SAP Sapphire
Chapter 1: Digital Supply Chains and Intelligent Business Networks
Events from the pandemic to the ongoing war in Ukraine have exposed the fragility of global supply chains. SAP® innovations improve supply chain efficiency and transparency, enabling new levels of performance and resilience.
SAP and Apple expand partnership across digital supply chain
The people who make global supply chains run are more instrumental than ever to business success. SAP and Apple are expanding their partnership to streamline the digital supply chain and empower workers with intuitive tools. A new suite of apps, codesigned with Apple and built by SAP specifically to take advantage of the latest iOS innovations, will let key employees use the devices they already use every day – simplifying onboarding, decreasing the need for training, and accelerating productivity improvements. The first two of these apps are:
- The SAP Warehouse Operator mobile app for the SAP Extended Warehouse Management (SAP EWM) application lets warehouse workers complete daily warehouse tasks using the latest on-device intelligence, including location awareness and computer vision. Key functionalities include:
- Guides users to their next warehouse task: Employees can select a resource to work with (for example, a forklift), immediately see the next warehouse order associated with the resource, and start their next task within that order
- Scans bar codes fast, efficiently, and accurately: Use the built-in iPhone camera to read bar codes instantly, even in low light and from a distance. SAP Warehouse Operator can read blurry, damaged, small, or unusual bar codes as well
- Supports the picking process in SAP EWM: Pick items from a source bin and move them to a destination bin
- Supports the put-away process in SAP EWM: Move pallets from receiving to a storage destination
- The SAP Direct Distribution mobile app lets delivery drivers execute paperless goods delivery on their daily route. Native iOS features help ensure prompt, reliable customer service. Key benefits include the ability to:
- Efficiently transport consumer goods from a high-capacity freight station or port to their destination
- Digitalize the delivery driver workflow in the field while reducing human error
- Decrease order-to-cash time by enabling intermediate settlement of single customer stops throughout the day
SAP Warehouse Operator and SAP Direct Distribution are available on iOS and in the App Store today, with more apps to follow this year.
SAP takes warehouse automation to the next level with warehouse robotics
With SAP Warehouse Robotics, users of SAP EWM – our solution for managing inventory and supporting the processing and movement of goods – can integrate various warehouse robots in a matter of hours or days, not weeks or months. SAP Warehouse Robotics scales and supports heterogeneous fleets running on the same software stack.
SAP Warehouse Robotics is showcased among the latest digital supply chain innovations at our SAP Industry 4.0 Centers in Walldorf, Newtown Square, and Tokyo.
SAP Digital Manufacturing Cloud extends plant execution capabilities for process industries
The SAP Digital Manufacturing Cloud solution now brings together state-of-the-art manufacturing processes, analytics, IoT, and edge computing innovations. This extension for process industries comes in response to strong customer demand. It addresses the entire business – from design to planning, delivery, and operations – and integrates processes and production orders from SAP S/4HANA® and SAP S/4HANA Cloud.
Customers can use SAP Digital Manufacturing Cloud to enforce process compliance, analyze scenarios, and integrate systems as part of a resource-efficient Industry 4.0 approach. With Industry 4.0 companies are adding new levels of automation and the real value comes from integrating business context with the data coming from machines. The solution lets users:
- React quickly to unexpected events by monitoring the entire manufacturing process with built-in intelligence for resource optimization and execution acceleration
- Track and enhance global and plant-level manufacturing performance by analyzing operational data to identify suboptimal processes through intuitive, preconfigured analytics
- Vouch for complete batch traceability to reduce recall and risk liability
- Improved efficiency and quality of plant production by effectively managing batch recipes and process manufacturing stages through intuitive worker guidance and automation connecting to machines on the shop floor.
SAP speeds Industry 4.0 transformations with SAP IoT starter package
The new SAP IoT starter package gives customers rapid proofs of concept (POCs) and turnkey offerings from SAP and our partners to accelerate industrial IoT projects significantly and reduce the risks and costs associated with Industry 4.0 transformations. The POCs focus on three key scenarios:
- Delivery insights: SAP S/4HANA and the SAP IoT starter package let customers use IoT sensor input to trigger automated responses and alerts for critical inbound and outbound delivery conditions.
- Logistics and manufacturing automation: SAP S/4HANA and the SAP IoT starter package let customers automate warehouse processes, such as delivery receipt and distribution, and automate their Kanban process (a visual method for managing workflow).
- Intelligent assets: SAP Intelligent Asset Management solutions let customers visualize and analyze sensor data to monitor the condition of an asset better. Customers can increase asset availability by empowering asset operators and service providers to predict failures early and take immediate corrective actions. Customers can lower costs by planning maintenance schedules dynamically to improve resource utilization and reduce asset downtime.
Learn more about the Industry 4.0 experience in this blog post.
SAP Asset Performance Management: Next-generation capabilities help customers optimize asset performance
New capabilities of the SAP Asset Performance Management applications, codeveloped with Chevron Corporation, let customers optimize asset strategies, performance, and health while better managing asset integrity, risk, and environmental impact. The ability of asset owners and plant managers to analyze IoT sensor data and maintenance records, monitor equipment behavior remotely, and generate AI-enabled insights helps customers make faster, more accurate maintenance strategy decisions. The latest version of SAP Asset Performance Management lets customers:
- Optimize asset values by balancing the performance of each asset, the cost of that performance, and the exposure to risk it brings
- Reduce maintenance costs while lowering risk and raising output to optimize performance against a fixed budget and risk level
- Increase asset availability by empowering asset operators and service providers with data science that enables them to predict failures early and implement corrective actions
SAP S/4HANA Cloud and SAP Business Network, with Taulia’s supply chain finance and working capital management solutions, provide end-to-end support for cash optimization
With the addition of Taulia's solutions, SAP S/4HANA Cloud and SAP Business Network now provide end-to-end support for cash optimization and financing options to help companies unlock new business value. By combining the cutting-edge working capital management capabilities of Taulia, a part of the SAP Group, with the business-critical capabilities of SAP S/4HANA Cloud, SAP aims to help enterprises make their supply chains more resilient and unlock the value tied up in their payables, receivables, and inventory.
Taulia’s Accounts Receivable Financing solution is now available through SAP Business Network, enabling companies to access early payment options with a single click. With payment in hand in a matter of days after invoicing, instead of a 60- or 90-day delay, companies can improve financial flexibility and stability and scale as they grow. In March, SAP acquired Taulia to help customers with market-leading working capital management solutions. Starting in the second half of 2022, SAP Business Network plans to offer suppliers early payment options on network invoices through the Taulia platform.
Learn more about Taulia’s financing solution.
Learn more about SAP Business Network.
New feature of SAP Business Network enables companies to comply with human rights due diligence laws
Suppliers on SAP Business Network can now complete a human rights self-assessment to help demonstrate compliance with human rights due diligence laws, such as the German Supply Chain Act (Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz), which goes into effect in January 2023. Suppliers can maintain their self-assessments on the network to share with multiple buyers. Buyers on the network can search, find, and engage with suppliers that have shared their self-assessment.
Key benefits include:
- More efficient supplier onboarding as suppliers can proactively provide human rights self-assessments without the buyer having to initiate the process each time
- Improved compliance with proposed EU directives and national initiatives to foster sustainable and responsible corporate behaviors across global value chains
The Catena-X Automotive network expands to 89 members
Six new member companies from Germany, Japan, and the United States joined Catena-X-Automotive Network e.V.i.G. They include IBM Deutschland GmbH, TigerGraph Inc., Wolfspeed Inc., NTT Communications Corporation, HÜNSBERG GmbH, and inpro Innovationsgesellschaft für fortgeschrittene Produktionssysteme in der Fahrzeugindustrie mbH. These new members bring the total membership to 89 members. The newcomers broaden the international perspective and can support in making Catena-X known beyond the European borders. Additionally, the new member companies strengthen Catena-X with competencies and experiences in IT development, data exchange, and semiconductor development.
Currently, member companies come from all industries along the supply chain - from small and medium-sized enterprises to OEMs, suppliers, equipment manufacturers, research institutions, NGOs, and associations.
Life science industry consortiums develop Industry cloud solutions for clinical trials and cell and gene therapy
The SAP Intelligent Clinical Supply Management solution was developed in collaboration with over 20 thought leaders and clinical supply manufacturers, including F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG and Tenthpin Management Consultants AG. The solution helps life science organizations increase transparency and efficiency across the entire clinical trial supply chain, driving sustainability and lowering costs. The solution integrates business processes and real-time insights to enable technological supply chain advancements in life science organizations’ commercial business while supporting specific clinical supply chains.
Cell and gene therapies – the newest frontier of patient-centric treatments – require new business processes to enable timely make-to-order scenarios and enforce proper refrigeration during manufacturing and therapy infusion. To build a standardized cloud solution for cell and gene therapy, SAP has launched a consortium initiative, which other life science organizations are now invited to join. The new solution will be integrated with the SAP S/4HANA solution for manufacturing logistics and other processes but will use open APIs to enable interoperability with other manufacturing platforms and contract manufacturing organizations. Careful orchestration of supply chains for personalized therapies will improve visibility and reduce cycle times, minimizing errors and reducing time to patient value.
Both solutions have SAP Business Technology Platform as their foundation and will be delivered as part of SAP’s industry cloud.
Learn more about SAP Intelligent Clinical Supply Management in this blog post.
For more information on how SAP is helping shape the future of the cell and gene therapy supply chain, visit this blog post.
New product sourcing solutions for automotive and IM&C industries run natively on SAP S/4HANA
New product sourcing solutions from SAP help companies collaborate with suppliers to plan and execute direct-materials sourcing and procurement programs for highly engineered products in the automotive and industrial machinery & components (IM&C) industries. The solutions, which were designed with input from a council of leading automotive and IM&C manufacturers and suppliers, let manufacturers accelerate time to market, improve global and local compliance, automate price renegotiations, and improve product sustainability.
With the solutions, customers can:
- Accelerate time to market with robust procurement planning tools that integrate with product lifecycle management solutions and enable sourcing professionals to plan, manage, and automatically update new product development programs as milestones are reached
- Increase buying power and efficiency with automated demand aggregation and automatic pricing updates, including commodity index-based pricing, in back-end ERP systems
By automating price renegotiations across hundreds or thousands of materials, a process commonly managed manually today, SAP customers can reduce costs. With a unified platform supporting end-to-end sourcing – from planning and supplier co-innovation to volume production and price renegotiations – procurement teams can deliver higher quality products on time and at lower cost.
Learn more about the new product sourcing solutions from SAP in this blog post and here.
SAP and Siemens partner to bring business and engineering closer together
SAP and Siemens AG continue to bridge the gap between business and engineering data silos with the SAP Teamcenter solution by Siemens. It is planned to launch as a cloud-based solution sold alongside the RISE with SAP solution in Q3.
Building on the existing partnership announced in 2020 and the integration of SAP Teamcenter with the SAP ERP application, SAP intends to offer SAP Teamcenter as a cloud solution integrated with SAP S/4HANA. This will provide an exchange between SAP product lifecycle management (PLM) and SAP ERP to give organizations the benefit of incorporating customer insights into the entire range of product development, from product design to service and asset management. Businesses will be able to form a true digital thread that integrates all virtual models and simulations of a product or asset with real-time business information, feedback, and performance data over the entire lifecycle.
SAP Teamcenter by Siemens, private cloud edition, will provide the agility of cloud to enable customers to scale their SAP Teamcenter solution as their needs change. It can also help reduce the impact of upgrades and maintenance of the solution.
Learn more about SAP Teamcenter by Siemens in this blog post.