SAP for special-purpose vehicle manufacturers

See how SAP can help build a stable foundation for further growth in special-purpose vehicle manufacturing

SAP for discrete manufacturing

Why SAP
Business challenges
Sales
Production
Supply Chain
Quality management
Finance
IT
HR
ERP Value Check
AI readiness

Contact

Why SAP

The production of special-purpose, rescue and military vehicles involves a high level of individualization. Each project may have a different technical specification, bodywork, equipment, specialist systems, integration scope, tests and acceptance requirements.

In this environment, ERP should support not only data handling, but the entire project execution process: from offer and cost calculation, through engineering, procurement, production and quality, to profitability control, WIP, documentation and the competencies of technical teams.

Hicron helps special-purpose vehicle manufacturers implement, develop and optimize SAP so that the system supports the entire Engineer-to-Order project lifecycle – from customer requirements to technical vehicle acceptance.

See where SAP can bring the greatest value in special-purpose vehicle manufacturing.

Do these challenges sound familiar?

In companies manufacturing special-purpose vehicles, complexity emerges at the intersection of sales, engineering, production, procurement, quality, finance, IT and HR.

The most common challenges include:

a long quoting process based on detailed technical requirements,
the need to involve engineering, project costing and feasibility verification already at the sales stage,
the risk of underestimating Engineer-to-Order projects,
scope changes during quoting and execution,
low-repeatability production based on an individual vehicle specification,
engineering changes causing rework, delays and documentation inconsistencies,
lack of synchronization between engineering and production,
procurement of project-specific and non-standard components,
variable lead times of niche suppliers,
difficulty controlling the costs of project procurement,
quality validation for unique vehicles,
integration tests of specialist systems,
detailed technical acceptance and customer approval,
limited margin visibility during project execution,
work-in-progress settlement in a long execution cycle,
dispersed systems supporting projects, costing, production and technical documentation,
high maintenance costs of custom project processes,
difficulty recruiting, onboarding and retaining technical specialists.

SAP can help organize these processes in one data model and increase control over project scope, costs, schedule, quality, documentation and profitability.

Want to know how?

Schedule your ERP Value Check

Sales: a more realistic offer and profitability control already at the sales stage

Sales of special-purpose vehicles is based on detailed technical requirements and adaptation to a specific use case. Preparing an offer often requires the involvement of engineering, project costing and feasibility verification, which extends the sales cycle.

Each vehicle may be an Engineer-to-Order project with an individual scope of work, components and integrations. Manual cost calculation makes profitability control more difficult and increases the risk of underestimating the offer.

Scope changes during sales are an additional challenge. Customer requirements may change before the offer is submitted or finalized, and each change affects project cost, schedule and scope.

How Hicron helps

Hicron helps organize the quoting process and link it with technical data and project costing. By using product configuration and cost calculation, offers can be prepared based on available variants and modules.

Sales can prepare offers without fully involving engineering in every case, while the offer itself remains consistent with production capabilities and costs.

Hicron also enables project costs to be calculated already at the quoting stage. Material, engineering work and production costs can be included in one calculation, while project controlling allows sales to see offer profitability before submission.

SAP also supports scope change control already at the sales stage. Configuration or requirement changes can be recalculated in terms of cost and timing, while sales can see their impact on project profitability.

Business value

shorter and more organized quoting process,
greater technical credibility of the offer,
less engineering involvement in repeatable costing elements,
better cost control already at the sales stage,
more realistic pricing of ETO projects,
lower risk of underestimation,
better scope change management,
greater transparency in customer negotiations.

Production: control of Engineer-to-Order production and better coordination with engineering

Each special-purpose vehicle is built based on an individual specification and may differ in bodywork, equipment and systems integration. Production processes have limited repeatability, which makes resource planning and execution control more difficult.

In special-purpose vehicle projects, engineering changes often appear during production. Lack of change control leads to rework, delays and inconsistent documentation.

Production is strongly dependent on technical documentation and systems integration. If engineering and production do not work on current data, the risk of assembly errors and delays increases.

How Hicron helps

Hicron enables production planning in the Engineer-to-Order model using project orders. The product structure and production operations can be created based on the project scope, while production works on data linked to a specific vehicle and its configuration.

SAP S/4HANA helps manage low-repeatability production more effectively by connecting project, production and cost data.

Hicron also supports controlled engineering change management during project execution. Scope changes are linked to production, materials and the schedule. Engineering Change Management supports data consistency between engineering and production.

Hicron also enables engineering data to be linked with project production. The product structure and technical documentation are available to production in one environment, while teams work on current versions of data.

Business value

better planning of ETO production,
greater control over execution of low-repeatability projects,
linkage of the product structure with the project scope,
current technical data available to production,
fewer errors resulting from inconsistent documentation,
control of engineering changes during execution,
lower risk of rework and delays,
better coordination between engineering and production.

Supply Chain: control of project procurement, niche suppliers and component costs

Special-purpose vehicles require components selected individually for the project: bodywork, specialist systems and equipment. Procurement is often one-off, without supplier history or agreed commercial terms.

Unpredictable lead times of niche suppliers are an additional challenge. Specialist components often come from suppliers with limited production capabilities, while delivery dates are variable and difficult to monitor.

Project procurement is often carried out in low volumes and without an easy comparison of offers. Controlling costs and maintaining the project budget is difficult.

How Hicron helps

Hicron enables project procurement to be managed in connection with a specific vehicle or project. Material requirements can be generated directly from the project scope and product structure.

Procurement can see project-specific components and their impact on the execution schedule. This makes the RFQ process, supplier selection and control of non-standard procurement easier.

Hicron also helps link purchase orders with the project and production schedule. Procurement can see the impact of delivery dates on vehicle execution, while order status can be monitored in the project context.

SAP also enables procurement costs to be linked with the project budget and vehicle costing. Component costs are visible in the context of the entire project, and procurement can compare offers and analyze the impact of purchasing decisions on profitability.

Business value

better control of project procurement,
linkage of material requirements with the project and product structure,
better handling of non-standard components,
support for the RFQ process and supplier selection,
earlier identification of delay risks,
better control of niche suppliers,
linkage of procurement costs with the project budget,
reduction of unplanned costs,
better collaboration between procurement, finance and projects.

Quality management: quality validation, integration tests and technical acceptance

Each special-purpose vehicle is created as an individual project with different bodywork, installations and equipment. Lack of repeatability makes standardizing quality control more difficult and increases the risk of errors.

Special-purpose vehicles integrate many systems: bodywork, installations, electronics and equipment. Lack of a consistent system testing process increases the risk of problems after delivery.

In addition, special-purpose vehicles undergo detailed technical acceptance with the customer. Lack of an organized acceptance process can cause delays and additional corrections.

How Hicron helps

Hicron enables quality inspection plans to be defined for a specific vehicle project. Thanks to SAP Quality Management, tests and inspections can be assigned to a project or production order.

Inspection results are recorded and linked to the vehicle. This makes it easier to validate quality for unique configurations and also helps build a knowledge base for future projects.

Hicron also supports managing integration tests within the quality process. Test plans can cover different systems and integration stages, while test results are documented and linked to the vehicle project.

SAP also enables acceptance checklists and final vehicle tests to be managed. Acceptance results can be recorded and linked to a specific vehicle, giving the Quality team full documentation of tests and approvals.

Business value

better quality validation for unique vehicles,
inspection plans tailored to a specific project,
linkage of tests and inspections with the vehicle,
knowledge base for future projects,
more consistent integration testing process,
faster identification of issues before acceptance,
less rework,
organized technical acceptance process,
more complete documentation of customer tests and approvals.

Finance: control of ETO project profitability, change costs and WIP

Each special-purpose vehicle is executed as an individual project with its own cost structure. Finance often has limited margin visibility during execution and learns the result only after project completion.

Project scope changes generate additional material, labor and service costs. Tracking their impact on the project budget and profitability is difficult.

Special-purpose vehicle production takes a long time, and costs are incurred in stages. Lack of visibility of work in progress makes financial reporting and planning more difficult.

How Hicron helps

Hicron enables project profitability to be controlled during execution. Thanks to SAP CO-PS and Margin Analysis, material, labor and service costs are assigned to the project and analyzed on an ongoing basis.

Finance can see the current margin and cost deviations, making it easier to respond to financial risks and control the profitability of ETO projects more effectively.

SAP also enables the costs of changes to be monitored during project execution. Thanks to SAP CO, costs can be assigned to project elements, while finance can see the impact of changes on the financial result.

Hicron also enables work in progress to be settled for ETO projects. Thanks to SAP CO-WIP and Results Analysis, costs can be recognized in line with project progress, while finance can see the WIP value and project result during execution.

Business value

ongoing control of ETO project profitability,
visibility of current margin and cost deviations,
earlier response to financial risks,
control of scope change costs,
better settlement of changes with the customer,
limitation of project margin erosion,
settlement of work in progress,
greater financial transparency of long-term projects,
better financial reporting and planning.

IT: one data model for project, product, production and finance

IT often maintains many tools supporting projects, costing, production and technical documentation. Project data is dispersed, and synchronization requires numerous integrations and manual activities.

Project costing, engineering change and scope management processes are often handled by custom solutions. This makes system development more difficult and increases maintenance costs.

Another challenge is the lack of a consistent project and product data model. Product and project data is stored in different systems and documents, while different versions of material structures and documentation make change management difficult.

How Hicron helps

Hicron helps simplify the system landscape and move project handling into one consistent environment. Using SAP S/4HANA, project, production and financial data can be connected in one model.

This reduces the number of integrations, eliminates manual data transfer and gives IT one system supporting the entire vehicle execution process.

Hicron also helps move project processes into standard system functionality. Thanks to SAP S/4HANA and project controlling, projects can be managed without extensive custom code.

SAP also enables one data model for project and product to be introduced. The product structure can be used in production, procurement and finance, while project data remains consistent across the entire process.

Business value

fewer dispersed tools and data sources,
reduced number of integrations and manual synchronization,
one system supporting the entire vehicle execution process,
less custom code,
easier upgrades and environment development,
lower IT maintenance costs,
consistent project and product data model,
better change management,
higher data quality.

HR: recruitment, onboarding and certification of technical specialists

Special-purpose vehicle manufacturing requires niche technical and engineering competencies. The recruitment process is long, and HR has limited visibility of available talent and organizational needs.

New employees must acquire knowledge about production processes, systems integration and quality standards. Onboarding is often dispersed and dependent on the knowledge of experienced employees.

Employees must also hold up-to-date technical training and certifications. Lack of central management makes it difficult to monitor validity and plan training.

How Hicron helps

Hicron enables the recruitment process and talent management to be organized in one environment. Thanks to SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting, HR can manage the candidate pipeline and recruitment process.

Data about competencies and role requirements is available in one place, enabling faster acquisition of specialists and better workforce planning.

Hicron also enables onboarding to be standardized for technical and production roles. Thanks to SAP SuccessFactors, onboarding paths can be created and required training assigned. HR can see onboarding progress and completion of subsequent stages.

SAP SuccessFactors Learning enables central management of employee training and certifications. Training can be assigned to roles, while HR has visibility of competencies and certification status.

Business value

organized recruitment process for technical specialists,
better management of the candidate pipeline,
greater visibility of competencies and role requirements,
better workforce planning,
standardized onboarding for technical and production roles,
faster achievement of full productivity,
better knowledge transfer within the organization,
central management of training and certifications,
greater team readiness,
reduced operational risk.

ERP Value Check

You do not always need to start with a major transformation project. Sometimes the best first step is a diagnosis: what already works, what should be improved and where SAP can bring the greatest business value.

During ERP Value Check, we analyze the extent to which the current ERP environment supports processes typical for special-purpose vehicle manufacturers.

In particular, we check:

whether the current system supports quoting based on technical requirements,
how Engineer-to-Order project costs are calculated,
whether sales can see the impact of scope changes on cost, timing and profitability,
how production of low-repeatability vehicles is planned,
whether engineering changes are linked to production, materials and schedule,
whether engineering and production work on current data,
how project-specific and non-standard component procurement is managed,
whether the organization monitors lead times of niche suppliers,
whether procurement costs are linked to the project budget,
how the quality of unique vehicles is validated,
whether integration tests and technical acceptance are linked to a specific project,
whether finance has current visibility of margin, WIP and cost deviations,
whether scope change costs are visible and can be settled,
whether project, product, production and financial data are consistent,
where excessive custom code and manual data synchronization occur,
whether HR has visibility of recruitment, onboarding, training and technical certifications.

The outcome of ERP Value Check is an initial map of the areas where SAP can generate the greatest business value – through optimization, system development or implementation.

Schedule yout ERP Value Check

Is your ERP environment ready for AI?

AI can support manufacturing companies in data analysis, planning, risk identification and decision-making. To use this potential, however, an organization needs organized processes, high-quality data and an integrated system environment.

In special-purpose vehicle manufacturing, data related to customer requirements, project scope, vehicle configuration, technical documentation, project-specific components, tests, costs, WIP and profitability is particularly important.

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

Check whether your organization is ready for AI.

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