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On the way to the Ariba Full Suite at Vorwerk
Company
Vorwerk
Branch
High-quality household appliances, electronics, textiles, cosmetics, services, trade
Products
Food processors, vacuum cleaners, cosmetics, carpets, floor coverings and much more
Number of employees
12,319
Turnover
2.9 billion €
Headquarters
Wuppertal, Germany
Websitewww.vorwerk.com
Vorwerk digitalises its purchasing processes with SAP ARIBA
Digitization does not ask about how a company traditionally operates. A company that constantly adds innovations to the know-how it has acquired over the years will always be at the cutting edge. Without a doubt, the Vorwerk family business is a perfect example of the intelligent combination of tradition and innovation. The Thermomix has not only revolutionised food preparation but has also been enhanced over the years with numerous digital features, such as Cookidoo, the official recipe portal of Vorwerk with recipes for all Thermomix models.
When Vorwerk was faced with the question of how the group’s purchasing processes could be digitized, optimized, and intelligently integrated into the existing IT infrastructure, a detailed selection process led to the choice of SAP Ariba and the three-time SAP Ariba Partner of the Year apsolut for the implementation.
In the end, the comparatively high level of adaptability that the cloud tool gives Vorwerk was also a decisive factor. The tool passed an initial endurance test directly with the go-live, as Armin Kaczmarek, Senior Vice President Corporate Purchasing confirmed:
"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."
The system solution includes the Ariba modules Supply Chain Collaboration, Buying and Spend Analysis (see Page 1 for a complete list), architecturally the integration with four SAP ERP systems via SAP Cloud Process Integration (SAP CPI) and the establishment of a unified approval workflow for seven different business units.
In Phase 2, another SAP legacy system and a central master data management system (MDG-S) will be integrated. In addition, the country organizations Italy and Austria were included with the scope from Phase 1. Vorwerk plans to implement further Ariba modules in the next few years, as the enormous efficiency potential of the unified eProcurement solution is already visible a few months after the first go-live.
In this context, the transparent cost flows, the ever-present currentness and availability of the data as well as the satisfaction of the users with the intuitive user interface should be emphasized.
ADDITIONAL ADDED VALUE THROUGH SOLUTION MANAGEMENT SERVICES
On the basis of a service contract, apsolut is also in use for Vorwerk far beyond the go-live period. For example, a single point of contact employee is available as a contact person and problem solver for five full working days per week. The employee is directly networked with Vorwerk’s service providers, coordinates or resolves the incidents he or she receives within an existing service structure and incorporates specialist topics that go beyond apsolut’s central focus. The mandate also includes daily system monitoring and a regular, detailed service report to enable the company to assess and continuously improve service quality together with the customer.
“Due to numerous parallel running projects, which extend over our entire group of companies, we currently have to process and coordinate highly complex issues. The apsolut team supports us in this task with its experience and its unbureaucratic, hands-on approach”, explains Gero Catania, Vice President Projects & Portfolio Business Application Coporate IT at Vorwerk.
At apsolut, the services described above fall under the heading of Solution Management Services, or SMS for short. These are individually designed service packages that are put together according to the needs of the respective customer. The services include incident management and technical account management, as well as competence coaching and supplier enablement programs.
Connection of four productive ERP system landscapes to SAP Ariba at the same time
The scope and timeline were influenced by parallel IT projects during the project. The adjustments were made by the project team and successfully implemented by apsolut.
Implemented tools
Business Network
SAP Business Network Supply Chain Collaboration
SAP Ariba Buying
SAP Ariba Spend Analysis
Schnittstellen SAP CIG & SAP CPI
Single Point of Contact
Incident Management
Daily Monitoring & Quality Reviews
Technisches Account Management
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„Despite all the digitalisation and automation, we still work in a people business. During this project, we have grown into such a resilient, unified team that we’ve managed to meet all of our deadlines up to this point, even though some of them were quite ambitious. Ultimately, that also motivates everyone involved to do their part in driving the project forward!“
Simon Bohn, Global Solution Architect Procure to Pay, STIHL
„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
"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
"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
"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
“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
“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
"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
"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
„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
“We were impressed by the flexible service tailored to our needs and requirements, the combination of on-site and remote support, the quick response to changes, and the high quality of the apsolut employees involved!”
Annette Römer, Project Manager, McKesson Europe AG
“Technology undoubtedly opens up many new possibilities. But if you don’t convince people of the benefits of this technology, you won’t benefit from these opportunities. apsolut has played a major role in ensuring that people at Archroma recognize the advantages of the new solution and that the company benefits in the long term.”
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
“I was particularly impressed with the open and honest communication we had with apsolut during the project.”
Julia Führer, IT Inhouse Consultant Procurement, BIOTRONIK
"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
"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,"
Patrick Tydex, Project Manager, Zentis
‘With its flexible and transparent procedure, apsolut perfectly complemented our own limited personnel resources. Together, we were able to address topics like multi-line items or dependencies with other tools. It’s unbelievable how much knowledge and expertise we were able to gain,’
Regina Krüger-Wendel, Chief Procurement Officer, Atruvia
“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
“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 not only guided us through the project with the utmost professionalism and a proactive approach – the decisive factor was that apsolut enabled us to operate the new tool independently and to manage the next steps ourselves. apsolut’s employees quickly familiarised themselves with our system and processes, which made it easier for us to achieve the project goals within the given timeframe. I would also like to praise their flexibility in adapting to changes and their flexibility in implementation, with clear communication and excellent project management. We look forward to benefiting from this expertise more often.”
Zinah Matar, Digital Business Development Manager, Juffali Commercial Vehicles
“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
„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
“I would give them nine out of ten points – apsolut is definitely among the top five per cent of all consulting services we’ve ever worked with.”
Felix Leister, Global Process Owner – Source-to-Pay, Festool
"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
„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
"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
“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
"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
‘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
“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
„We were looking for a specific solution that did not exist yet. We didn’t want to compromise. So we looked for the right partner to model a flexible tool so that 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 & Functional Product Owner for Squando, Schaeffler
"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
“After the first Ariba roll-outs, we continued to work with apsolut to jointly develop our Ariba Suite. We usually work together at eye level, and I appreciate apsolut’s open and honest advice. I always have the feeling that the best solution for the customer is their guiding principle. This level of honesty is what led us to working together for so long.”
Małgorzata Pośpiech, SCM Process Manager, JOYNEXT
"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
"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
"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
"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
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