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Continental Automotive accelerates growth with integrated SAP solutions
Technology Category
- Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms
Applicable Industries
- Automotive
Applicable Functions
- Discrete Manufacturing
- Business Operation
Use Cases
- Process Control & Optimization
- Supply Chain Visibility
Services
- Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
- System Integration
The Challenge
The Automotive Group of Continental AG, a leading global automotive supplier, had inherited two separate SAP application suites due to corporate acquisitions. This increased support and development expenses. The company wanted to consolidate to a single global SAP ERP instance with multi-language support, but its existing software versions did not support the required Unicode character set. The company’s expansion into new markets has been fueled by a continuous corporate acquisition program across many countries. The integration of two business units (Continental Automotive Systems and Siemens VDO) resulted in the company inheriting two separate SAP application suites, neither of which was able to support multi-language operations. With global ambitions, it was essential to provide an integrated system for all Continental Automotive business units, regardless of their location and language.
About The Customer
The Automotive Group is one of the leading global automotive suppliers. With its three Divisions Chassis & Safety (€5.1 billion, 27,000 employees), Powertrain (€4 billion, 25,000 employees) and Interior (€5.9 billion, more than 30,000 employees), it achieved sales of approximately €15 billion in 2008. The Automotive Group is present in more than 130 locations worldwide. As a partner of the automotive and commercial vehicle industry, it develops and produces innovative products and systems for a modern automotive future, in which a car accommodates individual mobility and driving pleasure to driving safety, environmental responsibility and cost-efficiency.
The Solution
IBM Global Business Services helped the Automotive Group of Continental AG upgrade its systems in the Czech Republic and India to SAP ERP 6.0 with Unicode support, migrating from Microsoft Windows servers to a UNIX platform. Following a Proof of Concept, the team migrated 100 named users and 200GB of data in a six-month program. Over a six-month period, IBM built and supplied a Proof of Concept and subsequently upgraded the India location to SAP ERP 6.0 with Unicode support. Some 100 named users and 200GB of data were moved from a number of Microsoft Windows servers to a new environment, based on UNIX servers and an Oracle 10g database.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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