Kemira: Running intelligent operations by connecting systems and automating processes
Explore Kemira’s journey with SAP
To meet corporate goals of sustainability, future readiness, and agility, chemical company Kemira Oyj embarked on a major IT transformation to digitalize its operations and automate workflows across the company. A key element of this project was implementing a modern enterprise approach to connect systems and automate processes by moving to SAP Integration Suite.
| Industry | Region | Company Size | Partner |
| Chemicals | Helsinki, Finland | 5,000 employees | cbs Corporate Business Solutions GmbH and Figaf ApS |
messages sent between systems and applications each week.
interfaces migrated to SAP Integration Suite.
less time taken to set up a new interface than previously.
Sr. Manager, IT Enterprise Architecture & Integrations, Kemira Oyj
Creating an intelligent enterprise by connecting systems and automating processes
Sustainable chemical solutions provider Kemira helps water-intensive industries optimize water management and the ways natural resources are used. Customers in the pulp and paper, water treatment, and energy sectors use the company’s products and services to transition away from fossil-based raw materials and become more sustainable by improving resource efficiency.
Kemira wanted to run more-efficient operations by integrating and automating processes across the company. This involved migrating outdated on-premise enterprise solutions to a cloud-based infrastructure with the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition solution at its core as well as cloud-based solutions for analytics and data warehousing.
Crucial to the success of this program would be the adoption of cloud-based integration technology to connect systems and automate business processes both within Kemira and with external partners and customers. It was also essential that the move to cloud-based integration technology took place in a way that would minimize disruption to the business.
Sr. Manager, IT Enterprise Architecture & Integrations, Kemira Oyj
Synchronizing implementation activities with a “big bang” approach
To help understand Kemira’s integration needs, the IT department conducted a thorough evaluation of requirements using SAP Integration Solution Advisory Methodology. This methodology helped the IT team shape, document, and govern its integration strategy as it explored what a modern integration landscape would look like for the company.
Having identified the integration capabilities it needed, Kemira underwent a comprehensive review of available integration solutions. A set of modern integration capabilities, an intuitive developer experience, and favorable pricing were major factors in the selection of SAP Integration Suite. Kemira decided to implement the suite as its enterprise integration solution for all SAP and third-party systems, including application-to-application, business-to-business, and business-to-government scenarios.
SAP partner cbs Corporate Business Solutions GmbH helped Kemira manage the transition of 363 interfaces from SAP Process Orchestration software, the existing on-premise middleware, to SAP Integration Suite. The team used prepackaged integration content from SAP Business Accelerator Hub and reused existing mappings where appropriate. In addition, cbs developed new interfaces, bringing the total number of interfaces in production to more than 400.
Another impactful innovation was the use of the API Management capability of SAP Integration Suite. Kemira used API Management to secure, govern, and manage external APIs, with more than 650,000 API calls made each month, providing secure and standardized connectivity with external partners.
A key challenge was to align this project with the company’s wider digital transformation, with Kemira aiming for a synchronized go-live for each of the concurrently running initiatives in a single big-bang deployment. An efficient testing approach was key to enabling the team to meet tight deadlines. Using automated testing software from SAP partner Figaf ApS, cbs was able to speed up and streamline the testing process.
Senior Solution Architect, cbs Corporate Business Solutions GmbH
Achieving a rapid and smooth implementation
The expertise provided by consultants from cbs proved valuable in helping Kemira achieve a rapid and smooth transition to SAP Integration Suite within 15 months. This migration was part of an enterprise-wide digital transformation with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition. By using the automated testing tool from Figaf to run unit tests on interfaces before the go-live, the implementation team was able to validate the migrated interfaces with comprehensive production data, laying the groundwork for a smooth go-live.
In addition, the intuitive user experience and ready-to-go content provided by SAP Integration Suite made it 50% faster to implement new integration requirements. This helped the team meet the ambitious time frame set out for Kemira’s wider digital transformation project, while reducing development effort and costs.
With SAP Integration Suite, ongoing management of interfaces has also been simplified, saving the company time and money. The suite’s alert functionality notifies the IT team of technical errors in any of the connections by sending an e-mail to the person responsible so they can check it out without delay. Meanwhile, a self-service dashboard helps the business, along with IT, work more efficiently to diagnose and resolve issues faster.
Enabling tightly connected processes across the value chain
Kemira is now focusing on using SAP Integration Suite to make it faster and more straightforward to connect with third-party systems. By enabling the use of modern API-based integrations, SAP Integration Suite can help the company connect its processes more tightly with those of its partners and customers in the future.
One of the implemented digital end-to-end processes is the integration with a customer solution using an IoT-based approach to check how much volume of a Kemira product is left in a tank, enabling an automated execution of the reorder process. The integration significantly improves the customer experience and provides Kemira with better insights into upcoming demand.
By connecting processes across the value chain in this way, Kemira can get closer to achieving its goal of helping customers run more-sustainable operations. Ultimately, through process integration, the company can help customers increase productivity, use less water and energy, and transition away from fossil-based raw materials.
Want to know more about Kemira?
Kemira Oyj: Developing a future-ready and data-focused mindset with a transformation to the cloud (SAP Business Transformation Study)
Taking a quantum leap into the digital future to explore sustainable chemical solutions (SAP Innovation Award submission)
Make the move to a modernized integration landscape with SAP Integration Suite
Featured partners
cbs Corporate Business Solutions GmbH combines integrated business process solutions, innovative technologies, and consulting for strategy, architecture, and process design with unique transformation services. The cbs team helped Kemira evaluate its integration requirements, implement new innovative capabilities such as API Management, and transition its existing interfaces from an on-premise solution to SAP Integration Suite.
Software from Figaf ApS helps companies automate their SAP integration processes. The suite of solutions covers testing, transport, monitoring, and migration, with the goal to simplify integration with SAP Integration Suite.