Benefit potential

Do you know how broad a spectrum of benefits SAP can offer to discrete manufacturing companies?

Complex product configuration, diverse order types, long-lead-time components, manual cross-departmental alignments, lack of real-time margin control and difficulties in production planning are part of everyday reality for many discrete manufacturing companies.

Some organizations are only beginning to look for a system that can help them organize these processes and gain control over margin levels. Others already use advanced tools such as SAP systems, but still do not fully leverage the capabilities the system can provide across sales, production, supply chain, quality, finance, IT and HR.

Hicron helps discrete manufacturing companies implement, develop and optimize SAP so that the system can genuinely support business decisions: from product configuration and production and material planning to cost, margin and delivery-time control.

Does your ERP effectively support your business?

Regardless of whether you use SAP or another ERP system, the key question remains the same: does your current environment give you sufficient control over product configuration, production, materials, quality, costs and margin, while also enabling you to manage employees effectively – their motivation, succession and development?

In many discrete manufacturing companies, key processes still partly operate outside the core system – in Excel, local tools, custom solutions or manual alignments between departments.

This may mean that ERP does not fully support business decisions.

The most common symptoms include:

manual product configuration,
limited visibility of component availability,
material planning disconnected from production reality,
an incomplete view of order status, work in progress and bottlenecks,
quality, testing or batch traceability managed outside the system,
delayed visibility of cost deviations and margin,
employee turnover and production execution problems caused by employee unavailability or insufficient qualifications.

SAP can help build a consistent model of processes and data across sales, production, procurement, quality, finance, IT and HR – regardless of whether you want to optimize your current SAP environment or build a stronger foundation for further growth.

Business areas supported by SAP S/4HANA

SAP supports discrete manufacturing companies facing high process complexity – regardless of whether they produce machines, vehicles, technical structures or products configured for individual orders.

What connects these organizations is not the product itself, but the nature of the challenges: complex configuration, long execution cycles, critical components, engineering changes, quality control and pressure on profitability.

See how SAP can support the goals of the CFO, COO, CCO and CIO across different areas of discrete manufacturing:

Choose the area that is typical for your company and see where SAP can bring you the greatest value.

Public transport
Recreational vehicles
Machinery and equipment manufacturing
Rail vehicles
Special-purpose vehicles
Aerospace & defence

Public transport

Hicron helps manufacturers of public transport vehicles develop and optimize SAP so that the system supports the entire contract execution process – from configuration and tender offer, through fleet production, to quality, service and vehicle lifecycle profitability.

See where SAP can bring the greatest value in the production of public transport vehicles.

Recreational vehicles

Hicron helps manufacturers of boats, camper vans and recreational vehicles use SAP to gain better control over configuration, variant production, costs, quality and sales seasonality. From offer preparation and equipment option management, through component and production planning, to margin, claims and employee retention control.

Machinery and equipment manufacturing

Machinery and heavy equipment production involves high complexity of configuration, components, schedules, quality and costs. Hicron helps manufacturers develop and optimize SAP so that the system supports the entire execution process – from offer and technical configuration, through production and procurement, to margin, quality and machine lifecycle control.

See where SAP can bring the greatest value in machinery and heavy equipment manufacturing.

Rail vehicles

Hicron helps rail vehicle manufacturers use SAP to gain better control over multi-year programs, production, deliveries, homologation and contract profitability. From managing tender pipelines and contract options, through planning wagons and trainsets, to component traceability, budget and margin control, and expert knowledge transfer.

Special-purpose vehicles

Hicron helps manufacturers of special-purpose vehicles use SAP to gain better control over Engineer-to-Order projects, costs, scope changes, production and quality. From preparing a technically reliable offer, through project procurement, engineering and production of a unique vehicle, to testing, acceptance, WIP and ongoing project profitability control.

Aerospace & defence

Hicron helps aerospace & defence companies use SAP to gain better control over programs, configuration, compliance, quality, costs and the digital product thread. From a credible promise to the customer, through material planning, production and quality decisions, to program controlling, master data and organizational readiness for analytics and AI.

ERP Value Check

Regardless of the type of IT system, it is worth periodically examining how effectively it is used and how well it supports day-to-day business operations.

As part of our ERP Value Check offering, we run an individual workshop for companies during which we assess whether the current ERP system supports the organization in its most business-critical areas. We show the areas where optimizations should be introduced. If a company uses an ERP system other than SAP, we indicate the benefits it could gain from using SAP. We also discuss example uses of SAP-delivered AI solutions and the benefits of their application.

Regardless of whether you use SAP or another ERP system, ERP Value Check helps assess the extent to which the current environment supports the complexity of processes typical for discrete manufacturing. The outcome is a list of recommendations that can be used to plan necessary improvements and assess whether changing the system should be considered.

What do you gain from ERP Value Check?

You will make decisions about next steps based on facts, not assumptions

ERP Value Check helps assess whether the organization should develop the current ERP system, implement new functionality or consider replacing the system altogether.

As a result, future technology decisions are linked to real business needs rather than to a list of system functions.

You will receive a map of process and system gaps

ERP Value Check helps identify where the current way of working limits control over production, costs, quality or on-time delivery.

We analyze not only the system itself, but also the flow of information between departments: sales, engineering, production, procurement, quality, finance, IT and HR.

You will see where SAP can bring the greatest business value

Not every company needs to start with a major transformation right away. Sometimes the greatest value comes from organizing product configuration, component planning, margin control, quality or master data.

As part of ERP Value Check, we indicate which areas should be developed first and why.

You will see whether your ERP truly supports manufacturing complexity

We check how the current system handles processes typical for discrete manufacturing: product configuration, order variability, material planning, WIP control, quality, traceability and profitability analysis.

This allows you to see which areas are already well addressed and which still require manual workarounds, spreadsheets, additional alignments or work outside the system.

You will receive practical recommendations, not a general presentation of SAP capabilities

The outcome of the workshop is a set of concrete observations and recommendations: where to improve the process, where to develop SAP, where to reduce manual workarounds, and where to first organize data, responsibilities or the operating model.

This is a starting point for a further discussion about implementation, optimization or an ERP development roadmap.

You will better prepare the organization for AI

Modern solutions, including AI, require consistent data and organized processes. If decisions are still based on Excel, local workarounds or inconsistent sources of information, automation may only scale the problem.

ERP Value Check helps assess whether your ERP environment is ready for further development – from SAP S/4HANA, through reporting and analytics, to the use of AI in business processes.

You will align a shared direction of action between business, IT and the management board

ERP Value Check helps organize not only the list of system-related problems, but also the way the organization thinks about further ERP development. In one process, we combine the perspectives of production, sales, supply chain, quality, finance, IT and HR to identify which areas require action first and who should be responsible for them.

As a result, the organization gains a shared language for discussing priorities, investments and next steps – without discrepancies between business expectations, system capabilities and the scope of the SAP project.

Talk to us about ERP Value Check

Toyota: SAP S/4HANA implementation

Together with Hicron, Toyota implemented SAP S/4HANA as a new, harmonized platform for key automotive processes, covering Toyota's operations in Germany and Austria.

Read full case study

Together with Hicron, we chose not to simply migrate our existing SAP ECC landscape. Instead, we used SAP S/4HANA as an opportunity to challenge established structures and harmonize processes across Germany and Austria on a shared platform. The result is a future-ready solution that sustainably supports both our business and our dealer network.

Leopold Koenigs

Operational Excellence Manager Toyota Deutschland

Solaris: SAP warranty solutions

Hicron launched an SAP warranty claims handling system for Solaris, a solution commonly used by the largest representatives of the automotive industry worldwide.

Read full case study

Hicron specialists are excellent at adapting SAP to our requirements, utilizing standard solutions to a high extent. At the same time, if necessary, the team efficiently designs and implements their own, proprietary improvements.

Piotr Fabisiak

Project Manager i Solution Architect Solaris

Volvo CE: SAP in construction machinery manufacturing

In connection with a new investment - the launch of a production plant - there was a need to map the SAP system while taking local requirements into account. Volvo CE set itself the goal of standardizing business processes across the group. This task was entrusted to the Hicron team.

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Thanks to our cooperation with Hicron, in addition to the basic scope of implementation, we identified opportunities to improve the already existing processes. Some of the ideas were implemented as part of the project, e.g. in the area of stock-taking – work that could take a week now takes one day. By saving time, we also save money.

Mona Asplund

IT Project Manager Volvo CE

Pronar: SAP in agricultural machinery manufacturing

Hicron implemented the Dealer Portal and Product Catalog solutions for Pronar in order to optimize the spare parts sales process, improve sales processes, improve availability control and accelerate production processes.

Read full case study

Cooperation with Hicron went very smoothly, and all stages of implementation took place on time. The skills and experience of Hicron consultants cannot be overestimated – the involvement of our employees, who spent a lot of time working on the concept and data preparation, was also very important.

Piotr Kazberuk

Project Coordinator Pronar

Is your ERP ready for AI?

SAP is developing AI solutions that support, among other areas, production planning, component availability analysis, order monitoring, identification of production issues, quality and supply chain. That is why it is worth asking: with your current ERP system, is your company ready to benefit from these capabilities?

Regardless of whether you already use SAP or another ERP system, Hicron will help you assess whether the current environment can support further development toward AI – and which processes should be organized first.

As part of ERP Value Check, we analyze not only opportunities for optimizing processes in SAP, but also your environment’s readiness to use AI: from data quality and process integration to the areas where AI can genuinely support operational, planning and financial decisions.

Check whether your organization is ready for AI.

Schedule your ERP Value Check

SAP can support your business more strongly than you might assume today

If you already use SAP, check whether the system fully supports your production, planning, quality and controlling.

If you are only considering SAP, see how it can help build a stable foundation for the further development of production.

In both cases, the goal is the same: greater control over complexity, costs, on-time delivery and profitability, as well as more effective management of the entire organization – at both operational and strategic level.

Talk to Hicron about SAP for discrete manufacturing.

SAP for discrete manufacturing

Benefit potential

Does your ERP effectively support your business?

Business areas supported by SAP S/4HANA

ERP Value Check

What do you gain from ERP Value Check?

Is your ERP ready for AI?

SAP can support your business more strongly than you might assume today

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