We’re delighted to be supporting a new customer in the supply chain planning elements of its SAP S/4HANA transformation.
The customer, a world‑leader in the tobacco industry, is in the midst of delivering a major programme to establish a single global SAP S/4HANA template, deployed on SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition.
This transformation is being delivered through a collaborative model involving internal Business Process Owners (BPOs) and Business Process Leads (BPLs), alongside an external systems integrator responsible for the core S/4HANA build. The programme follows a complex hub‑and‑spoke architecture, with S/4HANA acting as the central hub connected to multiple non‑SAP systems.
Warehouse operations in the UK and Ireland were among the first sites to go live, creating a strong foundation for the wider global rollout.
Poland was the next site planned and represented a particularly significant milestone, as it marked the first time manufacturing was being introduced into the template. Recognising this, the customer identified the need for additional specialist expertise around factory scheduling within S/4HANA and integration with Blue Yonder planning, to supplement its internal team and ensure the global template could support consistent, real‑world execution across multiple factories.
Based on our consultants’ deep expertise in these areas, we were asked to step in. Our role has been to embed directly within the customer’s BPL team, supporting across:
- Scheduling design and validation within S/4HANA
- Alignment of the solution with real‑world manufacturing scenarios
- Integration between S/4HANA scheduling and Blue Yonder planning
- Challenging the systems integrator where necessary, shaping design decisions to ensure stability and scalability
- Translating requirements into a globally repeatable template
- Supporting site preparation and readiness for upcoming rollouts
Poland became the first manufacturing site to deploy the new solution with our support. With this milestone achieved, the programme has now moved into its next phase, with waves two and three progressing in parallel across additional factories in Europe and the USA. Design and validation workshops for these waves are already well underway.
We are supporting across the following SAP modules:
- MP&S (Manufacturing for Planning & Scheduling) – formerly PP/DS
- PP (Production Planning)
Our work is helping ensure the scheduling and integration foundations are technically sound, operationally usable and ready to scale across multiple regions as the programme accelerates.
Commenting on the engagement, Ben Jansen van Vuuren, Head of Supply Chain Planning, said:“We’re proud to be supporting this organisation as it continues its S/4HANA journey. Factory scheduling and planning integration are critical enablers of stability and performance in manufacturing environments. Having the right expertise embedded early helps ensure the solution not only works technically, but works every day across fast‑moving, global operations.
“Our team brings deep scheduling knowledge, a practical mindset and a collaborative approach, working as an extension of our customers’ internal teams. Our goal is simple: bring clarity, drive adoption and help organisations unlock the full value of their S/4HANA investment.”
If you’d like to discuss how we can support your SAP scheduling or planning integration requirements, get in touch with us today. We’d love to help you plan smarter, schedule better and perform more confidently.