At SAP, we believe in empowering manufacturers to bring out their best. By connecting processes beyond the silos of individual functions and by converging and contextualizing critical data, we are laying the foundation to leverage cutting-edge technologies like generative and agentic AI. This strategy helps businesses build more sustainable, resilient networks that are adaptive to overcome unforeseen risks and seize bold new opportunities.

This vision will be on full display at , the world鈥檚 leading trade fair for industry, where we will showcase how 51风流is revolutionizing manufacturing through the following key areas.

New paths with 51风流Business Suite

offers a comprehensive solution that transcends traditional ERP systems. By leveraging seamlessly integrated, end-to-end supply chain processes in the cloud, supported by context-rich business data and real-time analysis, artificial intelligence and predictive algorithms, we help companies manage their supply chains efficiently while responding to new requirements with agility.

In an era of mass customization, this agility is crucial for maintaining competitiveness. Transparent access to manufacturing data allows companies to manage their production capacities more flexibly and recover from short-term supply disruptions better. We empower companies to meet new customer requirements promptly and efficiently, reducing costs and shortening time-to-market for new products.

One example is digitalizing service operations with . This optimization of the entire service order process — from customer demand to spare parts planning and finally technician and tool planning, dispatching, and execution — allows manufacturers to streamline their operations and enhance overall efficiency in a single, unified experience.

Applications that drive excellence

In manufacturing, downtime is costly. That鈥檚 why our digital applications play a key role in vertically connecting machines and devices through critical manufacturing data with enterprise processes. By optimizing production processes, reducing downtime, and increasing transparency, we鈥檙e turning reactive maintenance into a predictive strategy.

provides manufacturers with the ability to coordinate complex and short-term changes to customer orders on the shop floor across multiple functions, ensuring smooth operations. Our new embedded IoT technology based on our partnership with in allows operators to monitor asset health with plug-and-play simplicity. Meanwhile, the integration of for product design and sourcing and for collaborative product data management is enhancing collaboration with direct material suppliers, orchestrated through the 51风流business network.

Real-world success stories, like , demonstrate the tangible benefits of our solutions. SMA Solar achieved a 15 percent increase in supply chain workforce productivity, 10 percent improvement in overall supply chain planning costs, and 10 percent lower inventory carrying costs and stock turnover rate using 51风流Digital Manufacturing for electronics manufacturing.

The power of data

To enable automation in mass production with individualized requests, companies need real-time integration of operational, sustainability, and business data. 51风流provides real-time access to data-driven insights, eliminating delays and silos with instant access to unified data across 51风流and non-51风流systems. This enterprise-wide operational alignment connects supply chain data with finance, human resources, and other business areas, streamlining processes and reducing costs.

further enhances this capability by providing a comprehensive platform for data management and analytics. Moreover, our AI-powered predictions and insights help improve sustainability by optimizing energy consumption, eliminating waste, and minimizing environmental impact.

Integrating AI for greater efficiency

Companies today need to redefine their business management by integrating automation and AI-driven decision intelligence into their business processes. 51风流solutions enhance productivity and efficiency across all business processes, from product development to execution and continuous process improvement.

offers planning analytics, what-if simulations, and real-time information for sustainable and risk-resilient decision-making. The new AI-assisted planning capabilities with allow supply chain planners to customize Excel add-in planning views using natural language commands, streamlining daily tasks and strategic decisions.

Joule revolutionizes 51风流IBP by introducing intuitive conversational search, navigation, and transactional capabilities. By harnessing natural language processing, it effortlessly interprets user queries and instantly retrieves relevant information, significantly enhancing overall user productivity. This ability allows even highly experienced planners to understand the outcome of complex optimization and machine learning-based planning algorithms revolutionizing their user experience and ultimately increasing user adoption of these advanced AI-based technologies.

In 51风流Digital Manufacturing and 51风流Asset Performance Management, machine learning-guided visual inspection enables the execution of multiple inspection tasks such as for production and maintenance quality or even automates the process entirely, reducing human errors, improving product quality, and lowering operational costs.

Joule in 51风流Integrated Product Development facilitates help-content discovery with conversational access to development documentation, covering idea-to-market processes such as collaboration, formulation, and handover. Users can inquire naturally, access relevant documentation, and receive concise summaries, enhancing efficiency and decision-making.

For the manufacturing industry, 51风流Field Service Management with AI provides technicians quick access to equipment service history and key job details, improving diagnostics and first-time fix rates. This increases operational efficiency, reduces downtime, and enhances customer satisfaction.

Lastly, the integration of Joule with allows transportation planners to use simple natural language searches to find order details and reduce manual errors by autonomously cross-referencing multiple data sources.

Join 51风流at Hannover Messe 2025

Visit 51风流in t Hannover Messe 2025 to discover how our modern manufacturing, supply chain, and cloud ERP solutions can help your business, regardless of its size. Experience firsthand how we鈥檙e maximizing the impact of technology, running resilient and sustainable supply chains, and unlocking the power of business networks.

Meet our experts and industry-leading partners to learn how manufacturing and supply chain processes in the cloud can help you succeed in an AI-enabled world. Together, let鈥檚 bring out your best and shape the future of intelligent, sustainable manufacturing.

Dominik Metzger is president and chief product officer for 51风流Supply Chain Management at SAP.

鈥淧owerCo will develop and produce battery cells for the VW Group in best quality, in large numbers,鈥� Andreas Eckle, CIO of PowerCo SE, told the audience during a live session at Hannover Messe trade fair. 鈥淭he gigafactories are set up to a standard factory design.鈥� This ensures the same processes, the same equipment, and the same workflows at all its locations, he explained.

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Three Gigafactories from Scratch

鈥淐onstruction is in full swing at the first standard factory in Salzgitter, Germany, only about 70 kilometers from Hannover. It serves as a blueprint for all PowerCo鈥檚 gigafactories,鈥� Eckle said. Cell production in Germany will start in 2025; Valencia, Spain, and St. Thomas, Canada, will follow soon. In future, the Salzgitter plant is to reach an annual capacity of up to 40 GWh鈥攅nough for about 500,000 electric vehicles. The three gigafactories in Europe and North America will have a total volume of up to 200 GWh.

Eckle pointed out that producing battery cells is a completely new business for Volkswagen. 鈥淚t is not manufacturing cars anymore; it is chemistry. We go all the way from mining to the complete cell and recycling,鈥� he said. At the same time, cell production is a very relevant topic for sustainability, so PowerCo has to make sure that the complete supply chain is committed to Volkswagen鈥檚 sustainability standards. The company鈥檚 scope will include new business models based around reusing discarded car batteries and recycling the valuable raw materials they contain.

The battery cell manufacturer started from scratch: 24 months ago, not only the factory had to be built but the staff for the startup company had to be recruited, too. Now there are about 1,500 employees in different areas, from research and development to operations, and they are the basis for building the company. The same applied to the IT landscape: it first had to be set up.

Standards Accelerate Implementation

Eckle said: 鈥淲e have a very high demand that we need to satisfy for electric vehicles, and from our understanding this will only work if we have the right standards in place.鈥� Stephan Fester, Global Battery Best Practice lead at SAP, who was on stage with Eckle, agreed: 鈥淲ithout standards you will never have the performance you need to set up a factory at this scale in no time.鈥� Fester described how 51风流and PowerCo connected in 2022 and defined a project scope for the first phase in only two days.

In 2023, the project team set up an system and realized three go-lives. They began with the processes that a startup typically needs at once: 鈥淭he first initiative was to manage and spend money and recruit, employ, and manage people,鈥� Fester said. He told the audience that it was around March or April when the project partners heard of the big opening ceremony that was planned for the go-live of PowerCo.

With that hard deadline in mind, they started with the accelerated deployment service for recruiting, onboarding, and workforce management with 51风流SuccessFactors solutions. 鈥淣ormally this takes 12 weeks,鈥� Fester recalled. 鈥淭he 51风流team said it normally takes at least eight weeks, but PowerCo challenged us with a time frame of only five weeks!鈥欌�� This was a good example, he explained, of how a standard can accelerate implementation. They also set up material accounting, financial closing, and vendor invoice management.

鈥淎nother very important factor for success was that we as 51风流wrote the concept according to our understanding of the requirements. PowerCo carried out a review and confirmed it,鈥� Fester explained. 鈥淲e didn’t ask PowerCo what it wanted, because it couldn’t specify that at the time. We understood the business and designed and implemented it based on our experience.鈥�

Synchronize Business and IT Planning

In June 2023, the project team delivered the first version of logistics management. Fester explained the concept: 鈥淲e synchronized the setup plan of the factory with the IT plan. If we know the first truck will arrive at the factory at a certain day, that means the capabilities to manage the truck and the material handling need to be available prior to that.鈥�

Enhanced logistics were implemented in November, like in-warehouse processes, batch management, and returnable packaging management. At the beginning of 2024, integrated business planning went live, and more logistics processes were implemented. The next phase is already planned and set-up with product lifecycle management and other systems.

Fully Operational in Six Months

鈥淲e set up a cloud ERP system in less than six months, fully operational,鈥� Fester said. PowerCo CIO Eckle added that this timeline only worked out because critical defects were resolved quickly and effectively in task force mode. The success of the 51风流S/4HANA implementation project is also shown by the 51风流Quality Award PowerCo received in 2024. 鈥淲e are proud of what we have achieved,鈥� Eckle concluded, 鈥渂ut we still have a long way to go. The Salzgitter factory opening is the first major milestone, with two other openings following.鈥�

PowerCo is now well positioned for future business development. The current cloud ERP system serves as the central foundation for cell production. It will also support future business models like recycling of battery cells and the energy storage system business.

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Raumedic has big plans for its global network of production facilities, including a rollout of 51风流Digital Manufacturing to all of its plants worldwide by 2028.

鈥淭ry out new innovative software and implement them quickly,鈥� Raumedic鈥檚 Christian Vogler shared. 鈥淪o, if they fail, they should fail fast; and if they succeed, they can benefit from them for a longer time.鈥� For the German medical product manufacturer, technology is a key factor in reducing daily workloads, which frees time for more important tasks. Learn more.

Based in Germany, Raumedic designs, develops, and produces polymer- and silicone-based solutions for customer-specific medical and pharmaceutical applications, as well as products for intensive care. It offers a variety of products ranging from a single medicine tube to more complex systems such as kits for liver transplants or infusions. This diversity brings about very complex production and assembly processes. The company has over 70 years of experience in the industry; its more than 1,300 employees work in five locations in Europe and the U.S.

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Making the Shop Floor More Efficient

A manufacturing execution system (MES) is a comprehensive, dynamic software system that monitors, tracks, documents, and controls the process of manufacturing goods from raw materials to finished products. Providing a functional layer between enterprise resource planning (ERP) and process control systems, an MES gives decision-makers the data they need to optimize production and make manufacturing plants more efficient. This is especially relevant in the highly regulated market Raumedic operates in.

The company’s MES strategy stagnated due to the old MES reaching the end of its life cycle. 鈥淲e could not plan any further rollouts in our plants in the U.S. and Estonia. We had no support to get new change requests for innovation in our system, no usability improvements, and finally no AI scenarios could be implemented,鈥� Vogler said.

Avoiding Wrong Decisions

When evaluating and choosing the right software partner for its new MES, Raumedic needed to avoid the wrong decisions of the past, Vogler explained. 鈥淲e wanted a strong provider with a future-proof solution and an excellent partner network in the background,鈥� he said. The company鈥檚 vision was to set up a basis with its new MES solution and develop it toward a digital production platform. For its five production plants, it was also important to work with a global template approach.

Raumedic鈥檚 project team opted to rigorously test the cloud-based 51风流Digital Manufacturing solution and, in March 2023, started the proof-of-concept phase. The team began with a small, discrete industry and assembly scope for the pilot plant in Germany and planned to use this blueprint as an accelerator for the worldwide rollouts and implementations.

The employees in the pilot plant were very motivated because the new solution could not only relieve them of time-consuming routine tasks, but also help ensure compliance both now and in the future. With their previous system, employees still had to document on paper every quality management and GxP compliance process 鈥� GxP refers to the many “good practice” guidelines and regulations that apply to organizations that manufacture products consumed or used by humans or animals. The new 51风流system could handle all this digitally, saving time and increasing compliance. In Raumedic鈥檚 regulated market environment, regulatory compliance is a strategic advantage that enhances market access, builds trust, mitigates risks, and attracts investment.

Concept for Long-Term Success

After rigorous testing, the team concluded that the solution was ready for the company鈥檚 complex production processes. 鈥淲e collected over 300 requirements and evaluated them for possible usage in 2024,鈥� Vogler said. 鈥淚 am very proud that we implemented 75 requirements into a demo landscape.鈥� He said that the team carried out the end-to-end manufacturing execution process with an integration of one use case from the shop floor. They got the confirmation for the production planning with all relevant production values back to the system. 鈥淭he result was very convincing, and so at the end of last year our top management confirmed 51风流Digital Manufacturing as our new MES solution.鈥�

As a next step, a global template will be set up and implemented in a process-oriented manner via 51风流ERP Central Component (51风流ECC). The go-live is planned for Q1 2025. In parallel, 51风流ECC will be transformed to 51风流S/4HANA by 2026, using the Cloud Integration capability within 51风流Integration Suite, and rolled out to the other plants.

鈥�51风流Digital Manufacturing is our central, future-proof, state-of-the-art MES solution. It forms the basis for securing Raumedic鈥檚 strategic goals in the production environment and adds value to all our business processes,鈥� Vogler concluded.

The glass bottles on the high-speed filling line made quiet clinking sounds as they sped around the bend of the track. The visitors to the 51风流booth at the internationally renowned industrial trade fair were waiting for the moment when an optical sensor, using AI support, spotted the bottle that was only three-quarters full and kicked it out of the line and into a defects bay. 鈥淭his system has a capacity of 6,400 bottles per hour,鈥� said a grinning Ben Hughes from SAP鈥檚 Solution & Innovation Experience team. 鈥淚n comparison, the original system from our partner can fill 50,000 bottles, but that would be much too loud here at the trade fair booth.鈥�

The showcase demonstrated how the cloud-based 51风流Digital Manufacturing solution could serve as the process order management system for 51风流customers, whether they typically work with a lot size of one or with continuous manufacturing at higher speeds. The purchase order could have come from an 51风流S/4HANA system, for instance, and ended here with execution in production. 鈥淲e can see the hardware integration with our own eyes,鈥� said Hughes.

AI was also involved: a camera captured the fill level of each bottle. If it was outside the defined tolerance, the bottle was rejected and this information was sent to the 51风流system. A manufacturer could use this data to calculate the production costs for the system and the profitability of every work center, all with AI support. The data from all systems would give experts and management insights into how well the production process was working. This, in turn, would help improve planning.

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Complete Portfolio from the Industry鈥檚 Point of View

Hannover Messe 2024 took place from April 22-26. Muhammad Alam paid a visit for the first time in his role as leader of the 51风流Product Engineering Board area. At the 51风流booth, which featured the motto 鈥淏ring out new manufacturing excellence,鈥� he emphasized the importance of AI as an integral part of 51风流solutions: 鈥淎I has the opportunity to fundamentally create significant value for our customers, particularly in the industrial space, with an ability to create resiliency from a supply chain perspective that just wouldn’t be possible without the application of AI.鈥�

51风流demonstrated nearly its entire portfolio in an industrial context in Hannover. 鈥�51风流uses what we call 鈥榚nd-to-end scenarios鈥� to do this,鈥� said Georg Kube, head of Industry Data Ecosystems. To reflect this, the booth was set up in line with this logic. The 鈥渄esign to operate鈥� graphical element, which maps all steps of the manufacturing process, showed the corresponding step in the value chain at each station of the booth. 鈥淲e integrate our solutions with the specific process that manufacturers have,鈥� Kube said. 鈥淭hey design a product, then it鈥檚 manufactured, then it鈥檚 bought by a customer, and in the end it is being used and maintained. We offer integrated solutions for every step in this process.鈥�

Working Together for Success

Darcy MacClaren, global CRO for Digital Supply Chain, acknowledged the challenges faced by SAP, its customers, and its partners: 鈥淲e are facing environmental and geopolitical disruptions and we want to be sustainable.鈥� She said collaboration is the key to achieving these daunting goals, a message that was echoed in many presentations and podium discussions at the booth.

For example, experts from , , and 51风流discussed how the automotive industry network is creating a standard that enables collaboration, data interchange, and transparency to support decarbonization along the value chain. Catena-X serves as a blueprint for other industrial networks under the umbrella, such as Factory-X for factory equipment suppliers and operators.

The showcases at the trade fair booth wouldn鈥檛 be possible without partners, which also play a decisive role in SAP鈥檚 competitiveness and future viability. 鈥淭he partner ecosystem is a key success factor for SAP,鈥� said Andreas Markus Thon, head of Digital Supply Chain MEE. 鈥淭hey are enriching our suite with their applications and solutions and are critical for high quality and successful adoption and use of our solutions.鈥�

A Fleet of Robots Delivers Materials

SAP鈥檚 鈥淢odular Manufacturing鈥� showcase let visitors witness examples of successful partner collaboration for themselves. It demonstrated a fleet of autonomous transport robots that delivered a variety of parts for a valve from storage to assembly stations. Thanks to the fleet control software with embedded AI from 51风流partner , the robots from different manufacturers worked together seamlessly, making autonomous, situational decisions as to which station should assemble or disassemble the parts. The scenario demonstrated that 51风流systems can also implement modular production, which is typically used in manufacturing scenarios involving many variants and low to medium product volumes. 51风流S/4HANA, 51风流Extended Warehouse Management, and 51风流Digital Manufacturing were deployed here.

The 鈥淚ndustrial Metaverse鈥� showcase was another big draw. It let visitors to the 51风流booth put themselves in the shoes of a systems operator, using VR (virtual reality) glasses to inspect a system virtually, even if the manufacturing was taking place on the opposite side of the globe. The 鈥淚njection Molding Machine鈥� scenario vividly demonstrated how planning and manufacturing dovetail in integrated, agile, made-to-order production, as the machine produced colorful recycled plastic cups for guests at the end of the process.

Other topics at the trade fair included potential uses of digital twin solutions, such as virtual models and real-time simulations, as well as collaboration between people and machines. A summary description of all the presented scenarios is available .

The World鈥檚 Largest Industrial Trade Fair

The guiding theme of Hannover Messe 2024 was 鈥淓nergizing a sustainable industry.鈥� Nearly 4,000 exhibitors from 60 countries presented solutions for a high-performance, sustainable industry. As part of an industrial ecosystem, they showed how carbon neutrality can be achieved through electrification, digitalization, and automation.

Companies from Germany, China, Turkey, the U.S., Italy, and France booked the largest exhibition spaces. Around 1,600 speakers appeared on the venue鈥檚 11 conference stages. This year鈥檚 partner country was Norway.

Under its motto 鈥淏ring out new manufacturing excellence,鈥� 51风流demonstrated how it is using AI to advance manufacturing processes, among other solutions, at its more than 1,000-square-meter booth in Hall 15. Visitors to SAP鈥檚 booth had the opportunity to see 27 product demonstrations and nine interactive showcases. More than 25 51风流partners showed the collaboration and variety of potential uses of their solutions, and 35 presentations by experts and customers were featured at the booth.

Photo 漏nottebrock.

As we navigate this brave new world of business AI, 51风流partners are playing an essential role as equal parts technology disrupters, trusted advisors, and innovation multipliers. They work and live at the edge, breaking technology rules with every new solution and innovation they bring to the table. These companies are passionate about their AI-driven solutions, which will provide what 51风流manufacturing customers want most for their businesses nowadays: more efficiency, accuracy, and agility in their production operations and supply chains. Their energy and passion are positioning them to redefine the rules of engagement regarding how partner ecosystems work.

It doesn鈥檛 matter what kind of partner you are 鈥� you could be on the build, implement/service, or sell sides of the 51风流partner ecosystem, the opportunities to innovate, and co-innovate with 51风流and other partners, solutions that bring value to customers in discrete manufacturing industries are as limitless as our imaginations. It鈥檚 an exciting time to be an 51风流industry partner.

Innovative Solutions from 51风流and Partners Give Our Manufacturing Customers a Competitive Edge

Giving our manufacturing customers the business AI solutions they need to thrive in highly competitive and often volatile markets is an absolute must. Whether those solutions are developed by an 51风流partner, 51风流itself, or collaboratively is secondary.

This new drive to co-innovate on our customers鈥� behalf is creating opportunities for partners to develop and deliver industry innovations in three areas of discrete manufacturing:

1. Solutions that enable efficient, accurate, and agile manufacturing and supply chains by integrating processes, removing data silos, and seamlessly connecting manufacturing and supply chain applications with the whole of the business.
2. Solutions that improve decision-making by using AI to analyze data from internal and external sources in context and produce insights that increase manufacturing operations’ resilience and help customers strike the right balance among cost, sustainability, and customer satisfaction.
3. Solutions that promote collaboration within a business ecosystem.聽Many of the company executives I鈥檝e spoken with recently wanted to talk about Manufacturing-X, the growing cross-industry initiative in which companies across various manufacturing value chains come together within a global business ecosystem to define a standard that enables them to share production and supply chain data across platforms and technology to further increase resilience, sustainability, and competitiveness.

We are bringing this customer-focused, partner-driven approach to life this week at Hannover Messe, bringing center stage the latest, most compelling innovations to emerge from 51风流and our partner ecosystem, across both discrete and process manufacturing 鈥� many embedded with business AI.

Some of the showcases that have been developed collaboratively in action include:

• Modular manufacturing that orchestrates production cells with a hard independent fleet manager
• High-speed bottling that captures traceability data and in-line quality assurance
• A centralized operations control center聽that manages an offsite process production line
• AI-enhanced visual inspection and guided instructions during component assembly
• A quick guided journey through an Industrial Metaverse, showing how assets inside a power plant can be intelligently and remotely managed

51风流partners are playing an integral part in our presence at Hannover Messe, just as they are in our overarching industry vision. Partners including Accenture, Camelot ITLab, Cideon Software & Services, FORCAM, Kinexon, Systema, and TeamViewer are all exhibiting their solutions alongside their 51风流counterparts, demonstrating the true power of partnership and innovation at every turn.

By leveraging resources like the new 51风流AI Launchpad and generative AI hub, our partners will introduce industry innovations that will add immediate value for customers in the discrete and process manufacturing space. Hence, they have the intelligent digital tools they need to be future-ready.

Kinexon鈥檚 OS extension to the 51风流Digital Manufacturing solution is one example. Kinexon OS orchestrates the shop floor and automates previously manual processes, improving production speed, quality, and asset utilization. It is providing customers with an essential pathway to modular production and autonomous manufacturing.

For those of you at the event, stop by the 51风流space and experience innovation and partnership in perfect harmony firsthand. An electric injection molding machine developed by Fanuc with support from partner Syntax will be cranking out made-to-order drinking vessels.

Come enjoy a cup of inspiration on us. It鈥檚 a small but meaningful taste of what鈥檚 possible for partners in our collaborative, customer-focused, and business AI-driven cloud ecosystem.

Sven Denecken is senior vice president and chief marketing and solutions officer for Industries & CX at SAP.

“Businesses today are confronted with challenges ranging from supply chain disruptions and labor shortages to geopolitical uncertainties,鈥� said Muhammad Alam, member of the Executive Board of 51风流SE, 51风流Product Engineering. 鈥�51风流recognizes the imperative for agility and intelligence, driving innovation with AI-powered solutions to streamline supply chain and manufacturing processes. Companies can enhance operational efficiency and improve supply chain resiliency while delighting customers with superior service, paving the way for sustained growth and market competitiveness.鈥�

Accurate and relevant real-time information helps mitigate the impact that supply-chain disruptions have on suppliers, manufacturers and distributors worldwide. SMA Solar Technology AG and other customers have already witnessed the benefits of SAP鈥檚 solutions, including an approximately 15% increase in supply chain workforce productivity, a 10% decrease in overall supply chain planning costs and a 10% reduction in inventory carrying costs and stock turnover rate.

鈥淪MA Solar modernizes its manufacturing execution systems to support sustainable, risk-resilient manufacturing operations with the power of AI-enabled visual inspection in the 51风流Digital Manufacturing solution,鈥� said Heiko Kehm, SMA Solar head of IT Order to Cash.

Sixty-three percent of supply chain executives and 52% of operations executives have an AI strategy linked to business objectives, according to 鈥�,鈥� a global 2024 IDC InfoBrief sponsored by SAP*. Fifty-one percent of the 2,000 survey respondents are embedding AI into supply chain planning business processes and key applications for real-time decision-making. Another 58% are using AI to increase operational efficiency and employee productivity.

to SAP鈥檚 supply chain solutions to support customers鈥� AI-centric strategy include:

• Optimizing decisions across the supply chain with AI-driven insights: Companies can now leverage higher volumes of machine data and integrate AI-driven visual inspection by computer into their production processes, enabling a remarkable increase in quality through automation.
• Streamlining product development: Product developers can now use SAP鈥檚 AI copilot Joule to gather and enhance new product ideas quickly and effectively using natural language queries. Joule also helps tag product designs with business data, so they visually contextualize business-critical information.
• Detecting equipment anomalies: Using AI, asset operators can proactively address potential breakdowns based on sensor data collected from smart devices and edge gateways. This new capacity utilizes the cutting-edge Cumulocity IoT platform from Software AG, which is planned to be embedded in the 51风流Asset Performance Management application in Q3.
• Improving field response: Customers can optimize driving routes and allocate job assignments efficiently with integrated real-time traffic data and machine-learning-trained models, which enable the right field service technicians to reach their destinations on time.

Find more details about the innovations 51风流will show at Hannover Messe .

Visit the . Follow 51风流at .

*IDC InfoBrief, sponsored by SAP, The Importance of AI in Supply Chain and Operations, document #US52042224, April 2024.

About SAP

As a global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, 51风流(NYSE: SAP) stands at the nexus of business and technology. For over 50 years, organizations have trusted SAP to bring out their best by uniting business-critical operations spanning finance, procurement, HR, supply chain, and customer experience. For more information, visit .

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Speaking on the opening day of the trade show, Saueressig said, 鈥淓xceptions are now the rule. Today’s globally networked supply chains are especially prone to disruptions 鈥� with far-reaching consequences for the manufacturing industry. Flexibility and agility are needed to react quickly to changes.鈥� Adding her impressions of SAP鈥檚 presence at the event, White said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 an amazing collection of both 51风流technologies and our broad partner ecosystem, and it is us working with our ecosystem that鈥檚 solving our customers鈥� challenges.鈥�

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51风流Solutions in Action

There was certainly plenty for visitors to take in at SAP鈥檚 booth, from showcases and guided tours to live sessions and partner stands.

51风流is striving to help shape digital transformation in manufacturing. And one of the most pressing questions for that industry today is how to make production and supply chain processes resilient and sustainable.

To answer that question, 51风流gave visitors ample opportunities to try out 51风流solutions and experience them live in action in a 鈥渄emonstration factory鈥� it had at the trade show. The show booth 鈥渇actory鈥� was a partial sample of SAP鈥檚 recently opened Industry 4.0 Pop-Up Factory innovation center at the company鈥檚 headquarters in Walldorf, Germany. Attendees were able to view the rest of the factory remotely from SAP鈥檚 booth or through virtual reality glasses in its 鈥淚ndustrial Metaverse鈥� showcase.

On Display: How 51风流Solutions Manage Supply Chains and Manufacturing

51风流also demonstrated systems that support production operators in a part of multi-stage production in which a component is assembled for the end product. In a scenario focusing on in-process quality control, 51风流showed how operators receive precise visual instructions during the assembly of an electronic control head, guiding them through the process and reducing errors. It also explored the value of embedded artificial intelligence (AI) in quality assurance, showing how image recognition technology can be used to check how likely it is that parts have been assembled correctly and whether they have any defects. A highlight here is a kind of digital birth record, which can be thought of as a finely structured documentation of the production process. All relevant data from machines, as well as input from users, is recorded there and assigned to an individual product.

Also in the spotlight were applications for digital twin solutions, not just for virtual models and real-time simulations but also for human-machine interaction. Visitors were able to learn more about this from the example of autonomous mobile robots that independently pick up parts from a warehouse and 鈥� rather than placing them on a conventional conveyor belt 鈥� take them straight to a modular station.

51风流also showcased an augmented reality solution for production operators. Here, personnel wearing smart glasses receive instructions and feedback on whether they have carried out a work step correctly directly in their field of vision.

Digitally Mapping and Managing the Entire Production Process

Hannover Messe attendees could also try their hand at remotely controlling and monitoring the Industry 4.0 Pop-Up Factory in Walldorf, viewing a live, end-to-end production line for mixing and filling liquids as used by the process industry in the manufacturing of chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and consumer goods.

The demonstration showed that one central control room is all that is required to control and monitor production across locations. 51风流calls this control room a 鈥減roduction control center.鈥� Commenting on this live factory session, Matthias Deindl, head of SAP鈥檚 Industry 4.0 Center EMEA & India, said, 鈥淭his scenario shows companies how 51风流can help them have a full overview of everything that is happening on the factory floor 鈥� not just planning, but managing the entire production process for batch manufacturing.鈥� In the future, it might even be possible to create a purely digital version of the control room in the metaverse. Companies could then design and operate it exactly as they wanted. And they would no longer need to house it in a brick-and-mortar space.

In the scenario shown in Hannover, the production line is connected to 51风流Digital Manufacturing. All the information needed to fulfill the production order 鈥� including the customer鈥檚 specifications 鈥� is sent seamlessly to the machine. The process is paperless and can incorporate customer requirements without manual intervention. Another function of the production control center is to monitor the production line and key performance indicators, such as process efficiency, scrap rates, and good parts produced, as well as the current condition of the machines and equipment.

Cloud Solutions Enable Vertical and Horizontal Integration

One of the highlights at SAP鈥檚 booth was the electric CNC injection molding machine that let visitors track the production of their own customized cup 鈥� from top floor to shop floor in the production hall. This pop-up production station, staged in cooperation with 51风流partners Fanuc and Syntax, demonstrated how 51风流Digital Manufacturing can integrate a highly automated machine and control manufacturing.

Starting with order planning, visitors chose from various configuration options on a monitor. They could select a color or color combination for their cup and specify which logo it should have. The 51风流software then dispatched the order to the machine electronically and production of the cup began using recycled and recyclable plastic. Visitors could take the cups they made home with them.

While visitors were creating their cups, sensors were capturing a range of key information about the machine鈥檚 condition and how many good and defective parts had come off the line. This shows how in a real-life setting, the seamless flow of information also works in reverse, meaning from the machine level back to the office level. Data like this can be analyzed in 51风流Analytics Cloud, giving customers valuable insights to help them optimize the production process.

Resilient, Efficient, Sustainable 鈥� and Profitable

Visitors to SAP鈥檚 booth could experience the full product life cycle 鈥� from design and planning, manufacturing, logistics, and installation to operations and maintenance. They learned how the processes at each of these stages can be optimized by, for example, embedding AI to integrate them horizontally.

Vertical integration can also connect all levels inside the company. Linking manufacturing and business processes in this way eliminates data and knowledge silos. 鈥淗ere at Hannover Messe, we鈥檝e brought everything together under one roof to demonstrate realistic end-to-end scenarios,鈥� said Ralf Lehmann, Solutions Management Digital Manufacturing & Industry 4.0 at SAP.

Businesses want to ensure that their manufacturing and logistics operations are efficient, cost-effective, and reliable. Yet they must also meet profit and sustainability targets. 鈥淢anufacturers are facing two major challenges right now. One is the ongoing disruption to supply chains. The other is sustainability, which has become a top priority for CEOs. If you consider that only 7% of global economic output today is circular, then the opportunities are huge,鈥� says Saueressig.

At its booth, 51风流showed how it is one of the world鈥檚 leaders not only in enterprise resource planning (ERP) but also in digital supply chain. Industry 4.0 can transform business processes from manufacturing through to supply chain. As an ecosystem that enables companies to connect, 51风流Business Network also helps improve transparency. These capabilities can be used in a circular economy to foster sustainability and capture carbon emissions data. As White points out, 鈥淥ne of the most important things we see here is the focus on sustainability. Creating a true network around that is how we鈥檙e going to change the game.鈥�

Building on the network theme, 51风流partners had booths nearby showing Catena-X and , the latest initiative to emerge from an alliance between industry and the German government. Here, too, 51风流will play a leading role in driving digital transformation in manufacturing supply chains. Like Catena-X, Manufacturing-X will be an open and collaborative data ecosystem. Shared standards will enable data to be exchanged worldwide in compliance with European practices and data protection laws.

This includes artificial intelligence (AI) embedded into the 51风流Digital Manufacturing solution, 3D product and operations viewer capabilities in manufacturing, service and maintenance processes, and adherence to sustainable packaging guidelines in the 51风流Responsible Design and Production solution.

• Advancements to Supply Chain Software from 51风流Enable Risk-Resilient and Sustainable Supply Chain Operations

In today’s world, constant disruption has become the new normal. Resilience is essential for businesses to withstand the forces of change. To achieve it, companies are looking to redesign their supply chain and manufacturing processes to consider cost, speed, profit, customer service and risk. According to a global , manufacturing executives are more likely than those in other functions to deploy intelligent technologies at scale to improve predictive analytics capabilities. However, only 36% of the 1,000 survey respondents said they have deployed predictive analytics in any part of their enterprise. To become more resilient, 51风流customers can employ AI embedded into 51风流Digital Manufacturing for AI-driven insights and AI-powered visual inspection processes. Customers can ensure that defective parts are discovered early and are addressed quickly, producing higher yield, ready-to-deliver quality materials. The lower product defect rates result in fewer service claims and improved asset health and maintenance.

鈥淚n recent years, it has become apparent that our global supply chains are vulnerable to disruption,鈥� said Thomas Saueressig, member of the Executive Board of 51风流SE responsible for 51风流Product Engineering. 鈥淭his has far-reaching consequences for the manufacturing industry as well. 51风流is a driving force in many industry-relevant initiatives, such as Catena-X and Manufacturing-X. Open data ecosystems, especially, have their place in the manufacturing industry. What is more, in many of the conversations I鈥檝e had with business leaders, and according to our latest Oxford Economics study, it becomes clear: They see the need of investing in Industry 4.0 principles and AI to increase supply chain resiliency, but many are still in the piloting stage. 51风流is in a unique position to accelerate the journey to resilient manufacturing because we can embed intelligent capabilities in enterprise software across all end-to-end-processes.鈥�

Smart Press Shop, a joint venture of and , reached a new milestone in automotive production by using AI embedded in 51风流Digital Manufacturing. Adapting a cloud-first development strategy, Smart Press Shop enables fully paperless production and a completely automated process for configuring production-line machinery for pressing automotive body parts. With the help of 51风流software and embedded AI, Smart Press Shop can assess the quality of materials in real time and adjust machine performance to improve downstream processes in logistics and operations.

鈥淲ith the help of 51风流solutions, we were very quickly able to build a system landscape at the Smart Press Shop based on the principles of Industry 4.0 and covering our requirements, such as self-optimizing production, end-to-end traceability and resource-saving production,鈥� said Hendrik Rothe, CEO, Smart Press Shop GmbH & Co. KG. 鈥淲ithin a few months, our core solutions 51风流S/4HANA Cloud, public edition as well as 51风流Digital Manufacturing were ready for use. Above all, the solutions enable us to process data in real time, to handle our entire production without paper, and ultimately to make all our processes transparent. Thus, we are very flexible and positioned for the future.鈥�

3D Capabilities to Strengthen Resiliency

To further help manufacturing become more resilient, the 3D product viewer capabilities of the 51风流Enterprise Product Development solution are now integrated into manufacturing, service and maintenance processes. In 51风流Digital Manufacturing, production operators now can view 3D product models in their dashboard and work environment to streamline complex assembly. In the 51风流Service and Asset Manager mobile app, field engineers can use 3D augmented reality views to accelerate asset maintenance, increase first time fix rates and reduce downtime.

Sustainability Initiatives Are Still at the Top of Business Agendas

According to the Oxford Economics study, 28% of supply chain executives include improving sustainability metrics as one of their top three strategic goals. To enable not only risk-resilient but also sustainable supply chain operations, 51风流Responsible Design and Production now supports company-specific sustainable package guidelines. Customers can monitor, measure and act to eliminate waste during packaging design.

51风流had extended its integration with business sustainability ratings provider EcoVadis SAS within the Trading Partner Profile (TPP). The integration enables suppliers to promote their sustainability performance and showcase their EcoVadis sustainability rating status across 51风流Business Network. This helps buyers identify opportunities to comply with emerging ESG due diligence and reporting legislation, as well as enabling them to select new suppliers who can help them reach ambitious corporate and value chain sustainability commitments.

These innovations are helping customers achieve better visibility across their supply chain operations and to ultimately increase resiliency.

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HANNOVER MESSE is the world’s leading trade fair for industry. About 4,000 companies from the mechanical engineering, electrical and digital industries as well as the energy sector will showcase technologies and solutions for a connected and climate-neutral industry. Visit the 51风流booth in Hall 15, E17 from April 17鈥�21, 2023.

About the Oxford Economics Study: On behalf of SAP, Oxford Economics conducted a global supply chain survey of 1,000 supply chain executives and professionals in 15 industries across the United States, Canada, Brazil, Germany, France, Spain, UK, Italy, China and Japan. One third of the sample was made up of companies with US$500M to $999M in annual revenue, with one third having between $1B and $10B and one third generating over $10B in revenue. Survey respondents participated in the research using a computer-assisted telephonic interviewing methodology (CATI). Interviews were carried out in January and February of 2023.

About SAP

SAP鈥檚 strategy is to help every business run as an intelligent, sustainable enterprise. As a market leader in enterprise application software, we help companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 51风流customers generate 87% of total global commerce. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers鈥� businesses into intelligent enterprises. 51风流helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want 鈥� without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables business and public customers across 25 industries globally to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, 51风流helps the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives. For more information, visit .

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Logistics Problems Are a Drag

As such, many exhibitors traveled to Lower Saxony鈥檚 capital city with mixed feelings this year. Would industry professionals return in droves? And how would business develop?

The industry association VDMA says Germany鈥檚 machine manufacturers are enjoying a 鈥渧ery large order backlog.鈥� But in an interview with the German Press Agency (DPA), Gunther Kegel, president of the German electro and digital industry association ZVEI, warned of the impacts of COVID-19-related shutdowns in China. The weeks-long break will 鈥渟end a shock through global supply chains whose consequences will only be seen in six to eight weeks鈥� time. There鈥檚 still quite a bit in store for us,鈥� he said.

Currently, experts cannot predict how long the worldwide logistics problems will last, making it all the more important to make supply chains as robust as possible and prepared to mitigate risks in the long term. Resilience and sustainability were among the most-discussed themes at Hannover Messe and were a particular focus of the technology companies that had a presence at the show.

Vertical and Horizontal Integration

At the Hanover show, 51风流concentrated on showcases and product presentations for the discrete and process industries聽鈥� and on showing how Industry 4.0 processes pave the way toward becoming customer-centric, robust, sustainable enterprises.

鈥淚ndustry 4.0 empowers sustainable business processes and robust supply chains by connecting the dots,鈥� said Thomas Saueressig, member of the Executive Board of 51风流SE, 51风流Product Engineering. At the vertical level, for example, machine data is being linked with business processes. Horizontal integration along 鈥渄esign to operate鈥� supports improvements in the production of goods, for example, helping to avoid waste, he said.

Using the example of producing bottled milkshakes, 51风流demonstrated what this can look like in a specific use case at its Live Forum. In the presentation, the company showed how the 51风流system examines the sustainability of the various product components, including packaging, and points out the potential consequences based on the current product features.

A plastic cap, for example, can incur additional fees in product distribution in many countries. Insights like this are very helpful for companies that want to make their manufacturing processes more sustainable and implement more responsible product designs.

The Live Forum also served as the stage for a number of customer presentations from industrial practice聽鈥� for example, to illustrate how digitalization and business transformation are virtually two sides of the same coin in times of Industry 4.0.

Sascha Rowohl, head of IT at Schwarz Production, showed how the Schwarz Group of retailers (Lidl, Kaufland) implemented its digital coffee roasting facility in just 18 months with SAP鈥檚 help. The fully automated factory was designed as a greenfield project and is slated to expand its production capacity to around 50,000 tons of coffee by the end of this year. That accounts for around 10% of all coffee produced in Germany聽鈥� all of which is sold in the group鈥檚 own stores.

Among other solutions, Schwarz Group implemented , , 51风流Intelligent Asset Management, and 51风流Analytics Cloud as part of this project. Connectors link the solutions with the group鈥檚 51风流ERP system. According to Rowohl, the Schwarz Group intends to digitalize more factories for other product groups step by step. An interesting aspect of these plans: the group has established a new business unit with Prezero, a disposal company, which gives the group the ability to extend its value chain from production all the way to waste recovery.

Art and a Big Show

Tangible examples like the presentation of the digital coffee roasting facility attracted considerable interest among the trade show audience. After a halting start in the morning of the first day of the show, the exhibition halls slowly began to fill up. The Meta Cube at the entrance to SAP鈥檚 booth was a real eye-catcher: a cube filled with colors and artificial light, in which a robotic arm from KUKA wrote IT terms 鈥� such as 鈥淏usiness Transformation鈥� 鈥� on a transparent mirror. This installation was certainly the most photographed motif in hall 4.

Another big audience draw was the theater area (鈥淕ate to Walldorf鈥�), where visitors could observe the interaction between machine processes and software controls in a live stream. The scenarios were set up in Building 21 of SAP鈥檚 headquarters and were transmitted virtually to SAP鈥檚 booth at the Hanover trade show. 51风流employees in Walldorf explained the presented sequences step by step, while hosts at the 51风流stand took questions from the audience after the presentation.

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Selected partners complemented SAP鈥檚 exhibition with their presence at the company鈥檚 booth in hall 4. One of them was Catena-X, an open ecosystem where business partners from all areas of the automotive industry聽鈥� including smaller suppliers聽鈥� will be able to contribute in the future. The goal of this project is to seize the opportunities of digital transformation with the help of a standardized, connected data infrastructure along future value chains. According to Dr. Florian Patzer from Fraunhofer 鈥� like SAP, one of the driving forces in the network聽鈥� 11 application areas have already been defined, including maintenance, quality management, and sustainability.

鈥淢any of our customers have seen their global supply chains take on a tremendous level of complexity,鈥� says Dominik Metzger, head of Product Management, Manufacturing, and Industrial IoT at SAP. Those operating in production industries typically find themselves enmeshed in an intricate web of international suppliers and sub-suppliers. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why plenty of companies are really struggling with disruptions,鈥� Metzger explains. 鈥淪ome of them have to do with COVID-19, but others have been apparent since before the pandemic.鈥�

In terms of macroeconomic trends, the introduction of significant trade tariffs between China and the U.S. as well as the post-Brexit EU/UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement have rattled the established structures of many organizations.

鈥淔or that reason, if anything is a top priority for our customers 鈥� right now and after the pandemic 鈥� it is measures that lower costs and boost productivity in efficient ways,鈥� Metzger says. 鈥淔or those of us at SAP, the core question is: How can we leverage our innovative technologies to help our customers automate their processes?鈥�

At the virtual Hannover Messe 2021 exhibition, 51风流plans to unveil an array of new functions and applications that are set to make industrial process data usable all along the value chain starting in the second quarter.

鈥淭hat includes data generated during manufacturing, maintenance, logistics, and so on, which needs to be integrated deep within 51风流applications,鈥� Metzger shares. Value cannot be created for companies with data alone; it also has to be analyzed in a business context. 鈥淭hat context lies in 51风流systems 鈥� in our intelligent suite, our industry cloud, and our manufacturing and logistics solutions.鈥�

Supplying Materials Automatically with IoT, Robotics, and Edge Computing

Metzger鈥檚 product management team has put together an IIoT portfolio that enables customers to fully automate their resupply and stock removal processes in 51风流S/4HANA, to name just two examples. This is made possible by robotics, the digitalization of intralogistics processes, and an intelligent framework of rules that derives potential actions from real-time data.

In assembly line manufacturing, things like forklifts and manual transport systems are needed to retrieve materials for subsequent installation. Areas like these are where companies often implement the 鈥榢anban鈥� process, which involves supplying materials exactly where production and assembly employees need them on the line.

鈥淪ensors are now being built into these kanban bins in order to 鈥榗onnect鈥� the materials,鈥� Metzger explains. 鈥淎 sensor can tell when the weight of its bin has fallen below a certain threshold, which is when more materials are automatically procured to resupply the bin.鈥�

Meanwhile, an intelligent, cloud-based system of rules interprets the sensor data to determine when actions should be triggered in specific business processes and applications. Systems like 51风流S/4HANA, 51风流Digital Manufacturing Cloud, and 51风流Predictive Asset Insights are highly integrated into the rules to help ensure that the right processes are automatically activated at the right time. Procedures pertaining to kanban, the posting of goods, and quality assurance are just a few pertinent examples.

鈥淲e refer to this combination of IoT and 51风流Edge Services as 鈥業ndustrial IoT鈥� because we鈥檙e using IoT data in an industrial context,鈥� Metzger says.

In a further innovation, autonomous guided vehicles (AGVs) are responsible for retrieving materials instead of forklift drivers. Metzger describes this fully automated approach to supplying assembly lines and carrying away finished products as a 鈥渂est-in-class鈥� logistics process, but one that only works when completely integrated between 51风流systems for manufacturing execution (MES) and warehouse management.

These new functions are designed to be used in the context of 51风流Digital Manufacturing Cloud, where they can be implemented and employed seamlessly thanks to the integration of 51风流Manufacturing solution systems and others for logistics.

Lower Implementation Costs Through Standardization

According to a , customers tested these productivity-boosting innovations at specific plants and warehouses in 2020, but have not yet rolled them out more broadly in many cases.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 because until now, the integration of operational technology like AGVs or machines, sensors, and other equipment wasn鈥檛 standardized very well in business software,鈥� Metzger explains. 鈥淭his meant that such projects involved a relatively large amount of implementation effort, and thus higher costs 鈥� which led to something of a catch-22 with regard to the fundamental idea of reducing costs and increasing productivity.鈥�

In the meantime, however, 51风流has put much of its focus on integrating automation technologies into industry standards like the OPC Unified Architecture and on implementing the administration shell.

51风流Relies on Cloud-Edge Architecture to Reduce Costs

鈥淥ver the last six or seven years, we鈥檝e invested a huge amount of effort in lowering the total cost of ownership of these implementations so that customers can operate them at scale. Along with standardization, the main thing that鈥檚 helping us here is our own technological innovation in terms of cloud-edge architecture,鈥� Metzger says. In the past, the fact that 51风流hardware infrastructure had to be set up at every plant was another reason why implementing new solutions was expensive.

鈥淭hese days, however, all these processes run in the cloud,鈥� Metzger continues. This means that it takes just one data center to control processes like warehouse robotics, digital manufacturing, or IIoT at 100 plants or more.

鈥淲hen you鈥檙e dealing with automation processes in particular, you can鈥檛 afford to have an Internet connection fail for a few seconds,鈥� Metzger says. 鈥淚t was for high-availability scenarios like these that we introduced 51风流Digital Manufacturing Cloud for edge computing.鈥�

This involves an edge device 鈥� basically a small-scale server 鈥� that helps ensure that mission-critical processes always keep running at a plant. Instead of being implemented anew at each facility, these processes are configured centrally in the cloud for each specific plant and run at the edge in a container at the plant.

51风流Edge Services and other IoT offerings from the company enable customers to turn use cases like these into reality. 鈥淚t gives you the best of both worlds,鈥� Metzger says. 鈥淚t significantly improves your ability to scale up thanks to cloud computing, all while reducing your total cost of ownership. Plus, edge computing gives you the degree of robustness you need to control mission-critical processes.鈥�

In addition, auto ID technology is to be offered as a new function in 51风流Edge Services and IoT solutions from SAP. This technology makes it possible to automatically associate the movement of a physical object with a specific process step. 鈥淩eal-time status updates like these are a big step forward in terms of supply chain reliability,鈥� Metzger says. 鈥淭his way, companies can make sure they鈥檙e always available to their customers and able to adapt to bottlenecks around the world.鈥�