SAP Customer Success Story | Industrial Machinery and Components | Alfred Kärcher
Picture Credit | Alfred Kärcher GmbH & Co. KG, Winnenden, Germany. Used with permission.
© 2014 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
Alfred Kärcher: Digital Transformation
to Serve Future Growth via SAP®
Landscape Transformation Software
SAP Customer Success Story | Industrial Machinery and Components | Alfred Kärcher
Executive overview
Company
Alfred Kärcher GmbH & Co. KG
Company
Industry
Industrial machinery and components
Vision
Why SAP
Products and Services
Cleaning systems and products and services for recreation,
household, trade, and industry
Implementation
Web Site
www.kaercher.com
Solution
SAP® Solutions
Services from the System Landscape Optimization group and
SAP® Landscape Transformation software for merging charts of
accounts as well as company codes in the SAP ERP and SAP
Business Warehouse (SAP BW) applications
Benefits
Future plans
Partner
MHP Consulting
To support business growth in North America, Alfred Kärcher GmbH & Co. KG (Kärcher)
began a project to structure and harmonize the system landscape of its North American
unit. Using SAP® Landscape Transformation software, the project merged three major
systems and converted organizational structures such as company codes, controlling
areas, and charts of depreciation. The project also renamed depreciation keys,
accounting clerk numbers, and lockbox IDs for the ERP and BW systems in parallel.
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© 2014 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
SAP Customer Success Story | Industrial Machinery and Components | Alfred Kärcher
Executive overview
Company
Alfred Kärcher’s motto:
“makes a difference”
Vision
Why SAP
Implementation
Solution
Benefits
Future plans
Kärcher, a family-owned enterprise, is the world’s
leading provider of cleaning technology. The com­
pany offers a range of innovative problem solutions:
pressure washers, vacuums and steam cleaners,
home and garden pumps, sweepers and floor
scrubbers, vehicle washes, cleaning agents, dry ice
blasters, drinking and wastewater treatment plants,
and water dispensers. These offerings include coordinated products, cleaning agents, and accessories,
along with advice and service.
Kärcher employs over 10,600 people in 60 countries.
More than 50,000 worldwide service centers ensure
continuous and comprehensive supplies to customers
around the globe. Innovation is the company’s
principal growth factor; over 87% of its products
50,000
Service centers
operating in over 60
countries worldwide
have been in existence for fewer than five years.
Moreover, over 900 engineers and tech­nicians are
engaged in designing new problem solutions at the
cleaning equipment manufacturer’s development
centers.
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© 2014 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
SAP Customer Success Story | Industrial Machinery and Components | Alfred Kärcher
Executive overview
Enable growth through innovation
Company
Vision
Why SAP
Implementation
Solution
Benefits
Future plans
market Kärcher’s product portfolio across the globe,
the firm decided to invest in the standardization and
simplification of its IT tools – including its Web shop,
image database, and spare parts catalog.
For quality and technology, Kärcher is the world’s
leading provider of cleaning systems, products,
and services for recreation, households, trade, and
industry. Kärcher products enable customers to
solve their cleaning tasks in an economical and
environmentally friendly manner.
Innovation is the most important growth factor at
Kärcher; since 2008, the firm has developed and
marketed three globally successful innovations for
consumer products in the pressure washer market.
The global leader in cleaning technology distinguishes
itself with its inventive spirit, top-class performance,
and innovative solutions. Traditionally, Kärcher has
grown organically. However, for U.S. operations, its
goal is to expand business and ensure double-digit
growth via mergers and acquisitions. Part of the
company’s strategy is to integrate standard U.S.
brands into Kärcher’s global landscape. To further
In an earlier project, Kärcher migrated legacy systems
to an SAP solution platform. Kärcher has further
developed and streamlined the platform to accommodate all corporate activities, including rollout
initiatives for all standard IT tools. Through this project,
Kärcher is currently supporting more than 40 countries in successfully marketing company products,
guaranteeing seamless business operations.
Because Kärcher is constantly embracing future
growth – and to ease and better sequence integration and rollout initiatives – the firm’s board decided
to transform its existing system landscape through
an in-depth consolidation.
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© 2014 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
SAP Customer Success Story | Industrial Machinery and Components | Alfred Kärcher
Executive overview
Company
Engaging experts from the System
Landscape Optimization group
Vision
Why SAP
Implementation
Solution
Benefits
Future plans
During an extensive project-scoping phase, Kärcher
carefully evaluated different transformation options
to meet its consolidation requirements. The firm
wanted to select the best partner to tackle this
demanding change scenario. Based on past experiences and the fact that a software provider knows
its products best, the firm opted for SAP.
Kärcher was convinced that high-quality SAP Landscape Transformation software in combination
with SAP expert services would fully meet its major
decision drivers – data consistency and security –
while ensuring an efficient and reliable execution.
In January 2013 Kärcher asked the System Landscape Optimization group to carry out an analysis
for merging company codes and controlling areas.
The analysis results – presented during an on-site
workshop at its headquarters – showcased the SAP
software’s technology capabilities and its proven
methodology. The software is designed to accelerate
business and IT transformation and help better plan,
analyze, sequence, and realize customer-specific
business scenarios. This made the software ideal for
handling Kärcher’s large data volume while minimizing system downtime.
“The System Landscape Optimization group from
SAP provided the best tools with minimum resources,”
says Prof. Dr. Matthias Mehrtens, Vice President at
Kärcher. “At the same time, they were able to handle
our complex supply chain in a holistic fashion, while
helping to ensure audit compliance.”
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© 2014 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
SAP Customer Success Story | Industrial Machinery and Components | Alfred Kärcher
Executive overview
Company
Mastering complex transformation
requirements
Vision
Why SAP
Implementation
Solution
Benefits
Future plans
The project started in January 2013 with three
separate kick-off workshops: one solely dedicated
to enterprise resource planning (ERP), one for the
business warehouse, and one focused on performance improvement measurements.
The project scope encompassed merging the three
existing controlling areas as well as merging the respective company codes into the newly set up single
controlling area. In addition, the team merged the
charts of depreciation and renamed the depreciation
keys, accounting clerk numbers, and lockbox IDs.
To ensure full data consistency, all changes and updates had to be applied simultaneously in the ERP
and business warehouse environment. This synchronization effort proved to be key for numerous transformation activities, including the application of the
renumbering logic.
In order to streamline the entire testing schedule,
accommodate all relevant application-specific testing activities, and help ensure accurate and highquality results, the project teams had to exercise
intense and professional cooperation. After two full
test cycles, the teams performed the production
conversion in parallel for both ERP and the business
warehouse. In reviewing the success of the initiative,
Carola Weinmann – project manager for the Kärcher
North America merger and the conversion of the
ERP sales and distribution application – says, “The
professionalism and great interaction of the System
Landscape Optimization group from SAP, the consultants from MHP, and Kärcher North America’s designated merger team was an essential part of this
successful project.”
“The testing of interfaces to non-SAP applications was another
great concern. In the end, all traffic lights were green and we had
no real issues.”
Prof. Dr. Matthias Mehrtens, Vice President, Alfred Kärcher GmbH & Co. KG
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© 2014 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
SAP Customer Success Story | Industrial Machinery and Components | Alfred Kärcher
Executive overview
Company
Consistent and integrated SAP system
landscape
Vision
Why SAP
Implementation
Solution
Benefits
Future plans
The high complexity of the integrated SAP software
system – comprising the entire palette of applications – posed numerous challenges to Kärcher’s
functional areas and demanded extra care as well
as a high level of sensitivity by the assigned trans­
formation team.
The conversion of the productive system included
the conversion of 3 company codes, 33 cost centers,
and 3 consolidation units in the 1.2-terabyte database
and 730 data tables in the 4.4-terabyte business
warehouse.
Kärcher, operating 24x7 worldwide, envisioned one
downtime for all transformation steps. The company
put full trust in the SAP experts from the System
Landscape Optimization group to meet its critical
system downtime requirements. Kärcher set a
tightly defined timeline for the going-live weekend.
By applying several runtime measurements and
im­plementing performance improvements, the
team was able to complete all conversion activities
in less than 18 hours.
“The complexity of the merger project, together with
the simultaneous business warehouse transformation, created the need for a tightly synchronized
production conversion schedule. SAP Landscape
Transformation software helped us plan, conduct,
and migrate on time and helped us to resume our
business operations and present consistent and
reliable management reports earlier than expected,”
says Amber Tunseth of the project management
office at Kärcher North America.
Careful planning of the project avoided the use of
Kärcher’s fallback strategy, which was initially set
up to mitigate risk and keep the business running.
Mehrtens points out, “The U.S. company’s merger
was implemented very successfully in terms of budget and time. Even though we had planned a ‘hypercare’ phase in the project plan, there were absolutely
no post-going-live activities necessary. Everything
went smoothly and stayed under control thanks to the
SAP team from the System Landscape Optimization
group.”
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© 2014 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
SAP Customer Success Story | Industrial Machinery and Components | Alfred Kärcher
Executive overview
Company
Unified and efficient corporate
management
Vision
Why SAP
Implementation
Solution
Benefits
Future plans
As a result of this successful conversion project,
Kärcher now profits from several advantages.
Mehrtens stresses two important improvements:
“The alignment of our corporate structure at the
system level and the simplification of our financial
setup proved to be a great benefit and helped to
heighten reporting transparency. Our management
is excited to make full use of Kärcher’s integrated
SAP solution landscape and leverage the improved
forecasting functionality, based on a consistent
data history.“
well-structured SAP Landscape Transformation software platform – enabled the migration of the entire
database history and met Kärcher’s high expectations.
Additional project highlights were a smooth implementation, good project atmosphere, precise planning, and no lack of resources – all resulting in a
project delivery that was on time and within budget.
The System Landscape Optimization group’s expert
knowledge and professionalism – operating on the
”The merger proved to be a great pilot and an excellent
example for preparing to expand our global business
activities. Building up a solid, single system landscape with the help of SAP can be seen as an important milestone for our business growth in the United
States,” adds Mehrtens.
Weinmann emphasizes the smoothness of the entire
project, “There were no surprises, no rescheduling,
and even better, no need to postpone.” Weinmann
says she welcomed the timely wrap-up of the project,
and Kärcher will continue its transformation journey
to support the physical and SAP software system–
related move for a new plant in Arkansas.
“At all times in the project, there was good communication and
perfect teamwork between all partners.”
Prof. Dr. Matthias Mehrtens, Vice President, Alfred Kärcher GmbH & Co. KG
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© 2014 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
Alfred Kärcher
Executive overview
Company
Taking steps to support
Kärcher’s vision
Vision
Implementation
Solution
Benefits
Future plans
Kärcher, as an innovation-driven company, is pre­paring
to move its SAP system landscape to the SAP HANA®
platform, taking advantage of a completely reimagined
platform for real-time business and further supporting
Kärcher’s initiative to simplify its system landscape.
Kärcher’s motto – “makes a difference” – goes hand in
hand with the company’s positive experience gathered
throughout the transformation. “Everything is under
control when we work with SAP,” adds Mehrtens.
Studio SAP |32871enUS (14/10) © 2014 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
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Picture Credit | Alfred Kärcher GmbH & Co. KG, Winnenden, Germany. Used with permission.
Why SAP
“Kärcher has now found a compatible partner for
realizing mergers and acquisitions or restructuring
attempts that also involve highly complex business
scenarios affecting multiple IT solutions,” says
Mehrtens. “We are proud to have had this merger
experience, since we plan on addressing similar
transformation projects in the years to come.”
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