Design Delight Studio

CERATIZIT & Soley Leverage SAP Technology for Sustainable Product Management

Overview
CERATIZIT Group, in collaboration with Soley GmbH and supported by SAP, has pioneered an innovative solution for sustainable product portfolio management. Their approach, combining AI-powered analytics with SAP’s supply chain technologies, successfully balances profitability and ecological responsibility—earning nominations and awards including the SAP Innovation Awards and the Supply & Demand Chain Executive award.

The Challenge: Managing a Massive and Complex Product Portfolio

CERATIZIT, a global leader in hard material solutions for machining, confronted a common industrial challenge—managing over 65,000 products while integrating sustainability. Limited transparency in carbon footprints and product performance hampered strategic decision-making and made reducing emissions difficult. Employees spent excessive time on reporting, with insufficient insights into suppliers and materials for proactive phase-out of high-emission items.

AI-Driven Product Portfolio Optimization via Soley’s Platform

Soley’s AI-enabled Product Mining Platform, integrated with SAP’s ecosystem, revolutionizes data handling and decision-making through:

• AI Advisor: Recommends targeted actions like phasing out products to reduce carbon footprints without hurting margins.
• AI Assistant: Offers intuitive, natural-language interaction, enabling ease of use without technical expertise.
• AI Detective: Discovers hidden dependencies and eliminates suboptimal configurations to maximize profitability and sustainability.

This platform seamlessly integrates with SAP S/4HANA, SAP Business Warehouse, and SAP Analytics Cloud, utilizing SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) and SAP Datasphere for robust data consolidation and advanced graph analytics.

Key Results and Business Impact

The integration yielded concrete results within nine months:

• 87% adoption of AI-recommended sustainability measures.
• Reduction of over 30% in end-of-life products with negative carbon footprints ("ballast" products).
• Attained 100% transparency in sustainability metrics across product hierarchies and sets.
• 10% increase in Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT).
• 75% improvement in delivery reliability and supply chain resilience.
• 40% inventory reduction, optimizing working capital and efficiency.
• Return on Investment (ROI) achieved in less than 12 months.

Strategic Insights and Industry Implications

According to Soley’s CEO Alexander Springer, focusing investments on the most critical products safeguards the entire value chain and mitigates supply risks. CERATIZIT’s success showcases how AI and SAP’s integrated solutions empower manufacturers to pursue sustainability goals without compromising profitability.

SAP’s Chief Product Officer for Supply Chain Management, Dominik Metzger, highlights a vision for autonomous, intelligent, and resilient supply chains driven by AI, generative AI, and real-time data analytics—ushering in a new era of proactive, sustainable manufacturing.

Conclusion

The partnership between CERATIZIT, Soley, and SAP exemplifies a replicable model for sustainable digital transformation in manufacturing. By leveraging AI-driven insights and SAP’s advanced supply chain technologies, companies can enhance environmental stewardship while achieving measurable financial benefits.

Learn more about the Soley Product Mining Platform on the SAP Store and stay updated with the latest innovations in SAP Supply Chain Management.

Tags: AI, Carbon Footprint, SAP S/4HANA, SAP Business Warehouse, SAP Analytics Cloud, Sustainable Manufacturing, Supply Chain Optimization

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