from Dr. Rainer Oschmann and Stefan Dehn; In: IT Director, 10/2014
Pharmacy and IT have more in common than you think. Composition and dosage must be correct. Unexpected side effects should be avoided. And important: the highest quality standards apply. The Schwabe Group has now ordered a fresh cell treatment for its controlling processes. More precisely: production controlling. A neuralgic site for a phytopharmaceutical manufacturer. An expert view from outside, which combines IT and processes with business administration and industry requirements, has helped.
Medicines or dietary supplements? Prescription, pharmacy-only, "Over the Counter" (OTC)? The market for plant medicines and homeopathy is enormously heterogeneous internationally - and the challenges are increasing. Not only differing legal requirements but also official approval and monitoring procedures are causing considerable expense. The provision of high-quality plant extracts and raw materials is becoming increasingly difficult due to increasing environmental problems. Schwabe therefore follows a special quality strategy in the extraction of plant extracts. The company has its own plantations and contract farmers, has subsidiaries in about 20 countries and works with numerous license partners. This means that you completely design your own path from the plant to the finished product.
Schwabe has three major entrepreneurial goals in view in the medium term: First, it is important to strengthen its market position - possibly also through new acquisitions. In addition, the "white spots on the map" are to be identified to open growing markets for the future. Finally, the company plans to significantly strengthen its international activities in the homeopathic field.
The prerequisites for implementing this challenging growth strategy are clear: pooling resources, creating flexibility - doing homework. These include primarily structural adjustments and process optimization. A key step in this direction in the recent past was certainly the merger of the subsidiary Spitzner with the parent company. But even a complex project in the field of controlling is currently making an important contribution to further strengthening the future viability of Schwabe.
At the beginning of this controlling project was a clear realization: The manufacturing companies within the Schwabe Group contributed a wide variety of production figures to different system platforms - sometimes even manually - to evaluate them differently. In view, too heterogeneous and time-consuming process. From a business management point of view, it was important to optimize working capital and increase liquidity, and the company needed a closer look at asset utilization or setup time to increase output and reduce production costs.
The remedy was to create a concept that will enable harmonized production controlling within the group in the future and give the upper management a new control cockpit. At the heart of the project was the development of a group-wide standardized and SAP-based production KPI system to "compare the same with the same." The success factors: a tailor-made solution and a well-blended project team of internal and external forces Haag personally, on the side of the selected consulting company msg / Plaut, made project manager Stephan Willigens for a smooth course.
You get what you measure
All controllers know this principle: You get what you measure. And so, it was here, too, first to identify the key figures that are needed within the group for control purposes. Further key questions at the start of the project: From which data can these production key figures be derived according to which rules in which periodicity? Which functional adjustments or extensions are necessary to make missing production figures available in the SAP ERP environment? And how can this be implemented in SAP BW (Business Warehouse)? At the end of the first project phase in May 2013, at least a part could already be answered here. For example, the technical concept worked out by the project team included the desired uniform key figure definitions - for example, set-up times / times (machine, personnel), disruption times / codes, non-job-related personnel times, personnel and machine capacity, capacity utilization and order costs.
"Schwabe Group has an effective basis for reporting production key figures, centrally located on the strategic platform SAP BW."
In the subsequent planning phase, everything revolved around the definition of technical implementation. The components included the logistic data model in SAP ERP, the data flow from ERP to BW and SAP BO (Business Objects) as well as a prioritized implementation plan for the various production areas or key figures. The production areas of the parent company Dr. Ing. Willmar Schwabe - including the merged former subsidiary Spitzner Arzneimittel - as well as the divisions German Homeopathy Union and Schwabe Extracta. After the successful completion of this phase, the actual implementation phase has been running since the beginning of 2014 with the gradual technical implementation of the prioritized key figures: area-related and initially starting with sales forecast accuracy, inventory key figures and order costs in the packaging.
The production controlling project now turns into the home straight. Even if not all the twelve key figures are fully utilized, it can already be said today: It has been worthwhile. The project team was able to overcome all hurdles - d. H. Defying the deadline in addition to the ongoing operation and deliver "in time", not only heterogeneous process and IT landscapes, but also bring together different business interests and people under one roof. This was not least the professional cooperation between internal and external forces - and a holistic consulting approach that optimally links IT, processes, business management and industry requirements.
The Schwabe Group now has an effective basis for reporting production figures, centrally located on the strategic platform SAP BW. If a key figure is mentioned in the future, then all the employees involved will understand the same throughout the world. A good framework and important for a company that wants to continue to grow in the future, make acquisitions and manage migration projects efficiently.
The Schwabe group of companies
Ginkgo, St. John's Wort, Valerian: The group has been relying on the healing properties of these and many other plants for almost 150 years. Founded by the pharmacist dr. Willmar Schwabe is the Karlsruhe-based family-owned company with its various subsidiaries, today the leading phytomarkt and produces pharmacy-only medications. Among the most important products of the house include u.a. Tebonm. Umkaloabo, Crataegutt or Prostagutt. (www.schwabe.de)