Endress+Hauser: Developing new services for customers with a business data and integration hub
Explore Endress+Hauser’s journey with SAP
As the “people for process automation,” the experts at Endress+Hauser understand the importance of connecting data. That’s why the measurement technology company uses SAP Integration Suite to build a single source of harmonized data that fuels intelligent applications and innovative customer offerings.
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Industrial manufacturing | Reinach, Basel-Country, Switzerland | >16,532 employees (2023) |
Increased project speed and reduced costs.
annual digital net sales through B2B cloud integration.
cost savings using predelivered integration packs.
Head of Department, Applications Technology Integration, Endress+Hauser InfoServe GmbH+Co. KG
Creating one hub to integrate business data and applications
A global leader in measurement instrumentation, services, and solutions for industrial process engineering, Endress+Hauser helps more than 100,000 customers worldwide operate process applications and plants safely, reliably, efficiently, and sustainably.
To provide a modern experience to these customers, Endress+Hauser needed to enable e-business transactions and integrate applications and data. It knew AI could help, but to build intelligent solutions it also needed intuitive access to data, from material master data and event-oriented information in SAP solutions to customer relationship management intelligence in third-party software. To achieve this, it had to replace silos owned by application owners and departments with one source of standardized information.
Markus Schalk is head of department, applications technology integration, at the company’s IT partner, Endress+Hauser InfoServe GmbH+Co. KG. He explains: “The answer was to build a ‘Business Data and Integration Hub’ [BDIH] comprising a single point of truth for data and a single point of integration for applications. This would help us replicate data in real time, especially from our ERP systems, and quickly build innovative applications based on that data.”
The BDIH would revolutionize B2B integrations by enabling “no-touch” transactions with customers. Schalk says, “We needed to digitalize B2B processes to provide a modern and seamless journey for our customers. Removing manual data processing would make it easier and more efficient for them to buy our products.”
Director Applications, Endress+Hauser InfoServe GmbH+Co. KG
Connecting processes and data with a robust integration platform
Already a longtime user of SAP solutions, Endress+Hauser knew that SAP Integration Suite held the key to automating processes and accelerating innovation.
Implementing the suite would remove the burden of upgrading, testing, and maintaining the legacy SAP Process Orchestration software. Schalk adds, “The suite contains so much excellent prepackaged integration content, which would support a new operational model. With monthly updates, we knew we could reduce total cost of ownership, eliminate downtime, and increase availability.”
Specific capabilities within the suite would underpin the company’s Business Data and Integration Hub in different ways. The Cloud Integration capability would help Endress+Hauser integrate processes more flexibly. The Integration Advisor capability would facilitate B2B offerings by using AI to translate external data, such as customer orders, into a standardized format for the internal ERP system.
And the API Management capability would help it create, publish, and manage API connections between applications and systems across the enterprise. Schalk says, “Without access to data, you can’t build solutions, but this access needs to be secure. Having a professional developer portal, strong authentication, and documented, standardized APIs would enable secure, non-project-oriented access to our new ‘data lake.’ This would let different teams across the enterprise develop new solutions for customers.”
SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) forms the strategic Web development platform on which to build these new solutions. SAP Business Application Studio provides a cloud-based development environment, while SAP Cloud Application Programming Model and SAP Fiori elements support speedy development of enterprise applications. Also integral to the smooth running of the new Business Data and Integration Hub are services such as the SAP Application Logging service for SAP BTP, SAP Alert Notification service for SAP BTP, and SAP Job Scheduling service.
The SAP Build Process Automation solution helps nontechnical users automate business processes, workflows, and tasks. Meanwhile, the advanced edition of SAP Build Work Zone offers diverse teams a single integrated workplace for designing, building, extending, and customizing the user experience across SAP and third-party applications.
The data lake is based on SAP HANA Cloud, and SAP HANA smart data integration helps the company cleanse and transform data.
Endress+Hauser also deployed the SAP Analytics Cloud solution, which provides intuitive dashboards for reporting on data quality, sustainability, and more.
As shown in the figure, these integrated solutions offer a sound foundation on which to tackle new IT challenges and grasp new opportunities.
Head of Department, Applications Technology Integration, Endress+Hauser InfoServe GmbH+Co. KG
Innovating with integrated, intelligent solutions
Endress+Hauser’s Business Data and Integration Hub now forms the core of intelligent operations at the company, delivering the data needed to generate novel solutions. The company can harness intelligent product configuration based on machine learning, ad hoc data science, and new business models such as the Internet of Things (IoT).
SAP Integration Suite has helped increase efficiency and significantly streamline operations. Schalk says, “Before, we would have had an interface for each customer integration. Now, with the flexibility of SAP Integration Suite, we can manage these with just a handful of interfaces. With 386 integrations running in production at the last count, you can see how this simplifies the way we operate.”
As Schalk explains, having one source of standardized data helps projects run much faster. “One of the biggest changes was the mindset shift from integrating data on a project-by-project basis to delivering data to projects as needed through the centralized data lake. We have standardized, real-time data now, and we don’t need to manually connect new systems every time we want to access it.”
Endress+Hauser has created Netilion, an award-winning, cloud-based Industrial IoT ecosystem designed for industrial processes. Netilion connects the physical and digital worlds to send valuable information from the field straight to a user’s phone, tablet, or other device. It accesses the data lake using standardized APIs and capabilities within SAP Integration Suite. In this way, Netilion empowers customers to enhance efficiency and drive innovation.
One key success story is the year-on-year growth of digitalized sales. Customers can now click on a button in their ERP system to purchase equipment. These orders flow automatically into Endress+Hauser’s ERP system, which creates a production order and sends it to the production center. These touchless transactions make life easier for customers while freeing sales teams to concentrate on developing better solutions for customer challenges.
Embracing a cloud-first integration approach
Having experienced the value of its Business Data and Integration Hub, Endress+Hauser now intends to move its remaining on-premise integration assets and SAP Process Orchestration to the cloud and combine them in SAP Integration Suite.
As it continues its digital transformation, the company plans to explore the potential of enterprise automation solutions from SAP. Other future initiatives include exploring the SAP Datasphere solution and expanding use of SAP Signavio solutions, which the company already deploys to monitor top-level processes from fulfillment to service. For instance, the company is looking at how it can use SAP Signavio Process Collaboration Hub and SAP Build Process Automation to rebuild operational processes that run on workflow management and develop new processes.
Equipped with a modern integration suite, Endress+Hauser will continue to transform data into value-based knowledge to the benefit of both customers and its own operations.