Founded in 1899, DE-VAU-GE now has 900 employees and successfully positions itself as a leading brand manufacturer of breakfast cereals. With a broad portfolio of cereals, muesli types, bars, and plant-based drinks, the company serves customers with an impressive range of high-quality foods. As a partner for the European food trade industry for exclusive brands, DE-VAU-GE sets great store by product innovation, customer service, and the sustainable use of raw materials and packaging materials. This includes careful planning of production processes. When the company’s proprietary system had reached the limits of its capability, DE-VAU-EG and NTT DATA Business Solutions worked together to successfully pave a route toward SAP S/4HANA and automated production planning. The fullservice provider has the industry and process expertise that is needed to provide the right solution for complex challenges.
Acquiring a Taste For It: SAP PP/DS
Machine setup and cleaning, the mapping and handling of order networks, and taking account of the instant further processing of part quantities in the production process are typical challenges of the industry. DE-VAU-GE pursued a clear vision for its new planning system: manual control of procurement for bottleneck lines needed to be consigned to the past and the existing setup matrix need to be capable of mapping all setup time dimensions. The new solution, using SAP PP/DS, precisely meets the requirements in that the setup matrix now covers all required dimensions of setup planning. In addition, the setup sequence is now optimized for bottlenecks, with support from the smart technology embedded in the SAP PP/DS Optimizer.
Full Steam Ahead: Go-live After 7 Months
The automation and the new functionalities of the solution help to take the strain away from users in everyday business and minimize planning efforts. DE-VAU-GE can now benefit from special planning heuristics, tailored to the company, and evaluation of the graphic detailed planning board. As an elegant feature, the detailed planning board uses order network colors and comfort functions for maximum transparency when it comes to planning results. At the same time, the implemented planning scenario works as a side-by-side variant of SAP PP/DS (“SAP PP/DS DSC”) parallel to the SAP ERP system. The new solution will now enable DE-VAU-GE to exploit the potential of optimized production planning tailored to its own requirements, and the great usability that it offers. Celebrating the tenth anniversary of the two companies’ successful partnership, productive kick-off and qualitative completion of the project were achieved after just seven months.
A Healthy Glimpse Into the Future
Application Management Services (AMS) now ensure secure operational processes, creating space for activities that add value and relieving the IT service of repetitive, routine tasks. At the same time, the solution is being continuously developed, including through the integration of additional lines, so that production planning can be constantly optimized.