Design Delight Studio

CERATIZIT and Soley Harness SAP Technology for Sustainable Product Portfolio Management

CERATIZIT Group, a leader in hard material solutions for machining and wear protection, partnered with Munich-based Soley GmbH and SAP to tackle the challenge of managing an extensive product portfolio exceeding 65,000 items. Their goal: harmonize economic performance with ecological responsibility—a pressing concern in today’s manufacturing landscape.

The Challenge: Complex Portfolios and Sustainability Transparency

CERATIZIT’s Cutting Tool Solutions division grappled not only with the sheer scale of products but also with limited visibility into product sustainability data and supplier emissions. Manual reporting consumed valuable time and obscured strategic decision-making, impeding efficient phase-outs of high-carbon-footprint products.

AI-Powered Innovation Through Soley Product Mining Platform

Soley introduced an AI-enabled Product Mining Platform integrated seamlessly with SAP’s ecosystem, including SAP S/4HANA, SAP Business Warehouse, and SAP Analytics Cloud. Key AI features include:

• AI Advisor: Recommends precise product actions, such as phasing out items to reduce carbon footprint without hurting margins.
• AI Assistant: Provides a user-friendly, natural language interface even for non-technical users.
• AI Detective: Identifies hidden data dependencies informing profitability and sustainability optimization.

The platform leverages SAP Business Technology Platform and Datasphere for data consolidation, plus SAP Databricks and graph analytics for uncovering complex relationships.

Tangible Sustainability and Business Outcomes

Following implementation, CERATIZIT achieved remarkable results within nine months:

• 87% adoption of AI-recommended measures
• Over 30% reduction in end-of-life products with negative carbon footprints
• 100% transparency across all product sustainability data
• 10% EBIT increase via optimized working capital
• 75% improvement in delivery reliability and resilience
• 40% inventory reduction

Return on investment was realized in under a year, confirming the solution’s financial and environmental effectiveness.

Strategic Vision and Industry Impact

Dominik Metzger, SAP’s president and Chief Product Officer for Supply Chain Management, highlights the broader mission: fostering resilient, intelligent, and sustainable supply chains through AI, real-time data, and predictive analytics.

Soley’s CEO Alexander Springer emphasizes the value of pinpointing critical products to proactively mitigate supply risks, ensuring value chain integrity.

This successful collaboration exemplifies how comprehensive AI-driven analytics combined with SAP’s robust platforms enable companies to simultaneously advance sustainability and profitability. It sets a benchmark for sustainable digital transformation in manufacturing and beyond.

Learn more:

• Discover the Soley Product Mining Platform on the SAP Store.
• Stay updated on SAP supply chain innovations by subscribing to SAP newsletters.

Tags: AI, Carbon Footprint, SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP BTP, SAP S/4HANA, SAP Supply Chain Management, Sustainability, Product Portfolio Management

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