Heidelberg, July 9th, 2026—250 attendees, 30 best-practice presentations, high-profile panel discussions, and intensive networking within the customer community—the ninth edition of the ONE.CON 2026 customer conference in Heidelberg once again demonstrated its central role as a platform for exchange on business transformation and digitalization using SAP technology. “Our customers, the global market leaders in the manufacturing industry, shape the event. With their exclusive presentations, they enriched ONE.CON and fostered a unique exchange of ideas. We received consistently positive feedback from all participants,” says cbs CEO Rainer Wittwen, summing up the event.
How can transformations be used to achieve measurable added value quickly? How is the role of established ERP landscapes changing under the influence of artificial intelligence? These were key questions during the SAP Industry Community’s knowledge-sharing event at the Heidelberg Congress Center. The focus was on the core topics: “Fast Value Business Transformation” and “Pioneering the Agentic Enterprise.” The discussion centered on the manufacturing industry’s key challenge: building the future enterprise architecture through the interplay of data and applications, combined with AI-powered decision-making intelligence, automation, and scalability.
“ONE.CON is a dynamic communication and knowledge platform that offers significant added value. It is the only industry gathering of its kind focused on SAP and the associated business and technology transformation. What participants particularly value is the open and direct exchange with their peer group, including decision-makers from mechanical and plant engineering, life sciences, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals,” explains cbs Managing Director Holger Scheel.
Global Market Leaders Showcase Initial AI Projects
AI is currently the hot topic in companies. Filter specialist Mann+Hummel reported on its journey toward becoming an agent-based enterprise. The Swiss technology group SFS Group demonstrated how AI is already delivering measurable productivity gains today. The cbs AID solution processes unstructured customer orders. The result: reduced turnaround times, a high degree of automation, and a scalable model for additional processes along the value chain.
Companies expect AI to deliver competitive advantages and efficiency gains. They are currently examining many processes and asking themselves: Where are there repetitive tasks, where can automation help, and where can AI reduce complexity?
Rainer Wittwen: “There are more and more meaningful areas of application and a growing interest in actively addressing these topics. The challenge now is no longer conducting individual experiments on use cases, but rather generating added value with AI on a broad scale.”
Innovation Award Winners On Stage
Innovations like AI must make an impact and resonate with customers: for cbs, this is the decisive factor in all projects. The ONE.CON event also highlighted the cbs Innovation Award, which has been presented annually since 2022. This award recognizes groundbreaking projects in various categories, thereby raising the profile of the year’s innovations. This time, four winners had the opportunity to present their projects on the main stage.
