Automation & Robotics
Robotic pioneer KUKA continues its innovation course thanks to ecosio's efficient EDI solution and optimises its EDI strategy for a networked future.
Founded in Augsburg, Germany, in 1898, KUKA is known worldwide for its state-of-the-art robotic machinery and automated production systems. The company’s distinctive orange machines are instantly recognisable, and have become synonymous with industrial automation and industry 4.0.
Throughout its history, KUKA’s unwavering focus on innovation and development has transformed what was initially a two-man operation into a leading global provider of pioneering automation solutions.
In particular, the development of the world’s first industrial robot over 50 years ago was instrumental in transforming KUKA from a specialist in welding technology into the company it is today.
KUKA’s previous EDI solution was a rudimentary ad hoc solution for spontaneously responding to orders.
“Our toolbox was empty and we found it difficult to respond to urgent requests”, says Thomas Grimmer, who has worked as an SAP SD consultant at KUKA for 12 years, describing the challenge the company faced. The dynamic nature of the robotics business requires a high degree of flexibility from the IT infrastructure. Meanwhile, the increasing demands of customers and suppliers with regards to EDI mean that having a reliable and scalable solution is crucial to long term success. “Given our existing situation wasn’t capable of matching our future plans, we decided to search for a proper EDI service provider”.
KUKA’s decision to work with ecosio was the result of a thorough evaluation that began with a simple introduction over email. “As SAP people, we felt that ecosio picked us up straight away”, says Grimmer. “We’re not EDI specialists, but ecosio’s SAP expertise immediately gave us a feeling of comfort, as it was clear they knew what they were talking about!”
Before migrating fully to ecosio, KUKA initially wanted to see whether ecosio met its requirements. “We wanted to test the fully managed approach, so to speak”, explains Grimmer. “That’s why, as a first step, we integrated the XRechnung format as part of the e-invoice requests”.
This approach allowed KUKA to see how the migration process works and to analyse the technical expertise, professionalism and cooperability of ecosio’s team up close. The project took just under three months, after which XRechnung was ready for use and working flawlessly.
Following the success of the XRechnung project, KUKA enlisted ecosio’s help to replace their existing approach to handling EDI in their SAP S/4HANA system, which involved complicated add-ons and IDocs interfaces. To facilitate seamless integration of the new EDI solution into KUKA’s ERP system, the SNAP ecosio bridge connector (developed with SNAP Consulting) was used. This not only improved speed and efficiency, but also data visibility and accessibility for all relevant teams at KUKA. Whereas sending attachments and receiving status feedback had previously been handled via additional tools, this could now be managed within KUKA’s existing SAP system.
Spurred on by the successes to date, KUKA is planning to rethink its entire EDI strategy with ecosio. In particular, by integrating ecosio into the workflow, KUKA hopes to transform the efficiency of supplier EDI processes moving forward.
Thanks to ecosio’s unique solution, e-invoicing and EDI are no longer headaches, and internal teams are free to focus on what they do best.
“Until now, EDI was a topic that we only ever dealt with in the short term”, says Grimmer. “As non-EDI professionals, we were never able to meet the requirements properly. But now we can leave the whole thing to the experts at ecosio, who are always there for us. And we can devote ourselves to other topics.”
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