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Many become ONE – STIHL transforms its entire global procurement process with apsolut
Company
STIHL
Branch
Machine building
Products
Battery-operated, electric and gasoline-powered power tools for professional forestry and agriculture, as well as for garden and landscape maintenance, the construction sector and private garden owners
Number of employees
19,800
Turnover
5.27 billion euros
Headquarters
Waiblingen, Germany
Websitewww.stihl.com
Multi-Matrix meets Growing Template
‘Many become ONE’ – that’s the vision at STIHL. When applied to the transformation of procurement, this means standardised tools and processes for the procurement of direct and indirect goods and services, as well as for supplier and supply chain management in eight production facilities around the world and numerous marketing and sales branches with a total of 31 ERP systems.
In order to implement this mammoth project, the project team headed by Laura Schimanek and Simon Bohn – who are responsible for the business/IT side of the project at STIHL – drafted a combination of a complex multi-matrix structure and a ‘growing template’. This growing template includes four phases for each roll-out: from analysis and development to deployment and live operation. The go-live marks the start of the hypercare phase, in which new requirements are fleshed out once again; they are incorporated directly into an analysis, so the existing template grows with every roll-out.
Finding a suitable consulting and implementation partner for this approach proved to be a challenge for STIHL. Laura Schimanek explains:
„In apsolut, we finally found an SAP consultancy that offers more than just unparalleled SAP and procurement expertise; they can also mirror the multi-matrix structure of the project and react flexibly to dynamic changes.“
apsolut’s multi-lingual near-shore structure allows it to support the international core team at STIHL as well as the regional sub-teams.
According to Simon Bohn, there is another factor behind the project’s success that deserves a mention:
„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!“
The matrix structure has thus far proven a rousing success. It brings together international teams and employees who have very different roles. In keeping with the goal of ‘Many become ONE’, apsolut will continue supporting the development of this project.
Multi-matrix organisation: the apsolut team mirrors the complex project structure.
Growing template: a model for the target architecture that grows with every roll-out.
Implemented tools
SAP Ariba Buying
SAP Ariba Sourcing
SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance
SAP Business Network Supply Chain Collaboration
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Simon Bohn, Global Solution Architect Procure to Pay, STIHL
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