the company’s products in quite a particular way. These usually operate in hidden places. They ensure optimal temperature in buses, trains and interiors and make sure food is kept fresh during transport.

However, indirect procurement should no longer take place in secret - that is why BITZER decided to introduce SAP Ariba Buying and thus opted for more transparency throughout the entire P2O process. For BITZER, it is the first time they use an electronic tool to manage their indirect procurement. On one side, such “greenfield” projects, according to professional jargon, make the job easier for project managers, as there is relatively much freedom to define new processes. When migrating from an existing tool to a new one, there are usually a large number of fixed variables into which the new processes have to fit. On the other hand, numerous new hurdles had to be overcome on the customer side. For example, a commodity group G/L account structure had to be set up and master data prepared accordingly in order to gain maximum added value from the new tool.

To overcome this ‘greenfield challenge’, the apsolut team drew on best practices and, together with the customer, used the change to establish an almost completely automatic account determination process and also to map maintenance purchase orders centrally in SAP Ariba.

In addition, the go-live in the home country Germany serves as a template for further global roll-outs. From BITZER’s perspective, the SAP Ariba implementation was an important step in the company’s digital transformation. According to project manager Steffen Bauer, a decisive success factor in the implementation of this milestone was apsolut’s partnership approach and the positive working atmosphere:

"Although personal contact was very limited due to Corona, a strong team formed during the intensive project phase. The decision-making paths at BITZER and apsolut were always short so that issues could be dealt with promptly and the planned go-live date achieved. The home office was not an obstacle, but also gave us the necessary flexibility for a project of this size.

All team members have done a great job, I have rarely worked so well with a consulting firm!"

The Ariba Go-Live laid the foundation for a long-term partnership between apsolut and BITZER. The two companies are currently coordinating a support service package that will ensure ongoing effectiveness in Indirect Spend.

Introduction of a self-service procurement solution with redefined and automated account assignment determination

Definition of uniform approval processes and introduction of service orders

Implemented tools

SAP Ariba Buying
SAP Ariba Buying
SAP Ariba Guided Buying
SAP Ariba Guided Buying

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„apsolut not only guided us through the project with utmost professionalism and a proactive approach – decisive was the fact that apsolut enabled us to operate the new tool independently and to control the next steps ourselves. In addition, thanks to apsolut, we have been able to establish the right network, including with the right contacts at SAP Austria. The project has been an overwhelming success and we have managed to foster an almost friend-to-friend relationship with the apsolut team."

Gerald Goldgruber, Strategic Manager for Process Management and SAP, Frutura
Success Story

"When selecting our implementation partner, apsolut was able to prevail over internationally active competitors thanks to its excellent understanding of our requirements, openness in partnership, and great flexibility. Thanks to the very good cooperation with the apsolut team, we successfully completed the project and signed a support agreement for future developments."

Julia Graubner, Senior Procurement Project Manager, K+S
Success Story

“We had many specific requirements and together with apsolut we found a solution for each one of them. We used to search for supplier information, now we do find it. We are really very satisfied!”

Tanja Sefrin, Project Manager, KUKA
Success Story

"When selecting a partner for our procurement transformation, a high level of technical know-how was of course also important to us. Here, apsolut was able to convince us with best practices from customers of a comparable size. The decisive factor in the end was the experience in change management! Only in this way were we able to introduce a fully-fledged procurement system that is also accepted by all employees."

Göktürk Simsekol, Digital Transformation Director, Flint Group
Success Story

"The mix of virtual design discussions, system demonstrations and break-out sessions, supported by best-in-class tools that allowed us to annotate and track tasks and decisions during screen sharing, enabled us to work closely with apsolut even though distances of up to 12,000 kilometres had to be bridged. We were very pleased that both our projects could be successfully implemented with the help of apsolut."

Alina Aftene, Procurement Solutions Specialist, Delivery Hero

"Of course, we are immensely proud of how we implemented this complex transformation together. The always competent and more than punctual execution moved us to initiate a parallel project for partial process innovation in the ongoing project. Actually a no-go, but with apsolut no problem! With this positive experience, it was easy for us to initiate another project, which is currently being implemented. One thing remains to be said: Without the team around Bodo Hempelmann, this journey would definitely have been more difficult!”

Manuel Steffen, Project Officer Source-to-Pay, Evonik Industries
Success Story

“The cooperation with the international apsolut project team from Germany and India was very effective despite the tough schedule. Due to the high degree of standardisation and automation, we were already able to realise potential savings and, in particular reduce process costs.”

Markus Ortlieb, Director Global Procurement, ProMinent GmbH
Success Story

"From the beginning of the project, we have made a remarkable change together with apsolut. The Döhler employees find their way through the easy user interface without any prior knowledge of SAP. As a result, our purchasing department is no longer an operational procurement office, but a team of in-house consultants."

Shibu Palakalodil, Projektleiter SAP Ariba-Implementierung
Success Story

„Every time we came up against an unexpected challenge during the course of the project, apsolut immediately showed up possible options to resolve the issue. We always knew to what extent we had freedom of movement within the constraints of the cloud solution.”

Linna Krasnikov, SCC System Administrator, Kärcher
Success Story

"Together with apsolut, we started as a pioneer in Central Procurement and we are very pleased that we were able to reap the first fruits of this pioneering work so early on.”

Stefan Ehrhardt, Head of SAP Governance Purchasing, MAHLE
Success Story

"A transformation program of this scale needs a strong internal team from Procurement and Internal IT, but of course also experienced and committed external partners. The most important aspect is that everyone then works together with passion and conviction towards the common goal. In addition to the strong know-how of the consulting implementation partner – in our case apsolut – a strong line of communication from the partner to the software supplier SAP is also necessary."

Martin Traxl, Head of Strategy & Digitalization, OMV

"Although personal contact was very limited due to Corona, a strong team formed during the intensive project phase. The decision-making paths at BITZER and apsolut were always short so that issues could be dealt with promptly and the planned go-live date achieved. The home office was not an obstacle, but also gave us the necessary flexibility for a project of this size.

All team members have done a great job, I have rarely worked so well with a consulting firm!"

Steffen Bauer, Project Manager, BITZER
Success Story

"apsolut demonstrated a high degree of flexibility and commitment during the project. The structured working methods and the dedicated team enabled us to meet the urgently needed go-live deadlines."

Paul Trautmann, Manager Procurement Processes & Projects, Röhm GmbH
Success Story

"apsolut led us in a very cooperative and super-competent manner throughout all phases of the project! Above all, the open collaboration between all project members kept motivation high throughout. The project team gets on very well with each other. We were also impressed by the solution-oriented approach and the ability of the entire project team to make quick decisions!"

Hubert Buchsteiner, Group Vice President Purchasing, ZKW Group
Success Story

"apsolut has been supporting us in the ope-ration of our SRM system for 10 years. It does not matter whether we report a problem in the production system or want to discuss change requests. We are contacted by apsolut in a timely manner to resolve our concerns or discuss our requirements in detail. apsolut always provides the important piece of securi-ty in the background - if anything goes wrong, they always help quickly and straightforwardly."

Torsten Enseroth, SAP S/4HANA Solution Architect, Friedhelm Loh Group
Success Story

“In addition to the high level of expertise, what impressed me most about the apsolut team was the enormous commitment. We were very well supported throughout all stages and overcame all difficulties together”,

Anne Otto, Business Process Expert, Digital Solutions, JOYNEXT
Success Story

We were able to roll out Ariba very quickly, because we established a pragmatic and open culture of cooperation with the apsolut team from the very beginning, and we were prepared to systematically align ourselves with the standard“,

Sarah Eve Wiedemann-Geiß, who oversees purchasing and supplier management at Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall
Success Story

“apsolut impressed us in the project work with McKesson above all through the open and cooperative partnership. The project team gets on very well with each other. But we were also impressed by the solution-oriented approach and the fast and efficient enablement of our support staff.”

Annette Römer, Project Manager, McKesson Europe AG
Success Story

‘We’re on the right track to being able to take full advantage of the potential that this transformation offers, as apsolut not only gives us the expertise that we need, but also has an incredibly agile and committed approach. apsolut no longer feels like an external partner to me, but more like an internal department, with whom I hope we can continue to work well into the future.’

Dr. Bei Mortensen, IT Business Service Owner – SCM & Manufacturing, GEA Group
Success Story

"As our experiences with apsolut were so positive across all national companies, we have already doubled the number of monthly support days twice. Thanks to apsolut, we now have the resources we need to implement rollouts in other national companies. At the moment, they are ongoing in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and France.”

Sandra Mancino, Application Consultant, C&A

Success Story

"apsolut impressed us in our project , particularly because of the open and cooperative partnership. The project team gets on very well with each other. But we were also impressed by the solution-oriented approach and the fast and efficient enablement of our support staff!"

Annette Römer, Project Manager at McKesson Europe
Success Story

“For the new Ariba system, wewere able to onboard more than 1,400 users in three national subsidiaries with only little training effort. With regard to our Procurement processes, we have gained significant transparency and control.“

Jane Wanger, Global Procurement Systems & Support bei KSB
Success Story

"With apsolut, we have gained a partner who has implemented our requirements effectively and efficiently in the configuration of Ariba in a practical manner and in a breathtaking amount of time. The customer-oriented approach was one of the main reasons why we also chose apsolut for the implementation of SLP and Contract Management."

Frank Unfried, Director Digitalization Purchasing & Indirect Spend bei Pfleiderer
Success Story

“With a partner like apsolut, not even a pandemic is able to stop us! When the project started, we were a little skeptical, due to the fact that the project team was unable to meet face-to-face. But we are now delighted to say that all our concerns have proven to be unfounded.“

Chandrashekhar Saldur, AGM - Global Procurement & Projects, ETG Group
Success Story

"We have never regretted our decision to rely on apsolut as our implementation partner. The preparation, support, and transparent project progress at all times convinced us. We are delighted to have apsolut as our partner for all questions relating to our SAP Ariba tool."

Marcel Krischer, Zentis GmbH & Co. KG
Success Story

"We were looking for a specific solution that did not exist yet. We didn't want to make any poor compromises. Therefore, we looked for the right partner to model a flexible tool where we could configure the specific processes ourselves. We used our expertise and creativity to make Squando our global supplier management tool."

Ketylin Morello, Purchasing Strategy and Market Intelligence and Functional Product Owner for Squando, Schaeffler

“We knew that this was apsolut’s first project for a health insurance company, but that didn’t matter. Because apsolut always listened to us, understood our requirements and finally delivered solutions. We could design different processes for direct and indirect purchasing. Together we work professionally in state-of-the-art mode.”

Michael Spiess, Chief Procurement Officer, Sanitas Krankenversicherung
Success Story

"Being able to design our purchasing processes flexibly, digitally and above all efficiently offers great added value. We will therefore continue to expand our system in the direction of SAP Ariba."

Armin Kaczmarek, Senior Vice President Corporate Purchasing, Vorwerk
Success Story
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Would you like to find out what our satisfied customers have to say about us? We would be happy to arrange an appointment with you to talk to one of the more than 250 renowned companies that rely on apsolut's specialist knowledge and IT expertise.

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Events

SAP Spend Connect Innovation Day Paris

Join us for a full day of exploring the latest SAP innovations in Procurement and Supply Chain. Listen to success stories, exchange best practices, and learn how to stay ahead of the game and build a resilient organisation. Don’t miss our customer L'Oréal’s presentation on the procurement of IT services. Meet us onsite!

2024-04-03 Paris

SAP Spend Connect Innovation Day Paris

SAP Spend Connect Innovation Day Zurich

The SAP Spend Connect Innovation Days are coming to Zurich. You can expect inspiring keynotes & discussions on the latest trends in procurement as well as exciting customer success stories: Swiss health insurer Sanitas provides exclusive insights into their digital transformation with SAP Ariba. Be there!

2024-04-04 Zürich

SAP Spend Connect Innovation Day Zurich

SAP Spend Connect Innovation Day Vienna

The SAP Spend Connect Innovation Days are coming to Vienna. You can expect inspiring keynotes & discussions on the latest trends in procurement as well as exciting customer success stories: Our customer Porsche Holding Salzburg will share exclusive insights into the implementation of SAP Ariba in just 15 months in a global organisation in Vienna. Be there!

2024-04-17 Vienna

SAP Spend Connect Innovation Day Vienna

SAP Spend Connect Innovation Day Karlsruhe

The SAP Spend Connect Innovation Days are coming to Karlsruhe. You can expect inspiring keynotes & discussions on the latest trends in procurement as well as innovative customer success stories: Our customer STIHL provides exclusive insights into its business transformation with SAP Ariba and SAP S/4HANA. Be there!

2024-04-23 Karlsruhe

SAP Spend Connect Innovation Day Karlsruhe

News

A new home for the apsolut team in Switzerland

Squando – Based on Collaboration and Joint Development by Schaeffler and apsolut

Manoj Kanal (Managing Director MEA, apsolut Group) @ the Supply Chain and Logistics Summits in Dubai

apsolut Group restructures Global Board

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