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Eight ERP systems. One goal: joint purchasing for general procurement.
Company
Diehl
Branch
Technology
Products
Components for domestic appliances, aviation equipment, electronic control systems, metering technology, semi-finished products
Number of employees
18,700
Turnover
4.7 billion euros
Headquarters
Nuremberg, Germany
Websitewww.diehl.com
How the Diehl Group, in partnership with apsolut, is turning diversity into controllable systems
The Diehl Group is a German technology company that develops products and solutions for the aviation industry, the energy and measurement technology industry, and many other industrial sectors. The breadth of its portfolio is both a strength and a challenge; the variety of different business models that have emerged at the company over the years has also resulted in different systems, processes and data logics.
This diversity was particularly evident in Procurement. The division had multiple ERP systems, process landscapes that had developed over time, and decentralised data structures that made it difficult to create transparency, standardise systems and processes, and tap into potential synergies.
Consequently, Diehl decided to strategically realign its indirect procurement. The company partnered with apsolut to develop an SAP Ariba-based platform that standardises processes, improves data quality and gives Procurement centralised access to a transparent data landscape. Procurement can now take a process-driven approach, operating across different sub-groups.
Merging supplier master data, process logics and responsibilities proved to be particularly challenging. Different data structures, duplicates in the data, and pre-defined special rules in the systems prevented Procurement from acquiring a consistent overview of suppliers and procurement processes throughout the Group.
The first step was a pilot project in the Aviation sub-group, which paved the way for the Group-wide harmonisation of purchasing processes and the development of a more broadly applicable template.
“It was crucial for us to create a common, future-oriented standard that works for all units while still being flexible enough to allow for local requirements,”
explains Alexandra Leitenberger, Lead Project Manager and Service Owner SAP Ariba at Diehl.
With each further rollout, it became clear that implementing change in established organisations meant dealing with varying data logics, system-related deviations, and characteristics that were unique to specific locations. The task of standardising supplier names and data fields demonstrated just how deeply integrated into existing structures the processes were. At the same time, each implementation phase helped the team hone the standards and develop the template into a standard that could work for the entire Group.
The close cooperation between the Diehl project team and apsolut played a central role here. While Diehl defined the approach to governance, target processes and technical standards, apsolut handled the integration and rollout of further units hand in hand with Diehl. Diehl and apsolut coordinated consistently throughout the project, resulting in a collaborative approach that allowed for rapid decision-making and effective solutions.
The platform initiative helped to create transparency across the entire supplier life cycle and facilitated standardised collaboration in compliance with applicable rules. In that sense, the initiative laid the foundation for controllability, lasting supplier relationships and a procurement process that consistently directs requisitions to approved suppliers and existing contracts.
The conversion to SAP S/4HANA took place in multiple units alongside the platform implementation process. To avoid having to update interfaces more than once, the project purposely tied the link-up to the platform to the respective status of each migration process. This coordinated rollout strategy prevented redundant updates and ensured that the system landscape was modernised in a future-proof way.
This change affected more than just the technical systems; processes and approaches also had to be updated. The switch to standardised processes initially meant noticeable changes to familiar routines. Training sessions, Q&A programmes and ongoing support helped to embed new processes. And as platform stability improved, so too did confidence in the new standards.
The effects of the platform initiative are already evident today: an increase in the use of catalogue-based procurement, fewer free-text requests and a noticeable reduction in maverick buying. This project has laid the foundation for transparent and compliant procurement that the company can control in an effective way. Standardised processes and a consolidated database provide users with a consistent overview of suppliers and procurement activities across all organisational units. The rollout is underway: Diehl is currently expanding the platform, and with each additional unit that migrates to it, the impact grows. Transparency not only improves efficiency and compliance; it also strengthens the resilience of the supply chain.
The platform is built to be scalable, and with its implementation, the company has set course for a reliable, sustainable future. Additional functional expansions, optimised processes and ongoing harmonisation will further strengthen Group-wide cooperation – and increasingly position Procurement as a strategic driver of value. Harmonisation creates transparency. Transparency creates control. Control creates the future.
The new purchasing platform will be integrated into a system that has developed over time and spans several units.
The Ariba rollouts were coordinated with the S/4HANA transformation: System integration occurred in parallel with ERP modernisation to prevent duplicate updates.
Implemented tools
A new SAP Ariba purchasing platform
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Felix Leister, Global Process Owner – Source-to-Pay, Festool
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Paul Trautmann, Manager Procurement Processes & Projects, Röhm GmbH
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Linna Krasnikov, SCC System Administrator, Kärcher
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Etienne Auger, Team Leader Procurement Excellence, Swissgrid
„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
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Ketylin Morello, Purchasing Strategy and Market Intelligence & Functional Product Owner for Squando, Schaeffler
"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
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Simon Bohn, Global Solution Architect Procure to Pay, STIHL
“apsolut won us over with their keen problem-solving skills. They took a pragmatic, efficient approach that allowed them to overcome every challenge they faced”,
Simon Band, Group Manager Materials Management – Purchase Contracts, Gelsenwasser
"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
"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, McKesson Europe AG
"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
„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
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Zinah Matar, Digital Business Development Manager, Juffali Commercial Vehicles
“It was crucial for us to create a common, future-oriented standard that works for all units while still being flexible enough to allow for local requirements,”
Alexandra Leitenberger, Lead Project Manager and Service Owner SAP Ariba, Diehl
"It really helped to work with a partner who knows our organisation,”
Wiebke Stahmann, , eProcurement Expert and Project Manager, DMK Group
“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
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Frank Unfried, Director Digitalization Purchasing & Indirect Spend bei Pfleiderer
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Michael Wölfl, Head of PPS, Alfred Ritter
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Patrick Tydex, Project Manager, Zentis
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Jane Wanger, Global Procurement Systems & Support bei KSB
“Right from the start, apsolut supported us with the comprehensive experience and expertise they had acquired from their enormous number of past projects. They were able to respond quickly and precisely to our complex requirements and present us with ideal solutions. Thanks to their experience with Ariba, we were able to digitalise our purchasing processes and make them more efficient as a result.”
Alexander Köhler, Purchaser and Project Manager, MLP
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Martin Traxl, Head of Strategy & Digitalization, OMV
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Dr. Bei Mortensen, IT Business Service Owner – SCM & Manufacturing, GEA Group
„During our conversation with apsolut, it quickly became clear that while we definitely did have potential for digitalisation in direct procurement, the potential in indirect procurement was much greater. That’s why we shifted our focus, and it was absolutely the right decision“,
Yvonne Kippschull, SAP-Prozess- & Application Consultant, wolfcraft
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Regina Krüger-Wendel, Chief Procurement Officer, Atruvia
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Alina Aftene, Procurement Solutions Specialist, Delivery Hero
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Chandrashekhar Saldur, AGM - Global Procurement & Projects, ETG Group
"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
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Armin Kaczmarek, Senior Vice President Corporate Purchasing, Vorwerk
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Jens Scholl, Procurement Manager Indirect, Eckes-Granini
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Torsten Enseroth, SAP S/4HANA Solution Architect, Friedhelm Loh Group
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Felipe Antunes Miranda, Global IT Category Manager and Project Manager, Archroma
“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
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Annette Römer, Project Manager, McKesson Europe AG
“To be quite honest: I have experienced so many IT projects in the past where the ambitious original goals were eroded bit by bit. But this time, it was different because apsolut worked very systematically and always intervened promptly when something threatened to get out of hand,”
Thomas Henzler, Chief Information Officer, PILLER Blowers & Compressors
"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
"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
"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
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Julia Führer, IT Inhouse Consultant Procurement, BIOTRONIK
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Tanja Sefrin, Project Manager, KUKA
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