German car manufacturer and software provider, Porsche and SAP, signed a new partnership for the former to receive support in its logistics, production, and ordering processes’ digital transformation. And this isn’t the first time a major car-maker has paired up with SAP.
Porsche and SAP have decades of harmonious working relationships. According to Porsche, they have collaborated on multiple projects together. Some of these include the PIA order management system, a tool that provides end customers with direct access to vehicle information and also allows scheduling of service appointments.
A spokesperson for Porsche shared:
“We already set up the order management system PIA together with SAP, which proofed our successful collaboration. Therefore, Porsche decided to go one step further and go into co-innovation with SAP in the context of digital transformation solutions [including] data-driven business models [and] end-to-end architecture.”
For its day-to-day processes, such as ordering, procurement, and product planning, Porsche adopted SAP’s integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, S/4 HANA. Additionally, Porsche utilises the SAP supply chain management applications for both just-in-time (JIT) and just-in-sequence (JIS) delivery of parts for several years.
Lutz Meschke, the deputy chairman and member of Porsche’s executive board for finance and IT, said:
“I am convinced that this type of partnership is exactly what we need to promote innovations in Germany. Our aim is to jointly realise new ideas. This will benefit not only our two businesses but other companies as well.”
The strategic partnership between Porsche and SAP will focus on artificial intelligence, end-to-end process-driven architecture, data-driven business models, and integrating existing projects.
A ‘Board of Architects’ has been set-up between the two companies to help improve communication on business and technology architecture in current programmes.
Dr. Daniel Holz, SAP Deutschland’s CEO, explained:
“Our aim is to be a close partner of Porsche throughout the digital transformation process in order to make a joint success of this. From the very start, we have broken new ground in this strategic partnership with Porsche. Design thinking is a core element of our work together, and we have managed in just a short space of time to focus on the right issues and take a solution-oriented approach. This is a best-in-its-class collaboration model.”
