OTG: Exemplary company

The countdown is on. By 2025 at the latest, every company that uses SAP and wants to continue using it must have converted to SAP S/4HANA. Ostfriesische Teegesellschaft - OTG for short - was one of the first SAP customers to complete this step back in 2018. The ambitious project was initiated and managed by Karsten Rösener, who is responsible for IT and organization at OTG.

Securely proceed to the future

The goals were ambitious, because the former consulting manager at SAP also wanted to future-proof all of OTG's other important software applications in the course of the migration. With this in mind, he also changed the inventory sampling system that OTG had been using for more than ten years to streamline its annual stocktaking. The background to inventory sampling is Section 241 (1) of the German Commercial Code (HGB), which has recognized this simplification as a partial inventory since the 1970s. According to this, no physical inventory is necessary if the inventory of goods can be determined according to type, quantity and value on the basis of random samples using mathematical-statistical methods. On this basis, only around 300 instead of the total of 40,000 storage locations need to be counted at OTG in order to create a legally compliant inventory.

Integration to SAP

But the software used for this until 2018 no longer met OTG's technical requirements.

"Our old solution was hardly further developed by the provider and did not offer the necessary integration with SAP",

explains Rösener, who therefore opted for the inventory sampling solutions from REMIRA STATCONTROL. On the one hand, there is the high-calculation method, which is particularly suitable for conventional warehouses and allows value deviations within certain limits. The proportion to be counted here is usually between five and ten percent of the warehouse items, which corresponds to a time saving of up to 95 percent. At OTG, the extrapolation method is used for inventory in the packaging materials and raw materials warehouses at the four production sites in Norden, Seevetal, Buchholz and Grettstadt.
The finished goods, on the other hand, are stored in an automatic high-bay warehouse that offers extremely high inventory security. This is why the so-called sequential test from STATCONTROL is used here, with which the inventory target at OTG can be achieved with only 30 random samples. On this basis, the count of stored finished goods can be completed in just four hours.

Tested for 3 countries

The inventory solution has been separately certified by auditors in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and is approved in these countries as a substitute for full inventories. The certificates give all companies with headquarters or subsidiaries in Austria or Switzerland maximum security when they opt for the efficient and secure inventory sampling. OTG's parent company, Laurens Spethmann Holding, also operates a subsidiary in Austria. In addition, OTG has external warehouse locations at suppliers and logistics service providers with further storage space.

"We have only limited influence on inventory security in the external warehouses, so we carry out classic full inventories here."

reports Rösener, who relies here on the inventory function integrated in SAP S/4HANA. OTG thus combines three different inventory methods and software applications for inventory recording.

Consulting as an argument

However, although the individual applications make things much easier in the respective warehouse areas, Rösener is not yet satisfied with the current state. That's why he has joined forces with Stat Control's inventory experts to set up a consulting project that will put all inventory processes to the test once again. For example, downtimes during sample counts in the production and finished goods warehouses are to be reduced even further.

"REMIRA sees itself primarily as a consulting company for inventory management and stocktaking. This was an important reason for the change of supplier."

Rösener notes.

Conclusion

While most SAP users still have the switch to S/4HANA ahead of them, OTG is already taking care of the detailed improvements to the adjacent processes. This head start should make the internationally active tea specialist a popular reference customer with high imitation value.

Facts

•  OTD uses extrapolation processes and sequential test
• Inventory with high rack methods at four production sites
• Sequential test in the high-bay warehouse of inventory goods
• Professional consulting in all inventory matters by REMIRA STATCONTROL