SAP IBP Demand: Optimizes Processes, and Improves Forecasting Accuracy
The Motorservice Group is revolutionizing its demand forecasts with SAP IBP Demand. By working with valantic, manual processes have been automated, resulting in more efficient planning processes, optimized stock levels and faster achievement of sales targets.
Challenge
The Motorservice Group needed a high-level planning solution to automate the manual, error-prone and time-consuming demand forecasts that were previously created using MS Excel.
Consulting approach
valantic developed a detailed concept together with MS Motorservice and implemented the SAP IBP Demand Planning software iteratively according to a hybrid project methodology in order to optimize the planning processes.
Customer benefits and solution
The implementation of SAP IBP Demand enabled the Motorservice Group to significantly optimize processes, improve product availability through more precise demand forecasts and achieve sales and revenue targets more quickly.
MS Motorservice
Motorservice is a leading trading company in the independent aftermarket, specializing in the global distribution of engine components for passenger cars, commercial vehicles, trains, and ships. With its premium brands Kolbenschmidt, Pierburg, TRW Engine Components, and the BF brand, Motorservice caters to the needs of its trade and workshop customers with a broad offering of approximately 15,000 top-quality articles.
The Motorservice Group has a global workforce of almost 1,000 (as of October 2023). Alongside its headquarters in Germany, the company maintains a strong international presence through subsidiaries in France, the Czech Republic, Spain, Turkey, China, Brazil, Italy, and Singapore. The Motorservice Group acts as the sales arm for the Rheinmetall Group’s extensive global aftermarket activities.
Introducing a High-Level Planning Solution for Automated, Fine-Grained Demand Forecasting
Motorservice’s legacy planning system based on MS Excel involved numerous time-consuming, manual tasks hampering efficient planning and coordination across hierarchical tiers. Manual data retrieval from external systems further exacerbated the challenges faced by planners.
The company therefore decided to look for a high-level planning solution capable of automating its planning processes and consolidating all essential information on a single platform. After an evaluation phase, Motorservice’s management team made the strategic decision to implement SAP IBP Demand.
In collaboration with Motorservice, valantic’s consultants and PLM specialists prepared a fine concept and then embarked on an iterative implementation of the high-level planning software SAP IBP Demand using a hybrid project management methodology. The successful completion of the implementation project was followed by a hyper-care phase before transitioning to support.
High-Level Planning Solution
Results and business benefits
“SAP IBP is very, very fast. Most alternative products are significantly slower”
Motorservice is an international trading company, catering to diverse markets worldwide with a wide array of engine components for passenger cars, trucks, commercial vehicles, trains, and ships. In the past, the Group’s planning managers relied on MS Excel for their procurement planning. “We had to retrieve data from a large number of sources to generate forecasts, a process that proved extremely time-consuming,” says Viktor Schlothauer, Manager of Sales Coordination at Motorservice International, reflecting on the challenges. “We serve many thousands of customers in over 140 countries and need a planning system that provides us with all relevant planning information at the touch of a button. This is rather difficult to achieve with Excel,” he adds.
The default functionality of the SAP backend also fell short of meeting all of Motorservice’s specific needs. This is because the company was seeking a high-level planning system capable of generating automatic demand forecasts per article, country, region, partner, and customer, with the aim of enhancing overall planning efficiency and providing transparency across multiple business divisions. Following a thorough evaluation phase conducted in collaboration with valantic, SAP IBP Demand – which also offers MS Excel as a front-end tool – emerged as the top choice for Motorservice’s advanced planning requirements.
valantic’s consultants prepared a fine concept in which they specified the core budget, sales, and demand-planning processes. After that, they embarked on the iterative implementation of SAP IBP Demand using a hybrid project management methodology.
valantic’s hybrid implementation approach consists of a series of structured phases and clearly defined milestones while preserving the flexibility needed to carry out prioritized tasks swiftly and efficiently during the implementation.
More efficient process planning
Significant improvement in forecasting accuracy
Optimized inventories
Viktor Schlothauer
Manager Sales Coordination Business Unit Trade at Motorservices International
”valantic has entirely fulfilled our needs with SAP IBP. Over the long term, we aim to roll out this planning solution internationally.“
SAP IBP Demand: Significantly Improving Demand Forecasting Efficiency
Each month, the Motorservice Group forecasts demand for the upcoming 12 months. Planning with SAP IBP Demand yields numerous significant benefits by taking all of the demand-influencing parameters fully and transparently into account. In doing so, it improves Motorservice’s forecasting accuracy, improving the long-term availability of its products.
Another significant benefit: Some of Motorservice’s corporate clients place large orders for articles sporadically, depending on demand. This poses a significant challenge for planners responsible for the company’s long-term forecasting. With SAP IBP Demand, Motorservice is better positioned to identify sharp fluctuations in demand and smooth them using a predefined algorithm. This approach significantly reduces the likelihood of over-forecasting and consequent overstocking. In an initial phase, valantic successfully migrated the Motorservice Group’s headquarters and central warehouse facility in Neuenstadt to SAP IBP.
The new high-level planning solution SAP IBP went live in October 2022 and has been in productive operation since January 2023. Plans are underway to extend this implementation to additional international warehouse locations of the Motorservice Group in the coming years.
Success Story: "Motorservice Automates Demand Forecasts for 15,000 Articles, Optimizes Processes, and Improves Forecasting Accuracy"
