A successful SAP ERP implementation at Teckentrup GmbH & Co. KG promotes further company growth for a secure future. Goettingen-based IT service provider Sycor was a key partner in the project.
“In deciding to implement SAP ERP ECC 6.0 in Germany, we were pursuing a wide range of goals. First, we wanted to lay the groundwork for the continued growth of our company,“ says Kai Teckentrup from the management team of Teckentrup GmbH & Co.KG, following the successful rollout. „Before implementing the new solution, we were managing our company with a native system and a variety of island solutions. There was a lack of integration, so we were increasingly running into limitations.”
A look at the strategy of Teckentrup, founded in 1932, reveals the other goals and challenges of the SAP implementation project. With production facilities in Verl-Suerenheide (headquarters) and Grosszoeberitz, Germany, Teckentrup is one of Europe‘s largest manufacturers of doors and gates made of steel, stainless steel and aluminum. Teckentrup has always focused on the continual improvement of its product line and the development of new technologies. As a result, the company provides innovative solutions for any requirement. „Both the goal and the challenge of the implementation project was to integrate the products, which come in many variations and models, into the SAP system. Thanks to the variant configuration feature in SAP ERP, we were even able to model multi-level configurations. In total, we created over 7000 product features, which appear in different combinations,“ explains Dr. Steffen Gremler, who is in charge of all SAP activities on the Sycor management team. Another cornerstone in the success of the door and gate specialists is their ability to respond flexibly to customer requirements when it comes to defining delivery times. As a result, a specific goal of the SAP implementation project was to reduce lead times from order entry to delivery of finished products.
„Since Teckentrup handles every step from the initial concept and design to production using cutting-edge technology and precision finishing, the SAP implementation project integrated order entry and order execution, the entire supply chain, materials management as well as the areas of sales, controlling and financial accounting,“ ycor‘s Steffen Gremler continues. Kai Teckentrup is very happy with the results of the rollout: „With the help of Sycor, we‘ve standardized and automated our processes and gained transparency. As a result, we now have an ideal and solid basis for implementing our plans for the future. In addition, we now have the adaptability we need to ensure continued innovations.“
Teckentrup is also very impressed with Sycor‘s services in other areas. As a provider of comprehensive IT services, Sycor was not only in charge of the implementation project, the company also handled support and consulting for the individual SAP modules and realigned Teckentrup‘s IT organization. „We can now control our production machines in a configurationdependent way using our SAP ERP system. It even handles multilevel configurations,“ Teckentrup explains. By implementing the Sycor.ProductionCockpit based on SAP ERP, the company also has an integrated planning tool with features such as characteristics-dependent sequence and campaign planning and a capacity overview. Also integrated into the solution are a third-party tool for generating drawings directly from a customer order and based on the configuration, a PDC system and an output management system (also third party) for sending generated drawings to the customer, production department and suppliers. „In Sycor‘s IT strategy workshops, our management team and department heads got together and developed an integrated action plan. Thanks to its execution, the ERP implementation was not only successful, we also realigned our IT organization, optimized our support processes and can now plan IT budgets in a more distinctive manner,“ says Kai Teckentrup. „For us, the SAP ERP launch has been a complete success. Sycor has won us over with their high-quality services, holistic approach to consulting, and above all, their industry expertise and experience with mid-sized companies.“