Accelleron: Turbocharging a divestiture and resolving data fragmentation challenges with advanced ERP in the cloud
Explore Accelleron’s journey with SAP
To complete a carve-out from its parent company, Accelleron (formerly Turbo Systems Switzerland Ltd.) chose SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition as its technology foundation. This allowed it to deploy a common technology foundation, create a global process model for 40 countries, replace 21 ERP systems, standardize architecture, and finalize the separation within two years.
| Industry | Region | Company Size | Partner |
| Industrial manufacturing | Baden, Switzerland | 2,500 employees | Accenture |
disparate ERP systems unified in one global system.
country operations harmonized using global processes.
months to complete the divestiture.
CIO, Accelleron
Creating a global business foundation in place of disparate systems
A global leader in high-power turbocharging, Accelleron is known for pioneering innovation and industry-leading products that are used across a wide range of sectors, including marine, energy, and rail. The company designs, manufactures, sells, and services highly customized turbochargers and fuel-injection equipment for heavy-duty applications. Accelleron’s technology gives engines an extra boost in performance to improve their fuel efficiency and thus reduce their environmental impact by generating fewer emissions.
Accelleron sets itself apart from its peers by focusing its efforts on delivering strong services to its customers.
When a deal to spin out Accelleron from parent ABB Limited was approved, a transition service agreement (TSA) of 24 months was put in place to complete the divestiture. This required separating the organization, business processes, and ERP applications, as well as resolving the challenges of data fragmentation and process discrepancies in its service network’s disparate technology landscape.
With its global sales and service network spanning more than 40 countries and using 21 different ERP systems and more than 100 local applications, the scope of work to complete its separation from ABB was considerable. To become a stand-alone business required simplifying and standardizing business processes, creating a global process model, replacing the ERP systems, and adopting standard architecture on local applications, all while respecting the TSA timeline.
CIO, Accelleron
Adopting a two-tier ERP model for maximum agility
Seeking a way to consolidate its technology landscape, harmonize processes for easier data management, and simplify local tax and regulatory compliance requirements globally, Accelleron joined forces with Accenture. The global consultancy took the lead in managing the divestiture from ABB and guiding the rollout of a modern technology foundation with support from the SAP Early Adopter Care program and SAP Preferred Success services.
After considering its parent company’s legacy environment and evaluating new solutions, Accelleron decided on a two-tier ERP strategy, illustrated in the figure below, using SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition and the SAP ERP application. The comprehensive functionality and faster implementation time frame, as well as the simplified integration scenario offered by advanced cloud ERP, made an ideal fit for the company’s separation and transformation needs.
Taking a fit-to-standard approach, Accelleron deployed SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition to build the foundation of its world-class business operations. This included digitalizing order-to-cash, contract-to-cash, procure-to-pay, remanufacturing, and inventory management processes in its service operations and sales network. By moving to advanced ERP in the cloud, Accelleron could also take advantage of the functionality offered by SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) to interconnect processes across its diverse ecosystem of SAP solutions.
And in terms of its two-tier strategy, with ABB’s factories in China and its Swiss headquarters operating on SAP ERP, it made sense to replicate this on-premise setup for its factory operations.
Global ERP Responsible and Architect, SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, Accelleron
Operating as an independent company with harmonized processes globally
A collaborative effort between Accelleron’s internal team, Accenture, SAP Early Adopter Care, and SAP Preferred Success led to the successful on-time rollout of SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition across 40 countries.
Cristian Ceroni, Global ERP Responsible and Architect for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition at Accelleron, comments, “Everything was done in less than two years – in fact, in exactly 22 months from the beginning of the project until the completion of the rollout.”
As a result, Accelleron unified 21 disparate ERP systems in one global business foundation in the cloud, enhancing operations for its network of more than 100 service stations across the globe. Accelleron also resolved data discrepancies of the past and now has one single source of data truth across the organization. The company has also taken advantage of SAP Integration Suite, part of SAP BTP, to integrate SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition with an ecosystem of cloud and on-premise solutions from SAP. This is facilitating fluid processes with one source of accurate data flowing across its system landscape.
With global, end-to-end processes, users across the organization enjoy a better work experience and speedier information retrieval. The company is also using localization as a self-service for SAP S/4HANA Cloud to simplify customizations to meet specific country requirements.
What’s more, with process experts and global process owners now in charge of managing continuous process improvements, Accelleron is better placed to proactively spot inefficiencies and rectify them. And when it comes to maintenance, with a common landscape built on SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, there’s less complexity for IT to manage, while regular upgrades and major releases from SAP keep the solution compliant and up to date.
Global ERP Responsible and Architect, SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, Accelleron
Exploring the potential of AI capabilities to enhance business practices
With Accelleron’s systems now being flexible enough to give room for innovation, Adrian Seiler, CIO at Accelleron, says that the company is starting to experiment with generative AI capabilities. Accelleron will explore the Joule copilot and how this technology fits with its technology strategy regarding integration with Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365.
Want to know more about Accelleron?
Innovate Worldwide Service Network Operations with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition (SAP Innovation Awards 2024)
Featured partner
Accenture is a global professional services company that helps leading businesses, governments, and other organizations build and optimize their digital operations, accelerate revenue growth, and enhance citizen services. With proven expertise guiding digital transformation projects to meet TSA timeline requirements, Accenture guided Accelleron through the carve-out from ABB and led the implementation of SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition.