Centrosolar Group introduces SAP group-wide

Since the beginning of the year, all subsidiaries of CENTROSOLAR Group AG have been connected to a uniform SAP system. We were able to successfully introduce the system at six national and five international locations in only nine months. Based on the strong international expansion of the solar group, a uniform and efficient IT support had become necessary, which can completely portray the business processes from production and procurement to sales and the service process.

Since the system went live in January, the processing between the subsidiaries has improved considerably thanks to highly integrated logistics processes. The two CENTROSOLAR production facilities in Fürth and Wismar (CENTROSOLAR Glas GmbH & Co. KG and CENTROSOLAR Sonnenstromfabrik GmbH) have especially benefited from this. By means of a new logistics concept, delivery ability and
reliability can be significantly optimised. The company has set up two distribution centres as well as a logistics centre close to the CENTROSOLAR Sonnenstromfabrik in Wismar for this purpose; additional distribution centres in France and Italy are to follow. The scanner-based recording of storage and  removal processes at the warehouse locations, which makes the considerable reduction of warehouse processing times possible, is also new.

Process optimisations are also possible in controlling and sales. SAP allows for highly efficient, group-wide reporting as well as real-time creation of financial statements according to national and international accounting standards (IFRS). "It was especially important to us during the selection of the new IT system to be able to represent industry specifications in detail. For example, with SAP, we can carry
out analyses both in units and in watt peak," explains Dr. Alexander Kirsch, chief executive of CENTROSOLAR Group AG.

The CENTROSOLAR Group realised the implementation of the system together with 4process AG / Passau. Since the system went live in January, 250 users at 11 locations in Germany, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Greece have been connected to SAP.