Roche Diagnostics supplies more than 600,000 customers in over 170 countries. Product shipments are managed via the distribution centers in Mannheim and Indianapolis, USA, as well as production sites in 44 countries worldwide. To ensure uniform quality standards, the company decided to harmonize highly individualized processes and IT solutions in the areas of finance, sales and operations in a global ERP system.
ROCHE
The Roche Group, headquartered in Switzerland, is a global leader in personalized medicine, the global market leader in biotechnology and the world’s leading provider of in-vitro diagnostics. Its customers include hospitals, universities, research laboratories, medical practices and patients in over 170 countries.
leogistics Implements SAP Transportation Management
As part of the harmonization project, which was carried out in cooperation with cbs, leogistics was responsible for the conception and implementation of SAP Transportation Management (SAP TM). The goal was to establish a solution that transparently plans and manages logistics processes based on the SAP Supply Chain Execution Platform. The advantage: cost-efficient and future-proof transport logistics in times of rising cost pressure and increasing fluctuations in demand which can be seamlessly integrated into the new, global SAP architecture of Roche Diagnostics.
In an agile project approach, leogistics mapped prototypes for the respective modes of transport air freight, road freight, sea freight and courier and integrated cross-modal functions into the new system landscape in parallel. At the same time, it was necessary to identify process and system interfaces along the supply chain in order to ensure consistent material flows in real time between the logistics partners.
Harmonized Transport Logistics Simplifies Numerous Processes
- Cost- and time-optimized organization of transport chains
- Flexible selection of the mode of transport
- Automated consolidation of deliveries into air waybills
- Control of export processes via SAP GTS, notification of shipments towards consignees for import processing
- Efficient dangerous goods handling with SAP EHS
- Electronic commissioning of transport service providers
- Transmission of loading dates to warehouse systems (integration SAP EWM), confirmation of truck departures from the warehouse systems
- Transparent freight cost accounting and invoice verification
“Following the successful implementation of SAP TM by leogistics, Roche now has access to a central and global transport management platform. In addition to process harmonization, the solution provides flexible customization options for the implementation of legal regulations and process optimizations.”
A Look Into The Future
The next level of integration of transport and shipping processes can be achieved by scheduling ERP sales orders with SAP TM. Then the subsequent transport planning, also in SAP TM, would manage picking and packing through the creation of outbound deliveries (in ERP). In addition, the logistics processes could be linked to the financial processes by means of strategic freight purchasing, management of agreed quotas and freight rates, as well as freight invoicing by credit note procedure. A further rollout has already been implemented at the Rotkreuz site in Switzerland.
