Fire Up S/4HANA Migrations Without Burning Out

⇨ Rosenbauer, a distinguished manufacturer in firefighting and disaster protection systems, faced the arduous task of transitioning from legacy systems to SAP S/4HANA.

⇨ Its partnership with implementation partner CNT was instrumental in achieving significant milestones, not only in Switzerland but also in envisioning future integrations in Slovenia.

⇨ Rosenbauer has benefitted from SAP S/4HANA and has been able to focus on core processes.

SAP users know all too well how strenuous migrating systems can be and are constantly in search for implementation partners that can offer streamlined services that reflect in cost and time savings.

Rosenbauer, a distinguished manufacturer in firefighting and disaster protection systems, faced the arduous task of transitioning from legacy systems to SAP S/4HANA. In this transition, they sought more than just a technical upgrade – they aimed for a holistic transformation that would elevate operational efficiency and enhance client services.

Its partnership with implementation partner CNT was instrumental in achieving significant milestones, not only in Switzerland but also in envisioning future integrations in Slovenia. Through this partnership, Rosenbauer witnessed firsthand the transformative power of SAP S/4HANA, leading to heightened transparency and efficiency in financial processes.

Rosenbauer has been utilizing S/4HANA in accounting for some time. For logistic processes, an ERP system developed in-house is in use. Other IT systems are used in various areas of the company such as in field service management.

A challenge Rosenbauer faced was the very high level of interconnectedness between the various locations. For example, Rosenbauer Switzerland is a service and sales location where vehicles produced at other locations are also completed and equipped in accordance with individual customer requirements along with its fire protections systems.

By migrating its systems to S/4HANA, Rosenbauer wanted to roll out a template with a focus on sales and service processes at the first location, map production processes for manufacturing in SAP, integrate with both the existing ERP system for intercompany processes and the CRM system for service and sales, seamlessly integrate logistics processes with existing finance and controlling processes, and support a smooth migration from the current system to SAP S/4HANA.

Sebastian Wolf, CEO of Rosenbauer, said: “This marks the first major milestone in our strategically important SAP project. I am looking forward to the implementation at Rosenbauer Slovenia in the first half of 2023, which is a fully integrated production site.”

As organizations embark on their migration journeys, they can draw invaluable lessons from Rosenbauer’s experience, leveraging SAP S/4HANA not just as a software upgrade but as a catalyst for organizational excellence and the competitive advantage that implementation partners can have on this journey.

Gregor Graf, project manager, Rosenbauer said: “With the help of implementation partner CNT, the successful go-live in Switzerland marked our first milestone. Since then, Rosenbauer has benefitted from SAP S/4HANA and has been able to focus on core processes. At the same time, we have already been able to significantly increase transparency concerning financial processes.”