The automotive industry is constantly evolving, marked by dynamic shifts in consumer preferences, complex regulatory requirements, and an increasing demand for core sustainability initiatives.
Enter SAP Automotive Industry solutions that provide a comprehensive set of tools and technologies tailored to the specific needs of automotive manufacturers, suppliers, and service providers.
With capabilities ranging from supply chain management and manufacturing optimization to product lifecycle management and data analytics, SAP Automotive offers a holistic approach to address the industry’s complex demands.
This article discusses the core capabilities of SAP Automotive, how integrations between SAP HANA databases and Automotive solutions drive sustainable business growth, and where our team of senior-level SAP consultants can come in to help.
Understanding Automotive Industry Software in SAP
The SAP Automotive Industry Cloud is a part of the broader SAP Enterprise Portfolio explicitly designed for customers in the automotive industry.
It provides innovative solutions tailored to automotive business needs that enable users to navigate the challenges of a fragmented supply chain, support digitized business processes, and create new business models to meet customer expectations over time.
With the SAP Automotive Industry solution, users are enabled to:
- Improve overall supply chain management, including the tracking of parts and components from suppliers to production facilities, digital supply chain mobility, and more.
- Consolidate core sales and distribution processes, like pricing and order management, in one place.
- Adhere to industry best practices and regulations, including employee safety standards and environmental requirements.
- Access real-time analytics and reporting capabilities to improve insight into customer demand and drive more informed decision-making across teams.
- Manage and optimize the entire lifecycle of automotive products, from initial design to engineering, sale, maintenance, and disposal.
- Support core production planning and manufacturing operations, including scheduling, quality control, and continuous monitoring for reduced manufacturing costs and improved efficiency.
Key Innovative Automotive Industry Solutions
Here’s a closer look at a few core innovative automotive solutions from SAP and core business partners:
1) Experience Management in SAP and Qualtrics
As the automotive industry moves to technology and experience-led business models to meet customers’ mobility needs, companies need a solution to integrate critical business data across all channels, improve customer interactions, and enhance omnichannel customer service.
Benefits:
- Utilize multi-channel customer feedback to uncover buyer needs and meet customer expectations
- Understand experience and skills gaps to improve sales service and reduce churn
- Accelerate digital transformation efforts for core SAP Business solutions
- Understand how customer interactions affect decisions, trends, and loyalty over time
- Leverage digital-first customer relationships to create better experiences, improve brand loyalty, and enhance business value across teams
2) SAP Digital Vehicle Suite
With embedded vehicle insights and analytics, cloud-based deployment options, and prebuilt integration with the Intelligent Enterprise for Automotive, the Digital Vehicle Suite enables organizations to quickly adapt to changing industry trends and access centralized sales and Car-as-a-Service processes.
Benefits:
- Leverage configurable microservices to facilitate open and modular process orchestration
- Access prepackaged orchestration scenarios and integration features for better visibility
- Utilize an open architecture and digital vehicle hub to connect systems and improve scalability
- Connect vehicle-centric sales, purchasing, and logistics processes across the value chain
- Build extensible data models to address unique business needs and requirements
3) SAP E-Mobility
End-to-end functionalities in the SAP E-Mobility solution enable companies to create diverse and dynamic charging and business scenarios, build and run electric vehicle (EV) charging networks to scale, and drive customer loyalty through an efficient, continuous feedback mechanism.
Benefits:
- Monitor charging infrastructure and charging session statuses across EV station locations
- Configure electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), power grid, EV authorization, and APIs
- Simplify pricing, billing, invoicing, and reimbursement for employee electricity costs
- Improve branding experiences for e-mobility service providers, employees, and customers
- Gain complete transparency of energy costs, power grid utilization, and overall charging processes
4) SAP Industry Network for Automotive
SAP Industry Network for Automotive allows any automotive company to connect fragmented business processes, support smart warehousing and digitized operations, and leverage real-time operational data to predict business risks.
Benefits:
- Monitor materials, components, and emissions across the entire supply chain
- Support circular economy initiatives and reduce the carbon footprint of critical business operations
- Boost cross-industry collaboration to create opportunities for new business models
- Leverage cost-efficient, scalable, and dynamic supply chains to boost competitiveness
- Optimize resource allocation and utilization to predict risks and make quicker decisions
- Utilize collective network intelligence to boost insights and enable robust mobility services
Navigating SAP Industry Network for Automotive
Here are a few key components of SAP’s Industry Network for the automotive industry:
Quality Management
- Access and reuse authoritative data, semantic definitions, and associations for quicker time-to-value and drive profitable growth
- Build a semantic model of your diverse data landscape to combine disparate data sources in a unified data store
- Leverage a hybrid system architecture and simplified data landscape to access critical business data whenever and wherever it’s needed
- Connect with the SAP Datasphere to enable a more robust business fabric and improve self-service access to data for employees and customers
- Deliver meaningful insights with business logic and context to every data consumer
Carbon Footprint Management
- Embed footprint calculations to extend SAP S/4HANA Cloud business processes across the entire automotive landscape
- Reuse existing data, business logic, and infrastructure from SAP S/4HANA to improve efficiency
- Leverage intelligent dashboards to gain insights into footprint data and transportation routes
- Drive footprint calculation at scale and model energy flows across the entire production line
- Utilize guided configuration models to map emission factors to business data and import footprints
Parts Traceability
- Leverage multicomponent traceability to capture product provenance and improve management across the entire multi-tier supply chain
- Organize serialized products and batches by extensible attributes to improve real-time visualization
- Utilize connected APIs and other business intelligence functionality to extend analytics and automate precision alerts across the organization
- Build stronger brand loyalty and enable better network collaboration with business partners
- Create dynamic data visualizations to explore the bi-directionality and provenance of products
Industry Network Enablement
- Automate and connect business processes with pre-built connectors, APIs, and integrations
- Facilitate more robust, more efficient integrations between on-premise and cloud-based processes
- Simplify integration projects to support end-to-end connection between business partners
- Leverage the Eclipse Datasphere Connector to enable convenient, self-service data exchange
- Utilize machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) functionality to optimize core development and integration initiatives
Top 5 Advantages of SAP Solutions for the Automotive Industry
Here are a few main advantages of SAP systems for companies in the automotive industry:
1) End-to-End Process Integration:
SAP Automotive solutions integrate and streamline various business processes, from supply chain management and manufacturing to sales, distribution, and financial management. This end-to-end integration improves efficiency and reduces data silos, enabling a more coherent and synchronized operation.
2) Enhanced Supply Chain Visibility:
With SAP Automotive solutions, companies can gain real-time visibility into their entire supply chain, enabling automotive companies to track materials, components, and finished products at every stage.
This visibility helps in anticipating supply chain disruptions, optimizing inventory levels, and collaborating more effectively with suppliers across the entire automotive ecosystem.
3) Product Quality and Compliance:
SAP solutions for the automotive industry include quality control and compliance features that help automotive companies maintain high product quality standards and adhere to industry regulations and standards. This improves product quality and regulatory compliance, reducing costly defects and recalls.
4) Innovation and Product Lifecycle Management:
SAP Automotive solutions support innovation by helping companies manage the entire product lifecycle, from design and development to manufacturing, maintenance, and end-of-life phases. This facilitates product innovation, faster time-to-market, and better management of product variants.
5) Data-Driven Decision-Making:
SAP Automotive Industry solutions provide robust analytics and reporting capabilities, enabling organizations to make data-driven decisions.
By leveraging real-time data and analytics, automotive companies can optimize operations, identify cost-saving opportunities, and respond to market trends more effectively.
How Can We Help?
Whether you need help implementing SAP S/4HANA solutions for the first time or just an extra hand navigating integrations between SAP Automotive, SAP Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence (MII), and SAP Manufacturing Execution, Surety Systems is here to help.
Our senior-level, US-based SAP consultant team has the knowledge, skills, and proven track record of success to handle all your critical SAP project needs and maximize your investment in the long run.
Getting Started with Us
Interested in learning how SAP for the Automobile Industry can improve real-time inventory management, enhance efficiency across the entire supply chain, and drive better business performance? Ready to get started on a project with our team of expert SAP consultants?
Contact us today for more information!
