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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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Regina Krüger-Wendel, Chief Procurement Officer, Atruvia
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"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
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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
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"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
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Patrick Tydex, Project Manager, Zentis
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"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
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„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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Jane Wanger, Global Procurement Systems & Support bei KSB
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Julia Graubner, Senior Procurement Project Manager, K+S
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Shibu Palakalodil, Projektleiter SAP Ariba-Implementierung
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Manuel Steffen, Project Officer Source-to-Pay, Evonik Industries
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Markus Ortlieb, Director Global Procurement, ProMinent GmbH
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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
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“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
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Annette Römer, Project Manager at McKesson Europe
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Michael Spiess, Chief Procurement Officer, Sanitas Krankenversicherung
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Annette Römer, Project Manager, McKesson Europe AG
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Martin Traxl, Head of Strategy & Digitalization, OMV
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Stefan Ehrhardt, Head of SAP Governance Purchasing, MAHLE
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Małgorzata Pośpiech, SCM Process Manager, JOYNEXT
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Dr. Bei Mortensen, IT Business Service Owner – SCM & Manufacturing, GEA Group
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Paul Trautmann, Manager Procurement Processes & Projects, Röhm GmbH
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Chandrashekhar Saldur, AGM - Global Procurement & Projects, ETG Group
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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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