Mission “Man & Material”

How? With first-class, SAP-based software and high-performance consulting. “Our vision is that in every supply chain the right information and recommendations are at the right time, in the right form, with the right person and that the right material is at the right place, at the right time, in the right quantity,” reports Björn Dunkel, Managing Director of ifm business solutions gmbh.

The employees of the ifm group face this challenge every day and have developed a holistic, fully SAP-integrated and SAP-certified solution as a team, which is unique on the market. “Many providers are dabbling in demand planning, for example, or are focusing on inventory management. But none of them offers complete networking across demand planning, production planning, demand and inventory management. And certainly not integrated into SAP. Yet all experienced supply chain managers know that the networking of processes, the same view of things and the use of a common database that shows the ‘truth’ is the be-all and end-all of successful supply chain management,” says Björn Dunkel.

Customer loyalty is correspondingly high and not only once did the “Back to Standard” strategy in various groups mean that the “GIB Suite” is to be treated as “SAP Standard” with immediate effect. This is not only fortunate for ifm’s supply chain specialists, but also for many contact persons on the customer side who were able to advance their careers in the company with the help of the ifm software.

Refining the SAP standard

How does this work? The ifm supply chain solution fills gaps in the SAP standard, simplifies it in various places and offers numerous extended functionalities, in short: the standard becomes significantly more powerful, offers much more process transparency, can be used for planning and implementation, offers strategic and operational areas that seamlessly interlock and achieves the whole with significantly more usability and simplicity. Once implemented, the ifm solution is almost indispensable. Monetarily measurable successes are normally achieved after just a few months, and the amortization of the solution usually takes place in record time.

Detect waste – avoid waste

How? By immediately revealing what has been lying dormant under the surface for a long time, e.g. too much inventory, sediment, too little accuracy in material requirements planning, no overview of bottlenecks and critical materials, too inaccurate sales forecasts, difficult operability and far too often data extraction into gigantic Excel lists that never allow up-to-date, all-encompassing and reliable statements. And this is even though every supply chainer – whether from scheduling, production planning or purchasing – does his best. But even the best craftsman needs very good tools to achieve excellent results.

Basis of the Smart Factory

Since the merger of the former GIB mbH with ifm, the horizontal digitalization of supply chain processes and their optimization has been joined by the vertical level: The connection of the production level. Intelligent sensor technology – this has always been ifm’s core competence. With the GIB Shop Floor Integration, the information now also reaches the ERP system – exactly where it can make sense. In this way, purchase requisitions and alerts are triggered, which enable early intervention and the timely provision of material, skilled workers or work equipment – if possible before a machine downtime even occurs. This enables forward-looking solutions such as real-time maintenance, predictive maintenance and temperature and level monitoring and lays the foundation for the smart factory.

A round orange thing – the sensor specialists as well as the supply chain experts think.

“Our mission is to make complex supply chain processes manageable. With experience and simplification, we make companies even more successful. That’s what we stand for, and that’s what drives us,” affirms Björn Dunkel.