Language & Region
Optibelt

Optibelt | SAP implementation for the
global logistics center

Implementation Highlights

  • More than 100,000 customer order items per month
  • Cross-plant replenishment planning via stock transfer orders
  • High stability in the ATP confirmation of customer orders
  • Integration into non-SAP systems for production planning
500
+
Users
500
Localisation products
4
Factories
1
Central planning

Initial Situation

Optibelt GmbH at the main site in Höxter operates the global logistics centre, where the majority of orders are received by end customers and global inventory planning takes place. Replenishment planning for the individual sales companies is also carried out from the logistics centre.

When CONSILIO was commissioned by Optibelt as a consulting partner for the SCM processes in 2019, the implementation project was at an advanced stage and was about to undergo integration testing. Thanks to CONSILIO's consulting expertise in the introduction and expansion of SCM processes, existing gaps in processes could be identified and closed.

Above all, thanks to the good cooperation with the key users and the definition of clear specifications regarding the solution to be realised, it was possible from this point on to work purposefully towards achieving the go-live date.

CONSILIO has successfully supported us in the implementation of an SCM planning solution tailored to our requirements.
The new solution enables us to plan all demand and receipt elements in the plants involved in an integrated manner.

Bernd Droll, Head of IT / CIO Arntz Optibelt Gruppe

Challenges and Project Goals

In order to successfully replace the old system in Höxter, high demands were placed on planning and control processes that could not be supported exclusively by standard SAP functions. The realisation of these requirements necessitated various enhancements in the area of SAP SCM heuristics for net requirements planning (MRP) and bottom-up scheduling.

In addition, shipping and transport scheduling has been expanded to keep the scheduling of stock transfer requisitions and stock transfer orders consistent. To reduce the workload for users, requirements have also been implemented that, for example, support special filters on alerts to identify critical products.

At Optibelt, customer orders are created via a web shop, EDI delivery schedules and manual entry by the internal sales team.

Based on the sales order, the availability check is carried out in SAP SCM gATP, confirmed against stock and firmed receipts and, if successful, a sales order confirmation is generated directly. If no direct confirmation is possible due to missing receipts, a new receipt element is created using the APO product heuristics/MRP. After planning or scheduling in the production system, the capacity-checked date for the sales order confirmation is available via the backorder processing (BOP) carried out twice a day. The target criterion for Optibelt is to ensure a high degree of stability for the dates and quantities of the receipt elements already created and thus for the confirmed customer order dates.

Following the successful introduction of SAP in the first sales companies, further companies are to be integrated into SAP in subsequent rollouts and SAP is to be used in a fully integrated manner in the future.

Another decisive step for Optibelt is the replacement of the old system at the Höxter production site with SAP and, in the area of production planning in particular, the use of SAP SCM PP/DS standard functions. The PP/DS optimiser with downstream manual planning functions via the PP/DS detailed planning table forms the core of the planning.

In addition, all logistics processes will be implemented via SAP standards in the SD, MM, WM, QM, PP modules, as well as finance and controlling processes via FI/CO. The go-live is planned for the second quarter of 2022.

Main Benefits for the Customer

SCM standard processes are used at Optibelt, in particular gATP for checking the availability of customer orders and stock transfer orders.

Additional planning functions are also available, such as customised MRP functionality in APO in conjunction with other planning heuristics. Overall, integrated planning of all requirement and receipt elements in the various plants is made possible