How SAP S/4HANA helps Automotive Industry 4.0 in Digital Transformation Journey

Preliminaries

Due to digital disruption, every automotive industry has seen a great change in the business pattern and started transforming into digital to stay ahead in the global market. The intelligent business suite SAP S/4HANA is designed to transform automotive business and SAP Fiori provides customized user experience and integrates every part of the business with accurate analysis and projections. The S/4HANA provides proven industry best practices for the automobile industry and uninterrupted, real-time analysis and transactions enables more efficient processes. The strategic priorities for the automotive industry are to develop innovative and connected products, build digital supply chain, engage the changing workforce, put customer first, and evolve new business models and mobility services.

The automotive company are building products and bringing innovations in design where sensors and software can be embedded while improving the overall product lifecycle.
The supply chain is integrated from the suppliers to the customer. The integration of the entire process is predicting the fluctuations in supply and demand, facilitating inventory management.
The workforce is changing in the digital world. The millennial wants engaging and skilled work. The digital technology has increased the demand for smarter products which require skills in AI, ML, etc.
Market forces and change in technology has brought the customer at the center of the product development cycle. To meet the customer expectations, there is a need for a continuous feedback mechanism that builds customer experience and loyalty.
It is predicted that by 2030, 22% of automotive revenue shall come from transportation as a service, shared mobility and related digital services. The suppliers, dealers, aftermarket retailers are utilizing new technologies to open new business models and finding new possibilities for monetizing the services.

SAP S/4HANA is designed to assist the company in achieving these priority areas for the automotive industry. The emphasis is on to cover the entire digital transformation right from the planning a digital innovation, implanting those plans with industry best practices and efficiently utilizing the resources for various deployment purposes. SAP S/4HANA has simplified the business process and providing key industry capabilities such as sustainable product innovation, manufacturing and logistics, responsive supply chain, marketing, sales and after sales, and finally smart mobility and transportation.

SAP S/4HANA Solution Framework for Automotive Industry 4.0

SAP’s stable digital core and line-of-business extensions flexibility, has simplified Automotive Business Process. Sustainable Product Innovation, Manufacturing Logistics, Responsive Supply Networks, Marketing, Sales & Aftermarket, and Smart Mobility & Transportation are the key automotive industry capabilities. Automotive Industry 4.0 is the information-intensive transformation of manufacturing and industry in a connected environment of big data, people, processes, services, systems and IoT-enabled industrial assets with the generation, leverage and utilization of actionable data and information as a way and means to realize smart industry and ecosystems of industrial innovation and collaboration. Following are Automotive Industry 4.0 enabled SAP Solutions:

Research, Development, and Engineering

S/4HANA goes beyond just building digital products and assets, enables new business practices by managing digital product and asset intelligence across networks. It offers a platform to connect assets with the Internet of Things and maximizes performance. S/4HANA shortens research and development lifecycle by establishing a network of digital twins among manufacturers, operators, and consumers across the product and asset lifecycle. The new SAP Fiori app provides 360-degree product views, including electronic, mechanical, software simulations, etc. S/4HANA Automotive Solutions are:

Product Formulation and Recipe Development - Accelerates time to market and reduce development cost through integrated and collaborative development of innovative and compliant products. (Products: SAP S/4HANA)
Portfolio and Project Management - Develops new & innovative products and services based on value-assessment & investment decisions. (Products: SAP S/4HANA, SAP Portfolio and Project Management)
Design and Project Networks - Connects and collaborates with stakeholders to develop responsive network that helps in accelerating product and project delivery. (Products: SAP S/4HANA)
Product Development and Configuration - Collaborates across the organizational boundaries and integrate product development; expedite go to market with innovative, compliant products. (Products: SAP S/4HANA)
Product Compliance - Manages global product safety and compliance along with updated country-specific norms repository throughout the product lifecycle. (Products: SAP S/4HANA)

Manufacturing and Outbound Logistics

There were planning inefficiencies due to long and overnight batch runs. The inability to include real-time, changing demands leads to inaccurate planning. SAP S/4HANA offers improved & live MRP runs 10 times faster and can run multiple times a day. The system locking behaviors leads to delayed material postings. There is now the facility of real-time inventory management and materials valuation. SAP HANA databases enabled mass product availability check for sales, planned, and production orders. The amalgamation of SAP S/4HANA, SAP Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence (SAP MII), and SAP Manufacturing Execution (SAP ME) offers an end-to-end manufacturing process integration. Warehouse clerks and inventory managers’ gets SAP Fiori apps with simplified data model. SAP S4HANA offers a competitive advantage by optimizing global manufacturing networks, reducing inventories, and synchronizing logistics. Enable optimal execution, and have greater control and sharper visibility. SAP S/4HANA Automotive Solutions are:

Environment, Health, and Safety - Reduces environment, health, and safety risks to help ensure safety and business continuity. (Products: SAP S/4HANA, SAP Connected Worker Safety)
Industrial Insights - Manages manufacturing performance across plants using standardized & customized KPIs to optimize manufacturing operations and predict quality. (Products: SAP Digital Manufacturing Cloud, SAP ME)
Manufacturing Execution (ME) - Connect, monitor, and tightly control manufacturing processes and operations by integrating with business and manufacturing systems to enable efficient, high quality production on the shop floor. (Products: SAP S/4HANA Manufacturing solutions, SAP ME)
Manufacturing Networks - Find hidden production capacity in your existing resources for greater success. (Products: SAP S/4HANA Manufacturing, SAP Manufacturing Execution)
Manufacturing Operations - Identify and prioritize critical material issues and maximize enterprise-wide visibility across supply, production, inventory, and demand.(Products: SAP S/4HANA Manufacturing, SAP Ariba Supply Chain Collaboration for Buyers)
Outbound Logistics - Integrating production and outbound logistics to quickly meet customer demand. (Products: SAP Integrated Business Planning)

Responsive Supply Network

The priority of supply network is to track digital components, actualize efficient replenishment strategies and enable 3D printing for spare parts. The aim is to achieve real-time, end-to-end visibility into supply chain management with the help of simulation scenarios in real-time. The supply networks have to establish key metrics to help manage by exception and focus on problems. They deliver on-time and advance availability-to-promise capabilities. The demand sensing is to be improved and automate replenishment. The logistics performance and service parts planning are to be optimized. SAP S/4HANA provides global traceability of the supply networks. The entire business planning has been integrated and transportation management. There is a facility of collaborative supply chain and efficient planning related to service parts. SAP S/4HANA Automotive Solutions are:

Order Promising - Commits orders in real time considering business rules and enhancing customer satisfaction. (Products: SAP S/4HANA)
Yard Logistics - Improves a yard’s productivity and thereby increasing customer satisfaction while decreasing cost of operation. (Products: SAP Yard Logistics)
Track and Trace Logistics Networks - Maximizes supply chain logistics strategy and comply with regulations of digital operations networks. (Products: SAP Global Track and Trace)
Warehouse Management - Improves warehouse management with optimized planning and automated processes. (Products: SAP Extended Warehouse Management, SAP S/4HANA)
Demand Management and Insights - Creates accurate demand plans by gaining insights to achieve productivity and customer satisfaction. (Products: SAP Integrated Business Planning)
Transportation Management - Reduces costs and improves service with streamlined transportation management processes. (Products: SAP Transportation Management)
Sales, Inventory, and Operations Planning- Plans the supply chain to anticipate and manages demand, inventory, and operational risk and opportunity. (Products: SAP Integrated Business Planning)
Response and Supply Planning - Creates and maintains supply plans aligned with business goals as demand and supply change. (Products: SAP Integrated Business Planning, SAP Ariba Supply Chain Collaboration for Buyers)

Sales and Marketing Planning

SAP S/4HANA gives insights and collaborated internal sales professional. The new sales order system monitors and prepare a prioritized list with an outstanding sales order based on real-time analytics. The embedded analytics in SAP S/4HANA help the sales manager to analyze order-to-cash performance trends. SAP HANA allows end users to do the full-text searching for business documents and provides results ranking along with business criteria. The advanced ATP helps the user with new strategies for high volume, backorder processing and confirmation on business priority. The handling of rebate processing was complex. The new business models were based on flexible contracts. There is a central contract administration with a single point of entry of contract data and contract-related conditions. The systemic changes brought by adopting these measures brought several benefits. S/4HANA allows businesses to grow market share and individualize customer engagement using real-time contextual marketing, Omni channel sales, and billing solutions. SAP S/4HANA Automotive Solutions are:

Commerce Personalization - Delivers relevant and impactful commerce experiences with real-time personalization. (Products: SAP Commerce Cloud)
Subscription Management - Meets the needs of the outcome focused consumer with an agile billing solution designed to monetize any consumption model. (Products: SAP S/4HANA Cloud for Contract Accounting and Invoicing)
Omni-channel Commerce Management - Drives business with an industry-leading Omni channel commerce platform. (Products: SAP Commerce Cloud)
Quote to Cash - Collaborates on customer needs and delivers on those needs at a stated price and time, enabling a perfect buying experience every time. (Products: SAP CPQ)
Optimized Marketing - Gains visibility and control of the entire closed-loop marketing process. Make data-driven decisions to increase the marketing ROI. (Products: SAP Cloud for Customer, SAP Marketing Cloud)
Sales Performance Management - Turns strategy into action with solid sales performance management to boost revenue and exceed quotas. (Products: SAP Sales Cloud)
Single Customer View - Gains insight from a single view of customers and deliver personalized experiences across the entire customer journey. (Products: SAP Marketing Cloud)
Customer Experience Management - Manages customers' experience across the entire engagement cycle. (Products: SAP Qualtrics Digital CX)
Vehicle Sales Management - Optimizes vehicle distribution chains to improve sales. (Products: SAP Yard Logistics, SAP S/4HANA)

Aftermarket Services

SAP S/4HANA achieves service excellence by delivering exceptional customer experiences with every interaction and helps businesses to become a best-run service organization by solving problems faster and smarter and increasing service profitability. It inspire loyalty and exceed the needs of digitally connected customers with Omni channel customer service. SAP S/4HANA Automotive Solutions are:

Asset Performance Management - Connects digitally with a central data foundation across all assets to perfect reality from design to operation. (Products: SAP Predictive Maintenance and Service, SAP Asset Strategy and Performance Management)
Service Parts Management - Improves profitability in service parts management by increasing efficiency. (Products: SAP S/4HANA, SAP Integrated Business Planning)
Service Monetization - Grows service revenue by seamlessly offering, planning, and executing services with service monetization. (Products: SAP S/4HANA Cloud)
Omnichannel Customer Service - Deliver an omnichannel customer service experience to exceed customers’ expectations. (Products: SAP Sales Cloud, SAP Marketing Cloud)
Field Service Management - Support field service from every angle with optimized workforce scheduling and mobile apps (Products: SAP Field Service Management, SAP S/4HANA)

Smart Mobility & Transformation

SAP S/4HANA embraces change in the new automotive ecosystem using smart mobility and transformation solutions. It integrate vehicle telematics, enterprise, and customer data to offer smart mobility services and enhance ordering, collection, and transportation of goods. It also optimize processes and create value by supporting new business models for autonomous, connected, electric, and shared vehicles. It runs real-time supply chains that link people, processes, and things. SAP S/4HANA Automotive Solutions are:

Intelligent Logistics and Transportation - Balances customer service and delivery costs through efficient digital logistics and transportation management. (Products: SAP Integrated Business Planning, SAP Yard Logistics)
Monetization of Services - Creates value and monetize new business models for autonomous, connected, electric, and shared vehicles. (Products: SAP S/4HANA)
Mobility as a Service - Embraces change to succeed in the automotive industry of the future through mobility as a service. (Products: SAP S/4HANA)

Human Capital Management

SAP SuccessFactors (SF) & Qualtrics inspires workforce with engaging experiences designed to improve people performance and business results. It motivate workforce by putting people at the center of transformation to an intelligent enterprise, enhances agility. SAP SF & Qualtrics Automotive Solutions are:

Core Human Resources and Service Delivery - Simplifies core HR and service delivery processes to deliver efficiency, ensures global compliance, and improves everyday work life. (Products: SAP SF Employee Central, SAP SF Employee Central Service Center)
Talent Learning & Development- Simplifies talent management to engage, develop, and retain the right talent. (Products: SAP SF Performance & Goals, SAP SF Compensation, SAP SF Succession & Development, SAP SF Learning)
Talent Acquisition - Secures best talent by using embedded engagement and automation throughout the hiring process. (Products - SAP SF Recruiting, SAP SF Onboarding)
Employee Experience Management - Manages employees' experience across all phases of engagement. (Products: SAP Qualtrics Employee Engagement, SAP Qualtrics Employee Lifecycle)
Payroll, Time and Attendance Management - Optimizes payroll, time and attendance management processes to ensure workforce is paid accurately and on-time. (Products: SAP SF Employee Central, SAP SF Employee Central Payroll)
People Analytics - Improves ability to lead workforce, accelerate change, and drive results with personalized people analytics. (Products: SAP SF Workforce Analytics, SAP Analytics Cloud)

Financial Management

SAP S/4HANA brings together financial processes with analytics radically automated and in real-time, and translate it into forward-looking business insight across the entire corporate landscape. SAP’s innovative solutions help empower finance teams to transform into business leaders that give their corporate enterprise a competitive edge in a rapidly changing world. SAP S/4HANA Automotive Solutions are:

Invoice-to-Pay – It automates and integrates payables management processes. It provides solutions for collaborative finance operations which leverages the latest innovative technology, enables rapid response with real-time insights, anywhere access. Invoice-to-pay covers supplier payments operations for accounts payable. Once the invoice is approved, payment is scheduled and executed to the supplier, based on the due date.
Invoice-to-Cash – It automates, integrates, and collaborates receivable management processes. It gains better control of invoicing processes for invoice management to increase cash flow, enhance cash requirements and payment visibility, reduce costs, minimize fraud, and improve vendor relations. Receivables management includes all operations related to accounts receivables, billing customers, managing disputes, collections, customer credit risk
Financial Planning and Analysis - It helps executives adjust plans and allocate resources to accommodate rapid market change and align performance with strategy. The software provides the necessary means to define strategy, model cost drivers, improve financial forecasting, and analyze & report transactional and operational data. With maximum cross-functional insight, managers can streamline budgeting processes, capture opportunities, predict variances against key performance indicators, and create a customized business flow to achieve profitability.
Record-to-Report – It provides greater financial insight and control through a faster, compliant financial closure with less cost and effort. It streamlines the recording of accounting data for multiple companies, currencies, charts of accounts, reporting standards, and industry requirements for accounting and financial close. It closes books on time, and creates financial statements efficiently at the entity and corporate levels for International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), U.S. GAAP, or other local requirements. It provides real-time financial insight based on a single source of truth.
Travel-to-Reimburse: It provides complete and integrated administration of travel expenses, from recording the expenses to correct Taxation in Payroll, posting in Financial Accounting, and allocation in Controlling or Funds Management. The travel expense Transfer amounts can be reimbursed to the employee via Financial Accounting or Payroll.
Treasury Management - SAP software enables cash, liquidity, and risk management as well as integrated financial reporting. Treasury managers improve the management of every activity associated with cash, payments, liquidity, risk, and compliance. By simplifying working capital, risk management, and compliance, treasury managers can gain complete transparency into and control over interrelated activities and automate critical processes.
Governance, Risk and Compliance -. It improve business performance and decrease the cost and effort of managing governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) processes with GRC solutions. By streamlining and automating processes, organization can anticipate and manage risk events, reduce compliance weaknesses, and extend GRC programs into value-adding business activities.
Real Estate – It improve real-estate lifecycle processes such as investment and construction, sales and marketing, lease and space management, and maintenance and repair management. It performs portfolio analysis and investment tracking, lead qualification, lease posting, rent escalation, and maintenance and repair. It also reduces project risks, vacancies, and expenses and raise revenues.

SAP Products for Automotive Industry 4.0

SAP’s Automotive Industry 4.0 initiatives allow companies:

(i) to build Intelligent Products that are designed to monitor and maximize performance over time, while meeting customers’ precise and unique configurations

(ii) to build up Intelligent Factories, which use data and intelligence to run as autonomously as possible, while delivering both mass-produced and individualized products at scale

(iii) to leverage Intelligent Assets, linked to each and every process and dynamically maintained

(iv) and to Empower People that are equipped with the tools and information they need to do their best work.

Following are Automotive Industry 4.0 enabled SAP products:

S/4HANA Cloud – It is a complete ERP system with built-in intelligent technologies, including AI, ML, and advanced analytics. It helps companies adopt new business models, manage business change at speed, orchestrate internal and external resources, and use the predictive power of AI. It benefit from tight, native integration between processes, industry depth, and a consistent in-memory data model.
Portfolio and Project Management Software – It manages full project lifecycle from a centralized source, keeping portfolio on track from forecasting and planning to accounting and closure. It helps in developing new products and services profitably by optimizing resources and speeding time to market, integrating financial and logistic information seamlessly.
Connected Worker Safety (Management of Change) – It makes seamless operational changes to equipment, materials, chemicals, operating conditions, procedures, and organizational structure with confidence using Management of Change application. It facilitates document assessments, approvals, and task completion throughout the management-of-change process without disruption and harm.
Digital Manufacturing Cloud - It improves operations visibility with the SAP Digital Manufacturing Cloud solution, a manufacturing execution system (MES) of near real-time data and analytics. It executes manufacturing processes, analyses manufacturing and business data, and integrate systems with a cost-effective, high-quality, and resource-efficient method based on Industry 4.0.
Manufacturing Execution (MES) – It controls, monitors, and automates manufacturing operations digitally - digitizes manufacturing processes and integrate business systems using a cost-effective, high-quality, and resource-efficient methodology based on Industry 4.0 technology. Operational visibility can be improved with near real-time information that increases product traceability using solutions based on IoT.
S/4HANA Manufacturing Solutions - Built on the same SAP S/4HANA platform, the SAP S/4HANA manufacturing solution for planning and scheduling and SAP S/4HANA manufacturing solution for production engineering and operations deliver an enhanced, comprehensive, and simplified user experience that enables enterprise-wide manufacturing collaboration within an integrated SAP S/4HANA environment.
Ariba Supply Chain Collaboration for Buyers – It collaborates over Ariba Network and provide complete supply chain visibility to reduce inventory levels, increase fill rates, and increase team productivity. Integrating with ERP and supply chain optimization systems, this collaboration platform equips to work with multiple tiers of contract manufacturers and suppliers across key supply chain planning and execution processes. It also shares production forecasts, orders, quality, and inventory information with suppliers and obtain their responses in real time. It resolves supply assurance problems quickly with collaboration dashboards that alert to supply and demand mismatches. It provides a mechanism to onboard suppliers using on-demand tools, multiple integration options, and supplier enablement teams.
Integrated Business Planning (IBS) for Supply Chain - Meet future demand profitably with SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain (SAP IBP). Powered by SAP HANA in-memory technology, this cloud-based solution combines sales and operations planning (S&OP), forecasting and demand, response and supply, demand-driven replenishment, and inventory planning. Take advantage of powerful supply chain analytics, what-if simulations, alerts, and more to stay ahead of change and improve responsiveness.
Yard Logistics – It optimizes resource use and support planning, execution, and billing with integrated yard logistics management. It runs more efficient and profitable supply chain logistics by using the SAP Yard Logistics application to maximise visibility into all yard processes and preview planned workloads with a range of visualization and reporting tools.
Global Track and Trace (SAP Logistics Business Network) – It improves freight collaboration, goods tracking, material traceability and supply chain resilience with an open logistics network. It facilitates an open logistics network that connects business partners for intercompany collaboration and insights. SAP Logistics Business Network provides a central entry point to manage logistics transactions, exchange documents with key business partners, and gain transparency across value chain.
Extended Warehouse Management – It helps controlling warehouse operations with changing in demand while lowering costs with warehouse management software. It manages high-volume warehouse operations; integrate complex supply chain logistics with warehouse and distribution processes with visibility and control. It optimizes inventory tracking, cross-docking, distribution operations, multichannel fulfilment, and more – all in real time.
Transportation Management – It optimizes logistics and improve services by increasing visibility and control with transportation management software. It reduces transportation complexity dramatically by integrating fleet and logistics management throughout network. It also consolidates orders and maximize the return on transportation spend. It forecasts demand and shipment volumes accurately to fine-tune transportation planning. It enhances freight, fleet, and logistics management to gain real-time visibility into global transportation and domestic shipping across all transportation modes and industries.
S/4HANA Cloud for Contract Accounting and Invoicing – It maximizes value of subscription- and consumption-based invoicing and contract accounts receivable and payable processes. This solution enables high-volume businesses to converge invoice streams from any combination of digital solutions along with automated, streamlined sub-ledger processes. (i) Subscription- and consumption-based invoicing (ii) Contract accounts receivable and payable
Commerce Cloud - It offer an agile e-commerce experience based on deep, real-time customer insights. It acquires digital commerce capabilities and (i) Harnesses real-time insights to understand each customer’s wants, needs, and preferences throughout the online buying journey. (ii) builds compelling, relevant storefront experiences with real-time personalized content, search, and intelligent merchandising. (iii) uses ML to maximize conversions with behavior-based recommendations and personalized promotions. (iv) hits and exceeds business targets with A/B testing and real-time algorithms optimized to meet business goals.
Marketing Cloud - It stays focused on customers with SAP Marketing Cloud by taking CRM to the next level with personalized demand generation and marketing tactics. It sharpens the focus of marketing team by leveraging the full context of customer needs and demands. It builds trust and deepen relationships with customers through consent-based, scalable insights and personalized journeys. It uses real-time business intelligence to enable fast analysis and confident decision-making across the organization. It empowers marketers to successfully generate demand, increase lead conversions, and drive more sales
Sales Cloud– It deliver connected sales experiences that accelerate the buying process and turn customers into advocates. It engage customers through connected, customer-centric processes that improve experiences and maximize sales. (1) Sales automation - Sales process optimization, Embedded sales intelligence, Customer analytics and insights (2) CPQ - Self-service quote configuration, Margin-protecting guardrails, Opportunity upsell recommendations (3) Pricing optimization - Segmentation and price tuning, Pricing strategy simulation, Statistical pricing analysis
CPQ (Configure, Price, and Quote) – It improves speed and accuracy of quotation process; maximizes every sales opportunity with intelligent selling. It delivers results with an intuitive configuration process across every sales channel. It builds, optimizes and creates buyer-friendly quotes and proposals with SAP CPQ solution. It eliminates quote errors and empowers sellers to easily configure complex product offerings with optimized prices and branded proposals.
Field Service Management – It connects entire field service management value chain with innovative technology and a deep understanding of customer needs. It resolves customer issues quickly with end-to-end field service management. The SAP Field Service Management solution empowers technicians to boost customer satisfaction with mobile tools, artificial intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, and the Internet of Things.
Digital Customer Experience Qualtrics, CustomerXM for Digital, module fixes experience gaps, create interactions that are emotionally engaging, and better connect with customers so they want to return. (i) Listens to customers at every stage of their journey through web, mobile app, chat and SMS, and improve their experience. (ii) Creates programs in a simple and intuitive dashboard, design and deploy digital listening posts, and collect insights all in one platform (iii) Targets the right customers at the right time with precision targeting, understand the sentiment and attitudes behind customer behavior & can data into the analytics platforms including Adobe Analytics, Google Analytics, Quantum Metric and more. (iv) Optimizes the mobile-app experience with constant monitoring and analysis of App Store reviews that will improve the in-app experience and boost app store ratings.
SuccessFactors Employee Central - Employee Central module is a flexible, global core HR solution that supports core HR processes and employee self-services for workforce. It increases productivity with an HRIS system that automates processes and provides employee self-service HR tools.
SuccessFactors Employee Central Service Center - Employee Central Payroll module simplifies and integrates global payroll processes to ensure workforce is paid accurately and on time – with cloud payroll management system. Employee Central Payroll software automates core HR, payroll, talent management, and integrates with analytics.
SuccessFactors Performance & Goals –Performance & Goals software align strategy and goals, improve employee performance through ongoing coaching and feedback, and recognize top talent. It enables an efficient and productive workforce that can quickly adjust to evolving business needs.
SuccessFactors Compensation – It builds and manages strategic employee compensation programmers using intuitive compensation management software. Strategic compensation module aligns the needs of employees, business, and budget. It improves individual and business performance with personalized, timely rewards and recognition programmes.
SuccessFactors Succession & Development - Succession & Development module develops the talent needed to achieve business goals, while providing visibility and planning capabilities to support future growth. Cultivate your next generation of talent and engage and retain current employees to support your strategy and success.
SuccessFactors Learning - Learning module provides innovative capabilities that creates a culture of continuous learning with a corporate learning management system (LMS). It trains employees, improve regulatory compliance, design and curate learning content.
SuccessFactors Recruiting - Recruiting software secures the right talent through results-oriented recruiting practices, embedded engagement and automation. It prepares business for long-term success by attracting, identifying, and hiring the right talent.
SuccessFactors Onboarding - Onboarding module brings supporting systems, processes, and people into an intuitive digital experience, accessible from anywhere, on any device. It manages employee onboarding, cross-boarding, offboarding, and rehire programmes through a single solution.
SuccessFactors Workforce Analytics -. Workforce Analytics solution empowers HR professionals, analysts, and business partners to quickly and accurately answer questions about workforce to influence business decisions, with data-driven insights and an evidence-based approach to HR. Create a single version of the truth with standard definitions of workforce metrics in the SAP SuccessFactors Workforce Analytics solution, enabling managers and leaders to make better decisions based on a common understanding of the data.
Qualtrics Employee Engagement - It reduces unwanted employee attrition, retains and develops top performers, improve employee engagement, and increase the productivity of workforce. Qualtrics Employee Engagement solution manages employee experiences effectively by continuously interacting with employees, captures feedback and drives ongoing improvements using those insights.
Qualtrics Employee Lifecycle - Qualtrics Employee Lifecycle solution drives the right actions to ensure successful onboarding programmes and identify what key drivers are leading to employee retention and attrition with insights. It collects employee feedback and insights at key touch points in real time to drive improvements, provide understanding how well onboarding programmes are getting new hires up to speed, as well as why top performers are leaving.
Analytics Cloud - Analytics Cloud solution combines BI, augmented and predictive analytics, and planning capabilities into one cloud environment. As the analytics layer of SAP’s Business Technology Platform, it supports enterprise-wide advanced analytics.
Predictive Asset Insights - Predictive Asset Insights solution moves from reactive to predictive maintenance and service with Internet of Things (IoT). It analyses IoT-enabled predictive maintenance data, monitor equipment behavior remotely, and gain greater insight through engineering simulations.
Asset Strategy and Performance Management - Intelligent Asset Management solution portfolio enables asset owners, managers, plant managers, and reliability engineers to improve control, while making maintenance planning easier and more accurate, with Asset Strategy and Performance Management application, part of Intelligent Asset Management solution portfolio.

Industry Use Cases

Selling a world-class vehicle is no longer enough in the automotive industry. Customers are looking for leading-edge technology and unique customer experiences, encouraging automotive manufacturers to modernize their production processes to be able to deliver. Companies like Indus Motor Company, Goodyear and Mercedes-Benz are solving this challenge with the support of SAP’s S/4HANA, focusing on smart manufacturing, digital supply chain and services mobility.

Indus Motor Company

Indus Motor Company’s (a joint venture between the House of Habib in Pakistan, Toyota Motor Corporation and Toyota Tsusho Corporation of Japan) journey to transformation began in 2015, when the company decided the SAP systems they have been working with since 2004 were no longer enough to manage the business. They decided to upgrade to S/4HANA due its in-memory capabilities not offered by SAP’s competitors at the time, which allowed real-time reporting and data centralization. Some of the primary benefits Indus Motor Company received from the upgrade are:

Better Materials Requirements Planning – The process of running their MRP used to take four hours, it now takes 12 minutes and helps them avoid lost production that could cost an estimated $250,000 annually.
Efficient closing of books at the end of a financial period used to take eight days, it now takes three days and is saving the company up to 800 hours per month, which translates to nearly $200,000 in employee time per year.
Quality management – Consolidating defects could only be done at the end of each week, the correction is now done immediately, saving a company $10,000 per minute in lost production.

Indus Motor Company decided not to migrate its old data to the new system as a strategy to streamline the implementation. With the new platform, they have put new processes in place, improving and modernizing the company.

Goodyear Tire

Goodyear is one of the world’s largest tyre companies, employing around 64,000 people across six continents. Before moving to S/4HANA, the manufacturer was running separate ERPs in over 45 sites in 21 countries. Goodyear decided to leverage latest SAP S/4HANA technologies and to simplify and standardize their applications architecture to support business requirements. Goodyear has made this upgrade through deploying SAP S/4HANA on SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud. This allows them to focus on processes and business plans while leaving the management of S/4HANA to SAP.

Goodyear is currently using finance and plan for central procurement, SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP SuccessFactors, SAP Concur, and SAP Fieldglass solutions. Finance professionals no longer make decisions based on yesterday’s numbers, they now make better and more informed decisions based on real-time data. Goodyear plans to add more business processes and innovations to continue the journey to become an intelligent enterprise, following this successful initial implementation.

Mercedes-Benz

S/4HANA tailored solutions has enabled the Mercedez-Benz EQ Formula E team to analyse large volumes of data and manage this process effectively. When it comes to competing on the tracks, Mercedez-Benz makes use of the SAP Sports One solution to monitor, understand and act on human performance through fitness trackers and other wearable technology. The collection of the drivers’ biometric data allows the team to have visibility of their health, sleeping patterns and hydration levels, as well as coordinate and manage training, talent development and medical processes to ensure performance at the highest level.

The strong partnership between SAP and automobile brand Mercedes-Benz has opened a range of opportunities to develop technologies in other areas such as retail. In recent years, Mercedes-Benz’ parent organization Daimler AG, in partnership with SAP Consulting and students at the University of Applied Science, developed the car detection app for their Mercedes-Benz’s customers. The app, which uses recognition algorithms that run on SAP Leonardo Machine Learning, allows users to take a photo of any car they like while being out and about, and displays Mercedes-Benz cars that best match the photo, as well as the nearest car dealerships.

Conclusion

S/4HANA helps automotive companies to accelerate innovation in the product, improving the quality, reducing manufacturing costs, and sells and services vehicles more profitably. It provides data driven technology that blend together the world of sensors, technology and vehicle data with a world of application and practices. It increases the market share in a highly competitive market. SAP delivers services that satisfy customers and meet regulatory requirements. It optimizes efficiency, reduces the cost and uncertainty in global supply networks. S/4HANA provides a cutting-edge solution for the automotive industry that gives them a competitive edge over others. It helps in achieving company manufacturing, sales and marketing goals easily. The increased equipment effectiveness reduces manufacturing costs and faster delivery of products to market. The predictive models help in real time prediction with advanced analytics and bring excellence in sales and services. Here are few benefits automotive companies reap with S/4HANA:

Improved Inventory Management - S/4HANA integrates entire supply chain and realize a reduction in the number of days in inventory. This means a reduction in stock-outs, and a simplified landscape yielding a logistics cost savings.
Reduction in Procurement Costs - Supply chain productivity increases with S/4HANA by leveraging discount options on early payment, reducing worker acquisition time by one-third, and maximizing your inventory ordering and raw material tracking in real time.
Reduction in Manufacturing Costs - Manufacturing operations can be dramatically increased with real-time inventory management and material valuation, live MRP, ERP and planning functions in one system and one database - combined with anywhere, any-device, role-based user experience.
Reduction in Capital Requirements - Live business with a single source of the truth allows to transform finance department by eliminating forecasting errors, reducing unnecessary capital requirements and improvement in invoice processing productivity.
Faster Material Requirement Planning - S/4HANA ensures timely delivery of products with live MRP that improves planning with multiple daily runs that are 10 times faster, with help of MRP cockpit that supports simulation features and decision support.
Reduction in Global Settlement Time - Central contract administration, through a single point of entry for contract data and contract-related conditions as well as support for flexible condition contracts, reduces global settlement time by 10%.
Improvement in Customer Satisfaction - Sales order fulfillment monitor, order to cash performance monitor, advanced ATP and flexible settlement management increase on-time delivery, the productivity of the rebate campaigns, efficiency and quality of customer interactions, leading to overall customer satisfaction.
Explore New Business Models - Get better insights into customer requirements, early warnings of emerging and changing market trends and enable the company to run live.