Most of us probably don’t think too much about how that bottle of celebratory bubbly or interesting new microbrew actually came to be outside of the fermentation process itself, but a lot goes into keeping the beverage industry flowing. Automation of bottling and ease of vendor ordering are critical to keeping us all well hydrated, and digital solutions are now a big part of traditional manufacturing.
One fourth of the world’s bottles are filled on lines produced by Krones AG. Everything from beer to ketchup, sparkling wine to perfume, and water to soft drinks, come off production lines that Krones AG had a hand in. Founded in Germany in 1951 as a semi-automatic labeling production, Krones AG has grown over the years and now partners with their customers on mechanical engineering, process technology, microbiology, and IT. Their machinery goes from filling, labeling, and packing bottles and cans, to then taking back plastic bottles (PET) and processing them for reuse.
Krones AG now has operations internationally in locations such as South Africa, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and multiple sites in South America. But multiple global subsidiaries can produce operational difficulties. With their subsidiaries running on diverse ERP platforms, it became apparent that their intercompany integration was too time consuming. They needed a solution that was easy to implement, and more importantly, would integrate all their businesses.
Enter SAP Business One
Krones AG elected to go with SAP Business One. In a recent video about their success, Anna Maria Gunther, Commercial Applications CRM and Lifecycle Service, Krones AG, explained that the SAP Business One decision was simple. It is easy to learn and quick to implement, but still provides a full range of functionality. That made it a cost effective solution. Their financial reporting has gone from days at month end, to just the push of a button.
By taking this harmonized approach, Krones AG is streamlining all of their subsidiaries and synchronizing material data and receipts with their headquarters. This seamless integration at the warehouse and online, enables their ecommerce presence. In addition, this was accomplished without an IT investment from headquarters.
Easy Shopping for Commercial Customers
Krones AG has over 1.7 million products to offer their commercial customers. And their customers expect to order items with the same level of ease they have ordering products from any online store in their personal lives. With SAP Hybris Commerce, Krones AG was able to deliver such a user experience:
“In the Krones online store, commercial customers receive the same easy shopping experience that they expect from other online retailers like Amazon – even though a single machine can comprise of up to six million separate parts”.— Bernd Baldauf, Head of eBusiness, Krones AG
And that easy-to-use, accurate online presence has led to an increase in sales orders. Keeping their customers happy and well stocked using an easy-to-use digital solution is just good business.
So the next time you pick up a soft drink or a bottle of water, think about how we take for granted the availability of that great product. There is so much innovation going into the production of consumer products and Krones AG is adapting their business for the future. They embrace the concept that a business cannot simply be ‘live’ because that implies that they are standing still. Krones AG has simplified their approach to integrating their subsidiaries and have reduced the effort to bring goods to their customers.
I’ll drink to that!
More resources:
Customer Journey
Customer Video
SAP Business One Business Transformation Study
SAP Hybris Business Transformation Study
Follow me on Twitter: Rhoda Springer (@rhodajspringer) | Twitter
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