"... a change in thought, in daily work"

hortus GmbH manages transports for Husqvarna/Gardena with SAP

hortus GmbH, logistics subsidiary of the Gardena group in Husqvarna corporation, has gone live with a new transport system. After implementation by inconso AG, the solution offered new possibilities on the basis of SAP LES-TRA and own SAP Add-Ons for process optimization and control, a sophisticated KPI system for planning and control and the possibility to invoice services for third parties. While this investment has already been amortized, phase II of the project has begun.

Husqvarna is the largest manufacturer of motorized equipment for forestry, garden and construction businesses worldwide as well as the European market leader in irrigation technology. With its location in Ulm, Germany, hortus GmbH, a subsidiary company of the Swedish Gardena Group, is responsible for the logistics in southwestern Europe. Simultaneously with the corporate-wide, phased standardization of the IT landscape, the existing logistic systems are being evaluated. It was already clear: The increased order volume of partial loads (LTL), parcel and packaged goods shipments and the differentiating customer requirements required more flexible solutions.

In its region from Rügen to the Algarve and from Bretagne to Cyprus, hortus is responsible both for the procurement of raw materials for assembly and the distribution of finished goods. The assortment serves its purpose for the end-user activities in the garden and floor. This is the reason for the high dependency on the weather and seasonal fluctuations. The performance based transport control is the A and O.

//// Customer first

"Customer first", is the message and thus hortus is focused on permanent deliverability, exactness and reliability. In a superordinate role, the supply chain organization on the corporate level manages all the quantities and other requirements. hortus has the task of operating the processes in an economical manner, meaning keeping the processing times to a minimum. With the setting of the supply chain requirements, hortus takes over the actual material flows. In addition, hortus delivers larger end customers directly, for example with finished tractors. Finally, the organization also completes third party orders and takes package shipments piggyback on an already planned route.

With the additional tasks such as corporate internal and external replenishment, the “delivery area” extends to 109 countries. A look at the quantities moved shows what kind of challenges the company has to deal with: In the southwest Europe region, 15,000 building supplies stores and 10,000 dealers are delivered onside the own organizational units. From the 470,000 package shipments, around 66,000 shipments took place in 2009 for third parties – in addition to 450,000 package shipments and 3,000 container loads. hortus had set itself and inconso clear requirements for the implementation of a new transport system. A standard solution for the order and the internal business (3PL) was to be designed fully using the SAP functionality available. After several joint workshops with the inconso team, the following strategy was decided for: between the existing ERP system SAP SD and the warehouse management, a system based on SAP LES-TRA should be added. Thanks to the supplementation with a line of SAP Add-Ons from inconso AG, the requirements were completely covered.

//// All three required goals could be successfully reached:

(1) Now, after the system implementation, new possibilities are arising for processes to be configured, more flexibility planned and managed. System support takes place in the optimal selection of carriers for each task. The dispatching can bundle routes, create tours, optimize load spaces and manage the carriers. These now receive real delivery notes and can send advance notices again to the destination instances with concrete articles and quantities.

(2) The system delivers a comprehensive bundle of performance indicators that are calculated quickly, reliably and consistently. They are made available in SAP BI and can be linked with data from sales, procurement and accounting. They allow hortus to achieve a precise and efficient management and controlling.

(3) With the implemented services invoicing, the freight costs can not only be used for invoicing, but also as a control element. Freight requests and freight units, the entities of SAP Add-Ons, make it possible for the first time in many parts to complete the planning and invoicing with system support resulting in other tasks being significantly easier to handle.

In essence, it is a time control from the transport system that also triggers and manages the staging of goods in the warehouse. The basis for this is the load number that manages each order from start to finish. Each finishing step is reported back to the transport system as a new status so that transparency on the status of each individual process is available.

In the meantime, hortus is already in the middle of the Phase II system implementation. Next, invoicing with carriers and customers via credit notes will be completed. All costs can then be calculated in even more detail down to the individual article and the individual destination. A dangerous goods process will also be integrated.

The user was involved early in the realization of the project. This has led to a higher acceptance for the new system and its use. Through this acceptance and system use, the investment made has amortized within a year. The implementation of a transport management has moved a lot in the company and hortus came to the conclusion: “It is not a system – it is a change in thought, in the processes and in the daily work!”

„Competent partner for every detail“

Dieter Pollaschek

Interview with Dieter Pollaschek, Expedition Manager of hortus GmbH

If you look back at the implementation of the SAP transport system with inconso: What was the biggest challenge?

Dieter Pollaschek: There were a couple of points that required a high level of focus. But, the biggest aspect was to implement the new system in the existing landscape with the proprietary warehouse system and the SAP SD tailored significantly to our special situation – without losing the flexibility to accommodate for future extensions or releases. We consistently worked towards this goal and it was reached successfully!

Why did you decide to work with inconso and has this decision proven to be the right one?

Dieter Pollaschek: Several of our people responsible for IT had good experiences in early joint projects and had directly talked with inconso. But, we are a solid, swabian company and have naturally still looked very closely to assure ourselves of the cost/performance ratio of the vendors. It was important for us to find a strong SAP partner with comprehensive references and appropriate own Add-Ons who would make it possible to meet the tight timelines. We were and are always happy that inconso offers us a competent partner in every detail. And the excellent project management ensures that all these experts are going in the same direction with us as customer and partner. There was open communication at all times and we worked towards a joint goal. Such a way of working together is really fun.