Short project duration, comprehensive added value
Heidelberg, February 24th, 2022 – Bürkert Fluid Control Systems from Ingelfingen near Heilbronn (544 million euros in annual sales, more than 3,000 employees), the global market leader for measurement, control and regulation systems for liquids and gases, has realized a smooth transition to SAP S/4HANA. Bürkert opted for the Selective Data Transition approach and thus massively accelerated the changeover. Short project duration, comprehensive added value – these are the advantages of this approach. In the process, some key structural changes were made and important innovations were realized: The project included the harmonization of 25 old controlling areas and the chart of accounts, the New-G/L implementation, the introduction of new asset accounting, the introduction of the group currency and the material ledger. Historical data was carried over into the new system from 2018.
The changeover to the new SAP world took place minimally invasively in the Big Bang over a weekend – without any downtime for the operational systems. Users logged out of the SAP ECC system on Thursday evening, and on Monday, they were able to continue working on their open orders, deliveries, invoices or projects in the new S/4 system exactly where they had left off in the legacy system. “It was a successful switch, all core processes ran smoothly right away. We were able to start seamlessly with S/4. The management is also very satisfied with the project result and the fast implementation,” explains Steffen Jäger, transformation program manager at Bürkert.
The issue of business continuity was central to Bürkert and the near-zero downtime process was only feasible with the right migration approach. Selective Transition offered the opportunity to change technology at top speed without sacrificing innovation or improvements at the process level.
Bürkert has 36 subsidiaries worldwide. Its customers come from a wide range of industries, including automotive, biotechnology, chemicals, electronics, mechanical engineering, pharmaceuticals, and textiles and packaging (Photo: Bürkert).
The rapid transition was made possible above all by cbs ET Enterprise Transformer for SAP S/4HANA. cbs ET is the world’s first comprehensive standard software for holistic SAP data transformation and at the same time the engine and guarantor of success for the selective approach. Steffen Jäger emphasizes: “What helped us a lot was the revolutionary approach in combination with Enterprise Transformer. We considered in advance that we would rather work with an experienced consultant who has powerful transformation software and who has also developed it themselves. ”
“The selective approach has proven itself as a standard changeover procedure. In line with the fast value concept, we have created real business added value for the customer in a very short time,” explains cbs project manager Wolfgang Schleker.
A system conversion (brownfield approach) would have made little sense for the long-established company, because Bürkert had a heterogeneous system landscape with many breaks, legacy issues, and data that was no longer needed and had accumulated over 20 years. S/4 was the right occasion to specifically optimize outdated structures and processes.
Harmonized processes in the finance area
Bürkert works with one SAP system and one client in which 53 company codes were previously active and globally distributed. In the past, some of the 36 subsidiaries and the investments within Germany had their own accounts. “It was strategically important for us to harmonize the entire financial system and establish uniform processes throughout the company. A total of 49 company codes were selectively taken from ECC to S/4, and 25 old ones were harmonized into a new controlling area. Now we have the necessary transparency,” says project manager Jäger.
“In controlling, it’s a lot easier because we can prepare and make the data available faster and more granularly, while also allowing better worldwide comparisson. That is a real benefit,” clarifies Jäger.