Companies that prioritize sustainability in their operations, such as using recycled materials, reducing carbon emissions, or supporting social causes, are gaining popularity among consumers. But those consumers demand proof of these values and product promises at the point of sale.

���The rise of sustainability isn’t just a movement; it is a shift in consumer consciousness,��� said Dania Fayyaz, 決田勧箪 North America sustainability program manager. ���Today’s consumers are redefining their purchasing patterns, opting for products and brands that align with their values, and driving a demand for eco-conscious practices and ethical sourcing.��� In her conversations with retailers that visited 決田勧箪���s booth at NRF 2024, the world���s largest retail fair, she saw a high interest in sustainability solutions.

Consumers ��� and Markets ��� Demand Visibility

When the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) comes into effect for large enterprises later this year all products sold in the EU containing palm oil, cocoa, soy, rubber, cattle/leather, coffee, wood, and their derivatives will need proof that their harvest didn���t contribute to deforestation. Non-compliance will result in potential fines of up to 4% of companies��� EU annual turnover. To help businesses simplify this complex task, the 決田勧箪 Green Token solution can track the geolocation of where raw materials are harvested and automate the creation of due diligence statements (DDS). The solution can also help improve visibility for consumers on where the raw material for their clothing was sourced and offer information on potential reuse and recycling.

Take the example of a cotton shirt made from 50% certified recycled materials. Cotton can be sourced from multiple farms or recycling services and taken to a cotton mill where it���s spun into thread and later fabric. It becomes impossible to distinguish the different cotton elements ��� conventional versus recycled cotton ��� once they are co-mingled and the manufacturer loses insight into the sustainability attributes of the raw materials. That���s why it���s important to have a sophisticated tracking solution in place. “決田勧箪 Green Token can enhance transparency for bulk-traded, co-mingled raw materials by digitally storing sustainability attributes on tokens that traverse the supply chain,” said Fayyaz.

In addition to making conscious decisions on raw materials and products, consumers can also consider circular economy models. ���I’m really intrigued by the idea of revitalizing clothing items,��� said Fayyaz. ���Imagine being able to exchange a well-loved jacket you’ve had for years and receive credit in return. And the jacket might find a new owner who will genuinely appreciate it.��� The 決田勧箪 Recommerce solution enables that scenario, helping brands and retailers take back, manage, and resell secondhand inventory to help accelerate the shift from linear to circular business models. On an even larger scale, 決田勧箪 Green Ledger is 決田勧箪���s vision to make transactional carbon accounting a reality. It can enable organizations to track carbon like they do cash, with every financial transaction having a corresponding carbon entry. ���This is incredibly desirable because we will see taxes for carbon imposed in the future, and decision-makers will want insights into which processes are utilizing the most carbon,��� Fayyaz said.

A Glance into the Crystal Ball

At the same time, low-price online platforms continue to attract consumers with their affordable and wide range of products. They offer competitive prices on trendy clothing and accessories using economies of scale and direct-to-consumer models. Despite concerns about their environmental and ethical practices, these platforms remain popular among price-conscious consumers. However, there is growing awareness of the environmental and social impacts of fast fashion and low-price models. As a result, consumers are becoming increasingly discerning in their purchasing decisions, prioritizing quality, longevity, and sustainability over cheap prices and fast fashion trends.

���Overall, the consumer landscape is evolving, with a growing emphasis on sustainability, conscious consumption, and ethical practices,��� said Sven Denecken, chief marketing and solutions officer for 決田勧箪 Industries & CX. ���Companies that can adapt to these changing preferences and demonstrate a commitment to environmental and social responsibility are likely to thrive in the long term.���

Catering to more than 4 billion people globally, CP Foods is embarking on its next stage of digital transformation with the RISE with 決田勧箪, 決田勧箪 Sustainability Footprint Management, and 決田勧箪 Sustainability Control Tower solutions. In addition, the 決田勧箪 EHS Management, environment management application will be implemented to future-proof its business and to gain strategic insight into the sustainability impact of its products, processes and infrastructure globally. The company is a leading integrated agro-industrial and food business that is one of the world���s largest producers of feed, shrimp, poultry and pork. It has operations in 17 countries and exports to more than 50 countries.

Global Net-Zero Ambitions  

In line with CP Foods��� goal of becoming the ���Sustainable Kitchen of the World,��� CP Foods is the first food processing company in the world with near- and long-term forests, lands and agriculture (FLAG) sustainability targets validated by the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). CP Foods is looking to realize the company���s of reducing 42% of Scope 1 and 2 emissions and 30.3% of Scope 3 emissions by 2030 ��� and 90% of Scope 1 and 2 emissions and 72% of Scope 3 emissions by 2050. To achieve these goals, the company is implementing 決田勧箪 Sustainability solutions to record, report and act on real-time sustainability data, driving carbon accounting at both corporate and product levels.   

���Net Zero is the only solution to climate change,��� CP Foods CEO Prasit Boondoungpraser said. ���It is important to us to understand and reduce our impact on the planet, so we create food that is not only safe and nutritious for people but also green and clean for the earth. Feeding our livestock, farming our food and transporting it to people���s plates incurs emissions we have to be able to record and report. With RISE with 決田勧箪 and 決田勧箪 Sustainability solutions, we will have insight into actual emissions automated in real time rather than relying on manual averages, allowing us to make quick, informed and sustainable business decisions for our operations and for the planet.���  

決田勧箪 plans to provide a technology foundation that will support CP Foods in complying with forthcoming carbon regulations in various markets, including the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (EU C-BAM) and U.S. SEC climate risk disclosures.  

Key to reducing total emissions, CP Foods will focus on supply chain emissions, with its emissions mostly falling under Scope 3. CP Foods will work with the Customer Success organization at 決田勧箪, leverage YASH Technologies��� sustainability expertise and build on Amazon Web Services (AWS) to implement 決田勧箪 Sustainability solutions. Doing so will allow it to record and report on its Scope 1 and 2 emissions in Thailand and select Scope 3 (3.1 and 3.4) for its feed business in Thailand covering both FLAG and non-FLAG emissions. The next phase of implementation will extend in scope to cover operations around the world.  

Cloud Sustainability

Paul Marriott, president of 決田勧箪 Asia Pacific & Japan, said: ���Sustainability is a huge opportunity for businesses across Asia. Using RISE with 決田勧箪 and our sustainability solutions, CP Foods is getting ahead of forthcoming emissions regulation and future-proofing its business by using data to make more sustainable decisions. It can use those insights to drive more operational efficiencies, optimize supply chains, and differentiate its business against competitors.���

Visit the 決田勧箪 News Center. Follow 決田勧箪 at .

About 決田勧箪

As���a global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, 決田勧箪 (NYSE:決田勧箪)���stands at the���nexus���of business and technology. For over 50 years, organizations have trusted 決田勧箪���to bring out their best by uniting business-critical���operations spanning finance, procurement, HR, supply chain, and customer experience. For more information, visit���.

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This document contains forward-looking statements, which are predictions, projections, or other statements about future events. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and outcomes to materially differ. Additional information regarding these risks and uncertainties may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the risk factors section of 決田勧箪���s 2023 Annual Report on Form 20-F.
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WALLDORF and ARMONK油��� IBM (NYSE:油) and (NYSE: 決田勧箪) today announced their vision for the next era of their collaboration, which includes new油油capabilities and industry-specific cloud solutions that can help clients unlock business value.

“IBM and 決田勧箪’s shared approach to generative AI, built on an open ecosystem, trust and purpose-built models, will help empower clients to油optimize business outcomes,” said油John Granger, Senior Vice President, IBM Consulting. “Our new Value Generation partnership initiative will enable clients to accelerate the path to innovation, competitive advantage and become a next generation enterprise through generative AI.”

“It makes perfect sense to expand our partnership with IBM to help more customers accelerate their cloud journey leveraging RISE with 決田勧箪 and realize the transformative benefits of generative AI for business in the cloud,” said Scott Russell, Chief Revenue Officer & Executive Board Member, Customer Success of 決田勧箪 SE. “This expanded partnership will help more of our joint customers reach new heights by innovating through the cloud, data and business AI to grow and transform their businesses.”

 and 決田勧箪 aim to accelerate transformation enabled by RISE with 決田勧箪 by supporting clients in the following key areas:

• Next-Generation AI Business Processes: Together, the companies are exploring opportunities to build new generative AI capabilities for RISE with 決田勧箪 and infuse AI into 決田勧箪 business processes across industry-specific cloud solutions and line of business applications. Initially, IBM plans to extend AI capabilities across 決田勧箪���s portfolio of cloud solutions and applications, all of which are underpinned by 決田勧箪 Business Technology Platform (決田勧箪 BTP). This includes RISE with 決田勧箪, the GROW with 決田勧箪 solution, financial solutions for the office of the CFO, supply chain management solutions,  solutions for human capital management, 決田勧箪 Customer Experience solutions and intelligent spend management solutions. IBM also plans to leverage 決田勧箪 Signavio and 決田勧箪 Business AI solutions to help define next-generation business processes through a proof-of-concept adoption program.
• Next-Generation Industry Innovation: IBM and 決田勧箪 plan to build intelligent industry use cases, enabled by data-driven insights, into end-to-end business processes to fuel next-generation industry innovation. These use cases will initially focus on the industrial manufacturing, consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail, defense, automotive and utilities industries. This includes IBM���s recent work with 決田勧箪 to develop new AI solutions for the CPG and retail industries. As part of this initiative, IBM has begun the development of an extensive portfolio of over 100 AI solutions across industry, line-of-business and product delivery. In addition, IBM plans to develop prescriptive industry value maps that define next-generation business processes and opportunities for impact with AI. Clients will be able to access all of these new AI solutions through the global and sites.
• Next-Generation Platform Architecture and Customer Adoption Approach: Next-generation enterprises require next-generation platform architectures and a modernized approach to customer adoption. Through the Value Generation partnership initiative, IBM intends to provide next-generation reference architectures that enable a clean core approach. To do this, IBM plans to leverage 決田勧箪 BTP, 決田勧箪 Signavio and  LeanIX solutions. These new reference architectures will help define standards across data, process, systems and device integration, process orchestration and automation. IBM consultants supporting clients on 決田勧箪 projects can also leverage IBM Consulting Advantage, IBM���s AI services platform, and its portfolio of proprietary methods, assets and Assistants to bring more repeatability and consistency to client delivery.  With IBM Consulting Advantage, IBM consultants can transform the way they deliver 決田勧箪 solutions to boost productivity and mitigate risk by leveraging generative AI to help complete tasks like generation of user stories, test scripts, training and change management content and code creation.
• Next-Generation Ecosystem Expansion: IBM and 決田勧箪 plan to partner around their respective employee network groups and ���next-gen��� communities, such as the business women���s networks at IBM and 決田勧箪, the program and the program of 決田勧箪 and Veterans at IBM to increase the 決田勧箪 solutions experience in the consulting workforce and develop the next generation of talent. The companies also plan to explore new ways to collaborate on social impact programs, such as training at- risk youth in the IT sector and accelerating the integration of social businesses into global supply chains.
• watsonx Planned Availability on the Generative AI Hub: IBM Granite Model Series are expected to be accessible for use across 決田勧箪���s portfolio of cloud solutions and applications ��� which is underpinned by the generative AI hub in 決田勧箪 AI Core. The generative AI hub facilitates relevant, reliable and responsible business AI and provides instant access to a broad range of large language models (LLMs). This expands on IBM and 決田勧箪���s collaboration around . To further highlight watsonx.ai Granite capabilities, IBM Consulting plans to build extensions using the model on the generative AI hub for select customers.

This initiative will build on the companies’ over 50-year collaboration based on deep technology, industry and domain expertise and demonstrates the two organizations’ joint commitment to continue to evolve to put clients first and meet market demand.

IBM Consulting accelerates business transformation for our clients through hybrid cloud and AI technologies, leveraging our open ecosystem of partners. With deep industry and business expertise spanning strategy, experience design, technology, and operations, we have become the trusted partner to the world’s most innovative and valuable companies, helping modernize and secure their most complex systems. Our 160,000 consultants embrace an open way of working and apply our proven, collaborative engagement model, IBM Garage, to scale ideas into outcomes. As the only major global systems integrator inside a technology company, we don’t just advise ��� we invent and build what’s next together with our clients. Find out more at .

To learn more about the Value Generation partnership initiative, visit油.

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About IBM

IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. More than 4,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to effect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

閣庄壊庄岳������for more information.

About 決田勧箪

As���a global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, 決田勧箪 (NYSE:決田勧箪)���stands at the���nexus���of business and technology. For over 50 years, organizations have trusted 決田勧箪���to bring out their best by uniting business-critical���operations spanning finance, procurement, HR, supply chain, and customer experience. For more information, visit���.

Note to editors:
To preview and download broadcast-standard stock footage and press photos digitally, please visit . On this platform, you can find high resolution material for your media channels.

For customers interested in learning more about 決田勧箪 products:
Global Customer Center: +49 180 534-34-24
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Jamee Nelson, IBM, 油jamee.nelson@ibm.com油

This document contains forward-looking statements, which are predictions, projections, or other statements about future events. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and outcomes to materially differ. Additional information regarding these risks and uncertainties may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the risk factors section of 決田勧箪���s 2023 Annual Report on Form 20-F.
息 2024 決田勧箪 SE. All rights reserved.
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We believe that this recognition confirms our strategy in logistics, which is based on three pillars:

• Connecting every process to facilitate synchronized logistics execution, supporting highly efficient and fast-paced fulfillment cycles through seamless integration with logistics applications like 決田勧箪 Transportation Management, 決田勧箪 Business Network for Logistics, etc.
• Collaborating within a diverse ecosystem of system integrators, software partners, hyperscalers, hardware partners, and robotics OEMs, with warehouse management being an integral part of cloud ERP.
• Contextualizing every decision leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to optimize operations and to provide business insights

(決田勧箪 EWM) is an integral part of the overall 決田勧箪 strategy and gives companies the ability to operate modern warehouses that must respond quickly to changing business conditions. The flexibility of 決田勧箪 EWM helps manage a high volume of goods and run sustainable, risk-resilient operations with digitized warehouse processes in the cloud including direct control of warehouse automation equipment.

決田勧箪 continues to innovate in 決田勧箪 EWM based on market analysis and even more importantly based on feedback from our global install base and ecosystem. Recent innovations include cross-process integration in the areas of transportation, production, and quality management, addressing industry-specific requirements, extensibility, and usability.

決田勧箪 EWM combined with 決田勧箪 Transportation Management and 決田勧箪 Business Network for Logistics provides a platform for companies to collaborate with their logistics partners to gain end-to-end visibility and insights across their logistics operations.

Our global partner network — made up of systems integrators, business consultants, and technology providers — helps our customers manage their warehouse management transformations, whether they be system replacements, upgrades, greenfield deployments, or part of larger enterprise transformations.油

���Warehouse Management with 決田勧箪 EWM is an integral part of our cloud ERP offering,” said Till Dengel, global head of Logistics and Manufacturing Product Marketing at 決田勧箪. “Customers use 決田勧箪 EWM to manage their warehouse operations in 66 countries and 24 industries.���

���決田勧箪 Extended Warehouse Management helped Bridgestone reduce errors, with a new level of productivity and safety.���

Eric Dyason, National Distribution Manager, Bridgestone New Zealand Ltd.

.

Ganesh Wadawadigi is chief product marketing owner for Logistics at 決田勧箪.

*Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Warehouse Management Systems, Simon Tunstall, Dwight Klappich, Rishabh Narang, Federica Stufano, 2 May 2024

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, MAGIC QUADRANT is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner���s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

As 決田勧箪 S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition has received a provisional authorization from the Defense Information and Systems Agency (DISA). This means 決田勧箪 NS2, an independent subsidiary of 決田勧箪 that facilitates the adoption of 決田勧箪 cloud solutions for customers who require enhanced compliance, can officially deploy 決田勧箪 S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition within the Department of Defense FedRAMP+Impact Level 4 (DoD IL4) secure cloud environment.

決田勧箪 S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition enables a cloud experience with the same functional scope and upgrade flexibility that 決田勧箪 S/4HANA Cloud offers, but with added security and compliance that allows Department of Defense customers  a quick adoption of cloud solutions.

With this new certification, defense customers can choose to adopt a secure cloud ERP solution that supports mission-critical operations in real time, from any location. Once limited to on-premise solutions, which exhausted budget and resources, defense agencies can now migrate operations to the cloud where data is stored on cloud servers and resources can be reallocated to support defense workforces and alternative needs.

���Obtaining our FedRAMP+DoD IL4 authorization was a tremendous step in supporting our defense and federal agency customers,��� said Amy Spruill, senior vice president and general manager of Regulated Industries at 決田勧箪. ���決田勧箪 S/4HANA Cloud will provide the commercial cloud capabilities our customers are looking for while improving their security perimeter and mitigating attacks on critical data.���

The FedRAMP+DoD IL4 secure cloud environment is dedicated to defense agencies and protected with continuous monitoring, vulnerability scanning, and intrusion detection to ensure Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) is safeguarded. to National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 800-53, FedRAMP速, International Traffic and Arms (ITAR), and FedRAMP+Impact Level 2 (DoD IL2).

Harish Luthra is CEO of 決田勧箪 NS2.

The glass bottles on the high-speed filling line made quiet clinking sounds as they sped around the bend of the track. The visitors to the 決田勧箪 booth at the internationally renowned industrial trade fair were waiting for the moment when an optical sensor, using AI support, spotted the bottle that was only three-quarters full and kicked it out of the line and into a defects bay. ���This system has a capacity of 6,400 bottles per hour,��� said a grinning Ben Hughes from 決田勧箪���s Solution & Innovation Experience team. ���In comparison, the original system from our partner can fill 50,000 bottles, but that would be much too loud here at the trade fair booth.���

The showcase demonstrated how the cloud-based 決田勧箪 Digital Manufacturing solution could serve as the process order management system for 決田勧箪 customers, whether they typically work with a lot size of one or with continuous manufacturing at higher speeds. The purchase order could have come from an 決田勧箪 S/4HANA system, for instance, and ended here with execution in production. ���We can see the hardware integration with our own eyes,��� said Hughes.

AI was also involved: a camera captured the fill level of each bottle. If it was outside the defined tolerance, the bottle was rejected and this information was sent to the 決田勧箪 system. A manufacturer could use this data to calculate the production costs for the system and the profitability of every work center, all with AI support. The data from all systems would give experts and management insights into how well the production process was working. This, in turn, would help improve planning.

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Complete Portfolio from the Industry���s Point of View

Hannover Messe 2024 took place from April 22-26. Muhammad Alam paid a visit for the first time in his role as leader of the 決田勧箪 Product Engineering Board area. At the 決田勧箪 booth, which featured the motto ���Bring out new manufacturing excellence,��� he emphasized the importance of AI as an integral part of 決田勧箪 solutions: ���AI has the opportunity to fundamentally create significant value for our customers, particularly in the industrial space, with an ability to create resiliency from a supply chain perspective that just wouldn’t be possible without the application of AI.���

決田勧箪 demonstrated nearly its entire portfolio in an industrial context in Hannover. ���決田勧箪 uses what we call ���end-to-end scenarios��� to do this,��� said Georg Kube, head of Industry Data Ecosystems. To reflect this, the booth was set up in line with this logic. The ���design to operate��� graphical element, which maps all steps of the manufacturing process, showed the corresponding step in the value chain at each station of the booth. ���We integrate our solutions with the specific process that manufacturers have,��� Kube said. ���They design a product, then it���s manufactured, then it���s bought by a customer, and in the end it is being used and maintained. We offer integrated solutions for every step in this process.���

Working Together for Success

Darcy MacClaren, global CRO for Digital Supply Chain, acknowledged the challenges faced by 決田勧箪, its customers, and its partners: ���We are facing environmental and geopolitical disruptions and we want to be sustainable.��� She said collaboration is the key to achieving these daunting goals, a message that was echoed in many presentations and podium discussions at the booth.

For example, experts from , , and 決田勧箪 discussed how the automotive industry network is creating a standard that enables collaboration, data interchange, and transparency to support decarbonization along the value chain. Catena-X serves as a blueprint for other industrial networks under the umbrella, such as Factory-X for factory equipment suppliers and operators.

The showcases at the trade fair booth wouldn���t be possible without partners, which also play a decisive role in 決田勧箪���s competitiveness and future viability. ���The partner ecosystem is a key success factor for 決田勧箪,��� said Andreas Markus Thon, head of Digital Supply Chain MEE. ���They are enriching our suite with their applications and solutions and are critical for high quality and successful adoption and use of our solutions.���

A Fleet of Robots Delivers Materials

決田勧箪���s ���Modular Manufacturing��� showcase let visitors witness examples of successful partner collaboration for themselves. It demonstrated a fleet of autonomous transport robots that delivered a variety of parts for a valve from storage to assembly stations. Thanks to the fleet control software with embedded AI from 決田勧箪 partner , the robots from different manufacturers worked together seamlessly, making autonomous, situational decisions as to which station should assemble or disassemble the parts. The scenario demonstrated that 決田勧箪 systems can also implement modular production, which is typically used in manufacturing scenarios involving many variants and low to medium product volumes. 決田勧箪 S/4HANA, 決田勧箪 Extended Warehouse Management, and 決田勧箪 Digital Manufacturing were deployed here.

The ���Industrial Metaverse��� showcase was another big draw. It let visitors to the 決田勧箪 booth put themselves in the shoes of a systems operator, using VR (virtual reality) glasses to inspect a system virtually, even if the manufacturing was taking place on the opposite side of the globe. The ���Injection Molding Machine��� scenario vividly demonstrated how planning and manufacturing dovetail in integrated, agile, made-to-order production, as the machine produced colorful recycled plastic cups for guests at the end of the process.

Other topics at the trade fair included potential uses of digital twin solutions, such as virtual models and real-time simulations, as well as collaboration between people and machines. A summary description of all the presented scenarios is available .

The World���s Largest Industrial Trade Fair

The guiding theme of Hannover Messe 2024 was ���Energizing a sustainable industry.��� Nearly 4,000 exhibitors from 60 countries presented solutions for a high-performance, sustainable industry. As part of an industrial ecosystem, they showed how carbon neutrality can be achieved through electrification, digitalization, and automation.

Companies from Germany, China, Turkey, the U.S., Italy, and France booked the largest exhibition spaces. Around 1,600 speakers appeared on the venue���s 11 conference stages. This year���s partner country was Norway.

Under its motto ���Bring out new manufacturing excellence,��� 決田勧箪 demonstrated how it is using AI to advance manufacturing processes, among other solutions, at its more than 1,000-square-meter booth in Hall 15. Visitors to 決田勧箪���s booth had the opportunity to see 27 product demonstrations and nine interactive showcases. More than 25 決田勧箪 partners showed the collaboration and variety of potential uses of their solutions, and 35 presentations by experts and customers were featured at the booth.

Photo 息nottebrock.

Preh is a global growth company with five sales locations, six production plants, and a strong market position in the automotive market for human-machine interface and e-mobility systems.

With constant company growth and ever-changing market requirements, the product lifecycle costing at Preh had reached its limits. ���We are on the way to becoming a ���2 billion company and doing product costing without the support of a fully integrated data processing system,��� says Harald Bayer, department head of Project Calculation at Preh Group. ���For our management, it was time to give the calculation of all our new products a new basis.���

The company knew it needed a single source of truth for all product cost information that would also enable analysis and support reporting.油

Introducing a Future-Proof Standard Solution

���We looked at several software solutions on the market and our choice was 決田勧箪 Product Lifecycle Costing. As we are trusting on the strength of 決田勧箪, this was a decision for the future,��� Bayer says. ���An 決田勧箪 standard solution is a better fit with our system landscape.���

According to Bayer, key objectives for the project were:

• Replace former processes with a standardized process across the company
• Improve quality and accuracy for product costing along the product lifecycle
• Increase cost transparency for reporting and analysis to easily identify cost drivers
• Increase speed and flexibility in the product costing process and the efficiency of the entire organization

helps companies gain visibility across teams, calculate and proactively manage costs, and support new product innovations and customer-specific engineered products.

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A Central Database for Product and Project Calculation

���In the first step, 決田勧箪 Product Lifecycle Costing was implemented at our headquarters in Germany. Currently, we are doing the global rollout, which includes all business units at all locations and development centers, with the goal to set a common standard with global software,��� Bayer says. ���We want to make it available for all users involved in the product costing process. Therefore, we will train a large part of the entire PDP organization. There will be only one database.��� He added: ���The solution is integrated with our 決田勧箪 ERP system, which is a single global instance.���

To support various stakeholders in the most efficient manner, Preh created different apps and layouts within 決田勧箪 Product Lifecycle Costing, such as a quality checker that helps avoid errors and increase the quality of the costing result as well as a material price app in which the purchasing department can enter material prices that are automatically transferred into the database. In addition, 決田勧箪 Services and Support supported the company in developing different reports and an interface to provide up-to-date material prices.

Another partner, , was involved with creating additional reports and analyses and with data modeling, which helped create more transparency thanks to different views.

Increased Transparency Helps Identify Cost Drivers, Optimize Design

In terms of the value Preh gained, ���The main benefit is transparency,” Bayer says. “We can do analyses and reporting by pushing a button. With that, we know everything about cost drivers and can see the entire product costing. We can easily make comparisons between different calculations and see cost bridges, which was a lot of effort in the past.”

Leveraging the new database, the company can get an easier overview of which parts are used in which project; get up-to-date purchasing price information twice a day; examine calculations and prices of specific years; and make more precise product and project calculations.

From a business perspective, this means:

• Increased competitiveness, thanks to cost transparency and insight into cost drivers to make better design decisions
• Quick access to accurate product costing information
• Major time savings as master data is automatically replicated from 決田勧箪 ERP, allowing employees to focus on cost improvements

���We can easily identify our cost drivers for working closely with development, purchasing, and our suppliers,��� Bayer says.

By the end of the year, Preh plans to leverage 決田勧箪 Product Lifecycle Costing to calculate more than a hundred projects with up to 10 different product variants ��� and many more later. ���The choice of 決田勧箪 Product Lifecycle Costing was the right decision,��� Bayer says. ���We were able to increase quality and accuracy in our processes and take an important step in our overall digitalization efforts.���

Karin Fent is senior director of Global Customer Success for Digital Supply Chain at 決田勧箪.

Perhaps surprisingly, private equity firms are a huge driver of this trend, whether via investments in solar, wind, biomass, or some other type of renewable energy. These companies recognize not only the social, humanitarian benefit but the economic benefit of renewables: low-cost power, reduced dependence on imported fuel, and more secure, reliable energy supply.

The numbers bear out this trend. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, private equity and venture capital transactions in the global renewable energy sector reached , the highest total in the last five years. More so, funds raised in recent years are approaching the value of fossil fuel asset fundraising, per The Impact Investor.

However, there are challenges inherent in this tectonic shift. With broader strategic change in how we produce and consume energy comes more narrow change ��� and difficulties ��� in areas like engineering, manufacturing, procurement, supply chain management, human resources, and finance. These areas make it hard for private equity investors to easily operate and scale businesses, highlighting the present need and opportunity for scalable, cost-effective solutions that truly support the renewable space���s growth and future success.

With Great Power���

A crucial element of today���s state of play in the renewables space is the rapid acceleration in load growth made manifest by today���s technology advancements. Whether it be ChatGPT, Bitcoin, or some other artificial intelligence- or machine learning-related innovation, our tools are requiring more energy production and consumption than ever.

That means there is expansive economic benefit to finding cheaper, faster, less energy-consuming ways to run these tools and solutions ��� not to mention widespread social benefit.

Companies across the industry are already embracing 決田勧箪 solutions to use less energy, improve business operations, and meet sustainability goals. One global market leader in energy storage solutions and services recently selected 決田勧箪 to help it scale faster, improve supply chain visibility, and boost overall efficiency. Another business ��� an established provider and owner of clean energy solutions nationwide for commercial and industrial businesses ��� chose 決田勧箪 to help amplify its growth efforts via the acceleration of its ability to both scale and innovate in the energy space.

By iterating and streamlining processes to meet modern needs, companies like these can not only equip themselves for success today but for success tomorrow, as they grow and change alongside the evolving and progressing energy transition.

���Comes Great Capability

In our current industry moment, renewable energy companies demand unparalleled visibility and insights into financing, projects, operations, and more. Whether it be land acquisition, asset construction, or maintenance, a centralized data model that facilitates intelligent business insights is vital. It���s how you empower everyone in the organization to make informed decisions that drive the company forward.

Take supply chain management. Renewable energy companies can���t just order new parts or materials with a short delivery time. Some of the materials necessary for renewable energy products, like graphite, have order lead times spanning years rather than months. Top technology solutions will meet engineering requirements for things like storage, transportation, and integration of natural resources into the production process so that they can ensure supply chain management goals are met. In short, efficient and effective development and implementation of renewable assets requires careful management of the supply chain.

So, yes, these companies and their private equity backers are innovating toward a cleaner future. But they may not always have the time or resources to fully innovate and advance their business processes, sometimes resorting to manual ones that slow things down and add risk. Companies like 決田勧箪 can offer a seamless platform for managing these enterprises��� various business needs, in an integrated way that can enable them to focus on their core business and not have to worry about IT risks.

No matter where a renewable company is on their journey, 決田勧箪 and its partners have solutions that can automate and optimize core business processes to help meet their maximum potential. This is due to elements like:

• Centralized ERP data providing a single source of truth and improved decision-making ability
• Fully managed supply chain procurement and logistics, with deep supplier networks
• Faster ROI thanks to repeatable, trustworthy, and accurate processes empowering business users

These seamless integrations and true end-to-end insights will power renewable companies well into the future, so that they can power us as well.

A Brighter Tomorrow

Leading private equity firms are leading for a reason. They see what���s possible in the renewable energy space and recognize the tremendous economic and social benefits that are available. For them, digital transformation is the skeleton key for unlocking a bigger and better future ��� one where they can easily scale up or down depending on their needs.

Leading ERP solutions can meet these companies where they are, with the speed and flexibility necessary to streamline business processes and build on them in exponential ways.

For the renewables space, it���s about setting the foundation for whatever comes next ��� not just for individual companies, but for our world and the way we all consume energy.

Mark Hollis is an industry executive advisor for Renewable Energy & Utilities at 決田勧箪.

With the integration of cutting-edge technologies, organizations can leverage data-driven insights to make informed decisions, accelerate time-to-market for new treatments, and ultimately improve patient care. Life sciences and healthcare companies are at the forefront of innovation and competitive advantage by embracing changing industry trends and harnessing technology’s power.

The 決田勧箪 Industry Heroes program was launched in 2023 to celebrate companies that leverage technology to transform their business in innovative ways. Healthcare and life sciences heroes have harnessed the power of technology to transform the traditional patient paradigm into an adaptive, customer-centric frontier.

Astellas

Astellas Pharma Inc. is a leading pharmaceutical company dedicated to advancing healthcare through innovative therapies and cutting-edge research. Focusing on addressing unmet medical needs, Astellas develops and markets a wide range of healthcare solutions across various therapeutic areas, striving to improve the health and well-being of patients globally. With RISE with 決田勧箪 and 決田勧箪 SuccessFactors solutions, Astellas is building an internal environment that will leverage globally integrated data to unlock the organization’s full potential.

DXC Technology

DXC Technology is a global IT services and solutions company known for its expertise in digital transformation, enterprise applications, cloud computing, and cybersecurity. With a focus on enabling clients to thrive in the digital era, DXC offers a wide range of technology and advisory services tailored to meet the diverse needs of businesses across industries. A mobile app built on the 決田勧箪 Business Technology Platform (決田勧箪 BTP) and 決田勧箪 Business AI is enabling individuals with Parkinson’s disease to keep clinicians informed about their symptoms, accompanied by a clinician dashboard ��� and generative AI query extensions are also in development. The innovative solution aims to improve the quality of life for these patients and their caregivers and marks a huge step forward in using AI to support clinical decisions.

Gilead Sciences

Gilead Sciences, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company that has pursued and achieved breakthroughs in medicine for more than three decades, with the goal of creating a healthier world for all people. The company is committed to advancing innovative medicines to prevent and treat life-threatening diseases, including HIV, viral hepatitis, COVID-19, and cancer. Gilead operates in more than 35 countries worldwide, with headquarters in Foster City, California.

Gilead���s digital transformation journey includes a bold migration to 決田勧箪 S/4HANA with segmentation and 決田勧箪 Ariba and continues to expand its reach with 決田勧箪 BTP and cutting-edge solutions such as 決田勧箪 Intelligent Clinical Supply Management, 決田勧箪 Cell and Gene Therapy Orchestration, and 決田勧箪 Batch Release Hub for Life Sciences.

Most notably, Gilead and 決田勧箪 are co-innovating on 決田勧箪 Batch Release Hub for Life Sciences. This groundbreaking add-on will support continued compliance with regulatory standards across regions and jurisdictions with emphasis on highest quality and safety standards for Gilead’s products, further safeguarding patient wellbeing across the globe. Integrating 決田勧箪 Ariba solutions, including 決田勧箪 Business Network, Gilead aims to create a globally interconnected platform, enhancing collaboration between suppliers and buyers while optimizing its global procurement operations.

Additionally, 決田勧箪 and Gilead are collaborating on co-innovating jurisdiction control checks using 決田勧箪 Batch Release Hub for Life Sciences. The add-on will perform control checks on manufactured batches of pharmaceutical products, helping life science organizations to maintain compliance with regulatory standards across multiple regions and jurisdictions. This safeguard checklist will further support the quality and safety of products.

決田勧箪 celebrates these organizations’ outstanding efforts, collaboration, and dedication to driving successful business outcomes with technology. The innovations streamline research processes, enhance efficiency, and improve patient care, ultimately revolutionizing how healthcare and life sciences companies operate.

決田勧箪 Innovation Days for Life Sciences & Healthcare are taking place in Palo Alto, California, from April 24- 25, 2024, and Newton Square, Pennsylvania, from April 29-30, 2024, celebrating industry heroes and bringing attendees together to discuss leveraging technology to drive business outcomes. Get more information on the events .

As we navigate this brave new world of business AI, 決田勧箪 partners are playing an essential role as equal parts technology disrupters, trusted advisors, and innovation multipliers. They work and live at the edge, breaking technology rules with every new solution and innovation they bring to the table. These companies are passionate about their AI-driven solutions, which will provide what 決田勧箪 manufacturing customers want most for their businesses nowadays: more efficiency, accuracy, and agility in their production operations and supply chains. Their energy and passion are positioning them to redefine the rules of engagement regarding how partner ecosystems work.

It doesn���t matter what kind of partner you are ��� you could be on the build, implement/service, or sell sides of the 決田勧箪 partner ecosystem, the opportunities to innovate, and co-innovate with 決田勧箪 and other partners, solutions that bring value to customers in discrete manufacturing industries are as limitless as our imaginations. It���s an exciting time to be an 決田勧箪 industry partner.

Innovative Solutions from 決田勧箪 and Partners Give Our Manufacturing Customers a Competitive Edge

Giving our manufacturing customers the business AI solutions they need to thrive in highly competitive and often volatile markets is an absolute must. Whether those solutions are developed by an 決田勧箪 partner, 決田勧箪 itself, or collaboratively is secondary.

This new drive to co-innovate on our customers��� behalf is creating opportunities for partners to develop and deliver industry innovations in three areas of discrete manufacturing:

1. Solutions that enable efficient, accurate, and agile manufacturing and supply chains by integrating processes, removing data silos, and seamlessly connecting manufacturing and supply chain applications with the whole of the business.
2. Solutions that improve decision-making by using AI to analyze data from internal and external sources in context and produce insights that increase manufacturing operations’ resilience and help customers strike the right balance among cost, sustainability, and customer satisfaction.
3. Solutions that promote collaboration within a business ecosystem.油Many of the company executives I���ve spoken with recently wanted to talk about Manufacturing-X, the growing cross-industry initiative in which companies across various manufacturing value chains come together within a global business ecosystem to define a standard that enables them to share production and supply chain data across platforms and technology to further increase resilience, sustainability, and competitiveness.

We are bringing this customer-focused, partner-driven approach to life this week at Hannover Messe, bringing center stage the latest, most compelling innovations to emerge from 決田勧箪 and our partner ecosystem, across both discrete and process manufacturing ��� many embedded with business AI.

Some of the showcases that have been developed collaboratively in action include:

• Modular manufacturing that orchestrates production cells with a hard independent fleet manager
• High-speed bottling that captures traceability data and in-line quality assurance
• A centralized operations control center油that manages an offsite process production line
• AI-enhanced visual inspection and guided instructions during component assembly
• A quick guided journey through an Industrial Metaverse, showing how assets inside a power plant can be intelligently and remotely managed

決田勧箪 partners are playing an integral part in our presence at Hannover Messe, just as they are in our overarching industry vision. Partners including Accenture, Camelot ITLab, Cideon Software & Services, FORCAM, Kinexon, Systema, and TeamViewer are all exhibiting their solutions alongside their 決田勧箪 counterparts, demonstrating the true power of partnership and innovation at every turn.

By leveraging resources like the new 決田勧箪 AI Launchpad and generative AI hub, our partners will introduce industry innovations that will add immediate value for customers in the discrete and process manufacturing space. Hence, they have the intelligent digital tools they need to be future-ready.

Kinexon���s OS extension to the 決田勧箪 Digital Manufacturing solution is one example. Kinexon OS orchestrates the shop floor and automates previously manual processes, improving production speed, quality, and asset utilization. It is providing customers with an essential pathway to modular production and autonomous manufacturing.

For those of you at the event, stop by the 決田勧箪 space and experience innovation and partnership in perfect harmony firsthand. An electric injection molding machine developed by Fanuc with support from partner Syntax will be cranking out made-to-order drinking vessels.

Come enjoy a cup of inspiration on us. It���s a small but meaningful taste of what���s possible for partners in our collaborative, customer-focused, and business AI-driven cloud ecosystem.

Sven Denecken is senior vice president and chief marketing and solutions officer for Industries & CX at 決田勧箪.

“Businesses today are confronted with challenges ranging from supply chain disruptions and labor shortages to geopolitical uncertainties,��� said Muhammad Alam, member of the Executive Board of 決田勧箪 SE, 決田勧箪 Product Engineering. ���決田勧箪 recognizes the imperative for agility and intelligence, driving innovation with AI-powered solutions to streamline supply chain and manufacturing processes. Companies can enhance operational efficiency and improve supply chain resiliency while delighting customers with superior service, paving the way for sustained growth and market competitiveness.���

Accurate and relevant real-time information helps mitigate the impact that supply-chain disruptions have on suppliers, manufacturers and distributors worldwide. SMA Solar Technology AG and other customers have already witnessed the benefits of 決田勧箪���s solutions, including an approximately 15% increase in supply chain workforce productivity, a 10% decrease in overall supply chain planning costs and a 10% reduction in inventory carrying costs and stock turnover rate.

���SMA Solar modernizes its manufacturing execution systems to support sustainable, risk-resilient manufacturing operations with the power of AI-enabled visual inspection in the 決田勧箪 Digital Manufacturing solution,��� said Heiko Kehm, SMA Solar head of IT Order to Cash.

Sixty-three percent of supply chain executives and 52% of operations executives have an AI strategy linked to business objectives, according to ���,��� a global 2024 IDC InfoBrief sponsored by 決田勧箪*. Fifty-one percent of the 2,000 survey respondents are embedding AI into supply chain planning business processes and key applications for real-time decision-making. Another 58% are using AI to increase operational efficiency and employee productivity.

to 決田勧箪���s supply chain solutions to support customers��� AI-centric strategy include:

• Optimizing decisions across the supply chain with AI-driven insights: Companies can now leverage higher volumes of machine data and integrate AI-driven visual inspection by computer into their production processes, enabling a remarkable increase in quality through automation.
• Streamlining product development: Product developers can now use 決田勧箪���s AI copilot Joule to gather and enhance new product ideas quickly and effectively using natural language queries. Joule also helps tag product designs with business data, so they visually contextualize business-critical information.
• Detecting equipment anomalies: Using AI, asset operators can proactively address potential breakdowns based on sensor data collected from smart devices and edge gateways. This new capacity utilizes the cutting-edge Cumulocity IoT platform from Software AG, which is planned to be embedded in the 決田勧箪 Asset Performance Management application in Q3.
• Improving field response: Customers can optimize driving routes and allocate job assignments efficiently with integrated real-time traffic data and machine-learning-trained models, which enable the right field service technicians to reach their destinations on time.

Find more details about the innovations 決田勧箪 will show at Hannover Messe .

Visit the . Follow 決田勧箪 at .

*IDC InfoBrief, sponsored by 決田勧箪, The Importance of AI in Supply Chain and Operations, document #US52042224, April 2024.

About 決田勧箪

As a global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, 決田勧箪 (NYSE: 決田勧箪) stands at the nexus of business and technology. For over 50 years, organizations have trusted 決田勧箪 to bring out their best by uniting business-critical operations spanning finance, procurement, HR, supply chain, and customer experience. For more information, visit .

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決田勧箪 is positioned in the Leaders Quadrant based on our Ability to Execute and for the Completeness of our Vision.

We believe that this recognition confirms our strategy in Logistics, which is based on three pillars:

• Connecting every process and providing synchronized logistics execution to support highly efficient and fast paced fulfillment cycles
• Collaborating with a single network of carriers, digital forwarders, and visibility providers to spot risks and avoid disruptions and thereby provide best-in-class delivery experience
• Contextualizing every decision, leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to optimize operations and to provide business insights

決田勧箪 Transportation Management is an integral part of the overall 決田勧箪 strategy and gives companies the ability to manage their end-to-end transportation processes from procurement through planning and execution to freight settlement with analytics to support each step.

We continue to innovate in 決田勧箪 Transportation Management based on our market analysis and even more importantly based on feedback from our global install base and ecosystem. Recent innovations include advancements in areas like sustainability, planning and optimization, supply chain execution, and generative AI.

決田勧箪 Transportation Management and 決田勧箪 Business Network for Logistics enable logistics partners to collaborate with each other and provide visibility to all stakeholders throughout the shipment lifecycle and help manage risks as they arise through intelligent insights. We continue to grow 決田勧箪 Business Network, adding more carriers and additional networks to provide expanded coverage around the world and across all transportation modes.油

As more customers evaluate 決田勧箪 Transportation Management, we continue to strategically expand our partner network to ensure our customers have access to an ecosystem that supports their operations no matter where they are in the world or how they move their freight. Our global partner network made up of systems integrators, business consultants, and technology providers help our customers manage their transportation transformations, whether they be system replacements, upgrades, greenfield deployments, or part of larger enterprise transformations.油

���Our customers use 決田勧箪 Transportation Management and 決田勧箪 Business Network for Logistics to manage transportation operations in more than 20 industries and in every corner of the world,” said Till Dengel, global head of Logistics and Manufacturing Product Marketing at 決田勧箪. ���Because we look at logistics holistically, clients can confidently confirm their orders, knowing that fulfillment can be executed as promised, since ERP, warehousing, and transportation are always in sync.���

���Adopting logistics solutions from 決田勧箪 across our facilities in all our markets allowed us to optimize freight transportation,��� said Carlo No竪, Global Process and Applications Manager for Trade, Transport, and Logistics Division at Hitachi Energy Ltd. ���We can interact with our stakeholders and carriers in a digital way, helping us manage supply chain risk, enhance agility, and build supply chain resilience.���

For more details on the latest Gartner Magic Quadrant for TMS .

Bill King is senior product marketing manager for Logistics at 決田勧箪.

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, MAGIC QUADRANT is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner���s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

To better react to market changes and expand its competitive edge, BYK saw the need to select and implement a new supply chain demand planning system.

Integrated Approach to Address Demand Planning Processes Holistically

The company was challenged with inefficient, diversified, and isolated supply chain demand planning processes on disparate legacy planning systems that impeded forecast accuracy. Therefore, the goal was to enhance data and process transparency and establish one source of truth for sales, operations, and demand-planning processes.

BYK found that the , a cloud-based application with comprehensive capabilities, could best meet its goals to harmonize demand planning processes across the organization and improve forecast accuracy. In addition, the company decided to use the , enabling the company to get real-time visibility and control over its supply chain.

For the implementation and deep solution know-how, BYK sought help from and the 決田勧箪 Preferred Success service, which included architecture planning, implementation guidance, and process reengineering expertise. Moreover, 決田勧箪 helped deploy 決田勧箪 Integrated Business Planning for demand and 決田勧箪 Supply Chain Control Tower in a technically standardized and lean way.

Enabling All Functions with a Single Source of Truth to Improve Decision-Making

Major benefits BYK achieved include:

• Improved collaboration by implementing a harmonized and automated demand planning process
• Simplified and integrated planning practices for sales, demand planning, supply chain management, controlling, and strategic supply planning teams with more than 200 users
• One platform as a single source of truth for improved data quality and process transparency across sales, operations, and demand-planning processes
• Increased forecast accuracy with real-time data reflecting changes to planned demand

• Quantity- and value-based planning for all planning teams to make decisions based on financial impact

���With 決田勧箪 Services and Support, we successfully implemented 決田勧箪 Integrated Business Planning for demand and 決田勧箪 Supply Chain Control Tower, enabling precise and accurate demand planning,” said Matthias Beenen, Supply Chain Process Management, BYK. “This is critical to supply chain efficiency and for delivering high quality service to our customers.���

���In the future, we will continuously work on optimizing the implemented processes and extend 決田勧箪 Integrated Business Planning for demand by adding subsequent supply chain planning processes,��� he concluded.

Karin Fent is senior director of Customer Success for Digital Supply Chain at 決田勧箪.

Top image courtesy of BYK.

Key administrations are aware of this and are starting to act accordingly. Accelerating innovation in industrial products and fuels for a net-zero, circular economy油is 油in U.S. President Joe Biden���s Net-Zero Game Changers Initiative. Meanwhile, the new油油is a main element of the European Green Deal.

In parallel, the UN is collaborating multilaterally to create policy to regulate plastics. The UN Plastics Treaty is a consensus by 175 nations to deliver a legally binding agreement to tackle plastic pollution by the end of 2024. This is significant because plastic has become fundamental to the products we create and the packaging we use to contain and ship them. Plastic has an enormous impact on the environment due to the emissions involved in its creation and mismanaged plastic waste polluting the air, the oceans, our food, and even our blood.

Currently, the linear economy dominates, as油. In the case of plastic, we take oil from the ground, turn it into products and packaging, use them, and throw them out when we���re finished. Continuing like this isn���t an option because we will run out of resources, worsen global warming, and cause further damage to our ecosystem. , so materials retain their value and can be reused.

It sounds logical, so why aren���t we doing it already? The first reason is financial. In the long term, the circular economy will create jobs, cut costs, improve profitability, and secure supply lines. Achieving this, however, requires massive capital investment in the short term. Additionally, more data is required to help us understand the impact of our decisions. And we need a new, more collaborative way of working.

Capital investment-wise, we must invest in designing and manufacturing products with circularity in mind. We need to adapt and build machinery and systems to rescue resources from existing products and turn them into new items. The labor market must evolve to train people in the skills required and to make circular economy jobs attractive, with good remuneration and benefits packages. More wealth must also flow back up the supply chain to ensure the sustainability of raw materials and to enable growth and sustainable manufacturing. To help companies and financial institutions understand the benefits and necessity of the circular economy, more education is required.

Data systems need to evolve to give companies insights on material flow and traceability, help them avoid waste, extend periods of use, recover and regenerate materials, and make informed decisions about products and packaging. This is where 決田勧箪 comes in, with 80% of the world���s businesses using our software.

Take plastic again: the solution can help businesses trace plastics back to their source polymer to understand what type of material is used in every plastic element in a product. This can help companies prove the environmental credentials of a given plastic. 決田勧箪 Responsible Design and Production can be used to understand how recycled and recyclable a component is and can help a company understand the true end-to-end cost of a material. This can be useful in regulating certain materials for comparison and decision-making purposes as well as in helping businesses anticipate taxes and fees associated with their products.

We can interrogate upstream supply chain data, which relates to what a product is made from, but we don���t yet have a complete downstream picture of what happens to a product at its end of life. Recyclability varies wildly between countries, so to understand how recyclable materials are in certain countries or jurisdictions, a partnership approach with national governments, local authorities, NGOs, and others is required to build a database that can inform companies which types of plastic to use or avoid for certain markets to achieve circularity. 決田勧箪 can add value by collecting this data and pulling it into solutions.

At the same time, to embrace the circular economy, our way of working must evolve. Instead of working in silos within our individual businesses and in vertical supply chains, we need to work collaboratively to share the data and bring the skill sets and processes together. For example, 決田勧箪 works with groups of companies, such as with the WBCSD, to establish frameworks for exchanging data.  started with embedded carbon in products, but the application can be extended to track other important material information for the circular economy like recycled content or water content.

Collaborations between businesses and non-corporate bodies accelerate progress. A clear example of this is how, by working with the WBCSD and the Ocean Plastics Leadership Network, 決田勧箪 works towards updating solutions to help customers respond to new requirements that arise from the negotiations.

The ambition is to replicate this approach to plastic for other products, such as steel, batteries, electronics, textiles, and even food. With a circular economy across these industries, I���m convinced we can get halfway to net zero and if, in parallel, the energy experts continue to move the needle on energy efficiency and renewable power generation, we���ll get the rest of the way.

Learn more about 決田勧箪 Sustainability solutions at .

Darren West is a product expert in Circular Economy at 決田勧箪.

These government funds are typically managed by a traditional provider who establishes a plan within the customer���s budget and assigns caregivers. They offer limited to no choice regarding providers and little transparency on how the funds are being spent. This inefficient and costly approach reduces available funds for actual care with limited and often unfamiliar providers.

Enter HomeMade, a startup looking to disrupt the home care sector with a transformative solution that would empower customers to not only stay in their own homes but also to oversee their spending and self-select their providers. With an initial staff of only six, HomeMade set out to create a technology platform that would deliver efficiency, flexibility, transparency, and ease of use for customers and a scalable model that would grow and evolve with the company.

A Rock-Solid Technology Foundation for a Digitally Native Startup

Technology is at the heart of HomeMade���s business model, so choosing the right technology partner and the right digital platform was essential. ���We wanted a solution that would give us that ability to scale rapidly and with confidence knowing that the rails weren’t going to fall off, because to be digitally enabled is what makes us different,��� , HomeMade general manager, said.

HomeMade found the perfect partner in Bourne Digital, part of Accenture, which steered the startup to (決田勧箪 BTP). In choosing the platform, HomeMade benefits from a locally hosted, high-performance cloud architecture that can scale across its network. As a React Native open-source Cloud Foundry runtime service, the HomeMade application is intuitive, user-friendly, and easy for the company to maintain and support long term. Add 決田勧箪 Integration Suite and 決田勧箪 HANA data storage into the mix and HomeMade emerged with a secure, integrated, and scalable technology foundation to offer efficient care and support to Australia���s at-home care population.

Young Company Makes an Outsize Impact

In just two years, HomeMade has grown its business to 2,500 customers and reduced new user onboarding time from 14 days to 48 hours. The company has empowered qualifying citizens to manage their budgets and choose their care while saving 14 million Australian dollars and counting.

Customers and families rave about the solution’s functionality and ease of use. HomeMade���s team members, who have grown to over 100, can happily focus on the customer instead of the endless paperwork they might find in traditional care management. Service providers appreciate timely payment, and another critical stakeholder ��� the Australian government ��� conducted a regulatory compliance audit and found that HomeMade scored 100% across 42 requirements for the Age Care Quality Safety Standards.

And this is only the beginning for a new company already making an appreciable impact. ���As the needs of HomeMade grow and evolve, the platform will grow and evolve with HomeMade,��� , managing director of Bourne Digital, part of Accenture, explained. For example, Ahmed continued, ���We leverage AI business services to read documents…and we’re feeling really confident that those AI services will continue to play a part in the future evolution of HomeMade as the company moves more and more towards automation and self-service.���

Adding Value Through Innovation

An 決田勧箪 Innovation Award winner in 2023, HomeMade continues to grow and think creatively about how its foundational 決田勧箪 BTP-based technology can enable it to continue to innovate and add value for customers. ���There are endless opportunities,��� Westhorpe said, from increasing efficiency to leveraging data to identify falls or other incidents to using large language models to recognize clinical deterioration in users and launch preventative interventions.

For other startups looking to build technology solutions that will make a dramatic impact, Westhorpe offered to consider, “You want to build everything and you’ve got all these grand ideas, but what are the biggest things that will add value for customers?��� Ahmed adds that resilience, a strong partnership, and hard work are critical: ���Adapt, learn, grow together, and accept feedback���To build something innovative, you must be prepared to roll up your sleeves.���

The Full Episode

Special thanks to , a hub for fostering human-centered innovation, for collaborating on this on 決田勧箪 Business Technology Platform episode. Learn more about how HomeMade built a better solution for qualifying citizens:

• Thought leadership podcast: Thulium’s CEO sat down with Westhorpe and Ahmed to discuss the change in caring for older adults, home-based care, and how technology can deliver on a promise dedicated to purpose.
• Practitioners��� video: Westhorpe, Ahmed, and I discussed the challenges and opportunities in creating a world-class digital solution for a small but rapidly scaling startup.

Explore more success stories of customers leveraging 決田勧箪 BTP to help optimize processes for the sake of people and purpose:

• : This nonprofit provider of wide-ranging social services chose油決田勧箪 BTP油and 決田勧箪 HANA Cloud to enable extensive solution integrations, helping deliver better data connectivity and operational efficiency.
• : Administratively supporting over 1,700 dental practices, Heartland Dental leverages 決田勧箪 BTP to help improve the business assistant’s user experience, increase productivity, and reduce turnover.

For the full episode and the on-demand Better Together: Customer Conversations series, visit .

Timo Elliott is vice president and a global innovation advocate for 決田勧箪 BTP.

To address this challenge, Vestas, a major wind turbine manufacturer, launched a quality initiative powered by 決田勧箪 solutions and 決田勧箪 Business Network.

Pillars of the Energy Transition

Faced with the climate crisis, many countries around the globe are investing heavily in zero-emission renewables. China���s 14^th Five-Year Plan is driving the market for renewable energy, as are the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States and the Green Deal in the European Union. In these parts of the world, wind energy is regarded as the pillar of the energy transition and is the largest source of renewable energy.

But the wind energy sector is highly competitive, experiences rapid innovation, and is prone to massive supply chain issues. Manufacturers must source raw materials, manage global logistics operations, and mitigate the risks of supplier dependency while still keeping pace with demand. They also need to be confident that all the components in their turbines meet rigorous quality standards and deliver performance and reliability. Quality control issues can result in faults, repairs, and ��� at worst ��� major failures.

As a market leader in wind turbines, Vestas Wind Systems, headquartered in Aarhus, Denmark, launched a large-scale quality initiative. Its 29,000 employees in 88 countries develop wind energy projects worldwide and manufacture, install, and service the turbines for them. The 85,000 turbines Vestas has installed to date generated 173 gigawatts of electricity and over 151 gigawatts under service as of September 2023. Several newly commissioned major projects will see that output increase significantly in the coming years.

“Collaboration with suppliers and partners is of crucial importance to Vestas when it comes to creating a sustainable future for the world by leading the global demand for onshore and offshore wind energy,” Adeola Abegunde, director of Technology Area Lead Digital Procurement and Supply Chain at Vestas, says.

Sourcing Quality with 決田勧箪 Business Network

Today���s wind turbines are made up of more than 10,000 individual parts. Since the companies that produce these parts are based all over the world, the supply chain is highly complex. To help manage this complexity, Vestas relies on , the B2B platform used by millions of companies across 190 countries that can connect buyers with contract manufacturers and suppliers.

決田勧箪 Business Network enables Vestas to run all its procurement and supply chain collaboration processes online ��� even beyond company boundaries. Employees use its supply chain functions to collaborate on orders and subcontracting orders. When a supplier confirms an order and sends a shipping notification, staff at Vestas and its contract manufacturers see this information right away. Vestas employees therefore know whether raw materials or the components for an order will arrive at the contract manufacturer on time.

Projects of this scale need to run smoothly and according to plan. This is where the quality collaboration features in 決田勧箪 Business Network come in. Before a supplier confirms or sends an order, it has to complete predefined quality tests and document them on the network. Vestas employees are then aware in advance of any quality issues further up the supply chain and can take corrective action. Through the network, employees can pass on changes to specifications if, for instance, one particular part had to be replaced sooner than expected and needs to be improved. If quality defects lead to incidents, the network can make these failures transparent to all partners and provide an audit trail. That helps everyone in the supply chain understand what went wrong and solve the problem.

“決田勧箪 Business Network allows Vestas to offer its trading partners a platform that makes all sorts of collaboration scenarios transparent from end to end. This means that Vestas is better able to mitigate the impact of disruptions in its global supply chain, making it more robust, future-proof, and sustainable,” Florian Seebauer, senior director of the 決田勧箪 Business Network unit at 決田勧箪, says.

Reducing Supply Chain Friction

Suppliers also benefit from the network���s forecasting capabilities. Vestas can provide them with information from the planning tool so that they can prepare for changes and capacity increases. This helps suppliers plan more accurately and can minimize friction losses in the supply chain.

決田勧箪 Business Network also supports Vestas��� sustainability goals since it allows users to select and rate suppliers by sustainability criteria. When compared to electricity generated from fossil fuels, Vestas��� solutions have saved 1.9 billion tons of carbon emissions ��� equivalent to 88 million cars driven for a year. Vestas has established sustainability performance as a core priority across its entire value chain and introduced pioneering initiatives such as its ���Circularity Road Map��� for the circular economy. It is no surprise then that Vestas is ranked as one of the world���s most sustainable companies, featured regularly at the top of lists such as .

Vestas and 決田勧箪 have a long-standing relationship. Vestas has been running 決田勧箪 as its ERP system since 2007. In 2017, it adopted 決田勧箪 Ariba solutions for e-procurement and 決田勧箪 Business Network. Through 決田勧箪 Business Network, it now has access to a vast pool of potential trading partners. And, because the network is connected to Vestas��� ERP and the complex ordering and collaboration processes running in the background, users don���t have to switch away from the systems they are familiar with. With 決田勧箪���s help, Vestas is breezing into a bright future.

Top image: Borssele 3 & 4, The Netherlands, Courtesy of Vestas Wind Systems A/S

around the globe navigate economic and geopolitical shifts for decades, enabling transformation and infusing intelligence into their operations. Today, 決田勧箪���s tailored solutions remain the nervous system of modern Western defense. Drawing insights from discussions at MSC, we see three crucial steps to ensuring NATO, the European Union, and the broader defense sector are ready for the digital age.

���Digital transformation and the secure exploitation of data will comprise the bedrock of European defense establishments��� future military power; they will need to make significant progress in these areas before European defense can seriously consider the operational integration and battlefield deployment of advanced technologies like AI.���

, International Institute of Strategic Studies

Adopting Cloud

Cloud adoption is critical for organizations looking to be more agile, innovative, and competitive because cloud applications offer unparalleled flexibility and scalability. With dynamic and secure cloud-based applications, defense organizations can increase collaboration between agencies; quickly manage, analyze, and share vast amounts of data; and manage complex design, simulation, and engineering tasks so they can deploy their resources most efficiently. Cloud also revolutionizes the way defense forces utilize data as a strategic asset. Since the cloud facilitates the integration of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and data analytics, the defense sector can gain actionable insights from diverse data sources that enhance their readiness and operational effectiveness.

Despite the clear benefits of cloud, there are challenges to cloud adoption due to varying requirements between countries and defense organizations. However, these challenges are not insurmountable. Working with the world���s leading defense organizations, including 21 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) nations, 決田勧箪 has the knowledge and experience to help the defense sector effectively navigate modernization. By facilitating dialogue between countries and organizations like NATO and the EU, we can work to harmonize approaches that help pave the way for widescale cloud adoption and can strengthen both security and interoperability.

Embracing Artificial Intelligence

Advancements in AI have unlocked the potential for game-changing operational efficiencies and new strategic advantages. AI can ensure logistics and supply chain operations are efficient, agile, and resilient by forecasting demand, optimizing transportation routes, and managing inventory.

決田勧箪���s AI capabilities can support the defense sector in predictive maintenance, quality control, supply chain optimization, and overall operational efficiency. The MSC discussions came in a timely manner as 決田勧箪 teams are currently discussing AI use cases with NATO and the defense forces at the

AI can help ensure private and public organizations are more intelligent and resilient, but AI must be relevant, reliable, and responsible. With , customers can realize the full value of AI because it is built with the highest concern for security, privacy, compliance, and ethics and connected to 決田勧箪���s wealth of enterprise data.

Increasing Digital Collaboration and Interoperability

Given the multinational and multifaceted nature of the defense sector, digital collaboration can expedite the product development lifecycle and enhance the efficiency of operations and supply chains by enabling real-time communication and coordination. Cloud-enabled digital collaboration tools, such as , can be crucial for achieving interoperability among allied forces as they enable seamless communication and data exchange between diverse systems and platforms. The fact that a significant majority of NATO, EU, and key partners��� defense forces run on 決田勧箪 makes us “allied by design.” The automotive industry set a good example of what digital collaboration can look like with Catena-X ��� an inspiration for ���Defense-X��� to enable digital collaboration of the sector from the factory to the foxhole.

The ability to truly modernize the defense sector hinges on its ability to adopt the cloud, embrace AI, and achieve greater collaboration and interoperability. However, the disparate regulatory landscape remains an impediment to modernization efforts and poses challenges to global cloud adoption. Harmonizing regulatory requirements is key to ensuring a cohesive and standardized approach. 決田勧箪 is ready to help unlock the transformative capabilities of cloud and AI technologies effectively for defense forces and lead the dialogue across NATO and the EU together with defense clients, partners, and regulators.

Peter Selfridge is global head of Government Affairs at 決田勧箪.

The speed at which the auto industry is changing is nothing short of remarkable. Just think of all the changes we���ve seen in vehicles over the past few years — from more autonomous driving capabilities to being more connected to your surroundings as you drive.

Electric vehicle demand has also surged over the past few years, which is also great news for the planet. Consumer buying habits are changing as well, with more and more people shopping for vehicles online. Last year, 65% of U.S. vehicle buyers said they shop for vehicles partially or entirely online according to S&P Global Mobility. Car companies are even building for entirely new ownership models.

is forcing even more change, particularly by automating time-consuming tasks and allowing data to be used in more intelligent ways. For the auto industry, it���s beginning to improve everything from design and forecasting to manufacturing and production, while also making the customer experience more personal.

All in all, Precedence Research projects the global market for generative AI in the auto industry to eclipse more than $2 billion by 2032. All of this is fueling a new urgency for automotive companies to transform digitally. But what exactly does that mean?

Simply put, it means incorporating digital technologies into every aspect of a business��� operations. It allows businesses to seize new growth opportunities faster than they could before and future proof their operations in new ways. By transforming digitally, businesses can plan and pivot at the same time.

There are so many stories of 決田勧箪 customers embarking on digital transformation journeys with important lessons to teach for industries.

Take the BMW Group for example: the company has had a longstanding partnership and collaboration with 決田勧箪 for more than 30 years. Last year, it entered a油new phase of its digital transformation journey油by moving to a digitized cloud architecture through 決田勧箪 S/4HANA for its iFactory in Oxford, UK.

Jointly creating the first blueprint for process digitization of automotive plants, it marks the first step to creating a digitized cloud architecture for its connected factories. The solution will simplify and unite the process of making complex changes to the IT systems of its plants in the areas of parts logistics, finance, and meeting customs requirements.

By doing so, the BMW Group intends to create a common digital language that will allow for reducing costs and increasing efficiency for its other automotive plants. And that could create a whole new standard for process efficiencies throughout the auto industry.

The BMW Group���s transformation story shows what is possible by moving to a cloud architecture. It also shows how the company is putting the pieces in place to take full advantage of generative AI as it ushers in a new wave of automation.

Despite a lot of macroeconomic uncertainty in the world, I believe the future for the auto industry could not be brighter. And it will belong to those who put digital transformation at the center of their business strategies, fueling unlimited possibilities for growth and success.

Scott Russell is a member of the Executive Board of 決田勧箪 SE.

Like other industrial nations, Japan has been facing massive demographic challenges in its agriculture sector. An aging population and a lack of younger individuals entering the sector to replace them have led to farms being abandoned and fields lying fallow.

Japan���s government has realized the demographical issue, of course, as it touches not only the agricultural sector. To revitalize rural areas and stem the rural exodus, the government launched a national action plan.

In alignment with this action plan, 決田勧箪 Japan has joined the effort of encouraging rural communities to thrive by launching a co-innovation project with PSI, an 決田勧箪 partner, and the local government of the town of Minano.

Digitizing the Agricultural Sector

The small town of Minano is located in the hills of Saitama Prefecture, about two hours from Tokyo. While the south of this prefecture is largely a suburb of the Tokyo area, the west, approaching Mt. Fuji, is still very rural and thinly populated. A former center of silk industry, the region on average is sunny and warm but can get lots of snow in winter.

���Farms in this area are traditionally small and dispersed, located between forests and mountains,��� says Yoshihisa Horiguchi, chairman of MINNANO Future Create. ���Big supermarkets and retailers overlook them. Nowadays, the farmers cultivate rice and vegetables in small amounts to consume themselves, sell to their neighbors, or send to their children or grandchildren that live in cities.���

Since 1950, Minano has lost roughly one-third of its population, largely due to the decline of the agricultural sector. Today, it counts about 10,000 inhabitants.

���Young people often migrate to urban areas for better education and employment opportunities,��� Horiguchi explains. ���Where 50 years ago, a farm may have relied on 20 young workers, now only two elderly workers are left.���

Digitization is one obvious approach that may help prevent those areas from depopulating completely.

���But while large-scale farms benefit from the economic feasibility of applying robotics and the like, it is financially and logistically challenging to apply such technologies to small-scale dispersed farms,��� Horiguchi says.

Horiguchi, the owner of an automotive parts manufacturing company, co-founded the local initiative MINNANO Future Create in 2019 to solve the challenges resulting from population loss. Its members range from elderly individuals to young residents, forming a diverse group of individuals, including pharmacists, architectural designers, and other professions, all living in the town.

For one of its projects, the Minano Digital Eco Farm, it partnered with 決田勧箪 Co-Innovation Lab.

IoT Solution for Monitoring Agriculture

The Minano Digital Eco Farm project aims to build a communication platform that connects farmers and urban residents as well as small-scale dispersed farms to major supply chains, forming a portfolio that coexists with existing large-scale farms. In alignment with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the project will help overcome supply chain disruptions due to food shortages and crop failures due to abnormal weather, conflicts, disasters, and more.

For this vision to become a reality, Internet of Things (IoT) sensors were distributed in various locations and managed remotely from headquarters.

���The idea was to have an IoT solution running on 決田勧箪 Business Technology Platform (決田勧箪 BTP) that would help monitor all the agricultural processes,��� says Atsushi Minakuchi, senior solution specialist at 決田勧箪 Co-Innovation Lab in Japan.

決田勧箪 Co-Innovation Lab partnered with PSI, which brought in the Digital Material Controller (DMC), an all-in-one compact edge controlling server that enables easy setup of a ubiquitous IoT environment. And, due to the cooperation with 決田勧箪 Co-Innovation Lab, the DMC has also obtained 決田勧箪 certification.

���Many IoT sensors lack cybersecurity functions,��� Mitsuhiro Yamazaki, senior advisor and former president of PSI, says. ���However, by connecting sensors to a DMC with cybersecurity capabilities, it becomes possible to securely store locally collected data on the DMC, safely transmit to 決田勧箪 BTP, and accumulate, analyze, and utilize data from the DMC. This enables seamless and easy integration between the 決田勧箪 core system and the IoT system.���

���Collaboration with 決田勧箪 Co-Innovation Lab has significantly expanded the application possibilities of DMC,��� Masaki Fukui, former PSI Cyber Security Lab director and now with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, says. ���Global users of 決田勧箪 now could have the opportunity to easily implement and utilize a ubiquitous supply chain platform through the combination of DMC and 決田勧箪 BTP.���

Through integration with 決田勧箪 BTP, the deployment locations can then be displayed and monitored on a dashboard.

The idea is for citizens living in the city to enter a service contract with a rural farm or supplier and to connect via a technology platform to remotely monitor and support agricultural processes. In return, they receive part of the crops ��� freshly delivered to their homes in the city.

So far, two proofs of concept for farms have been completed between March 2019 and November 2022, as well as one proof of concept for a miso factory. Agriculture and rural industry are only two fields of application. Future projects could include schools, hospitals, stores, and elder care facilities.

Strengthening Rural Appeal for Inland Tourism

As a corporate social responsibility project, the Minano Digital Eco Farm came to life through the voluntary engagement of 決田勧箪 employees in Japan who supported the project on top of their regular work.

The project is supported by a government program unique for Japan, the so-called hometown tax payment, which makes it possible for citizens to choose and support the region they were born and raised in or a community they wish to engage with.

���The possibility of hometown tax payment is very popular among Japanese people,��� Hidenori Kurosawa, vice governor of Minano, explains. ���To us in rural regions, it seems that this played a significant role in creating an interest in the countryside. People want to get to know and support local towns.���

Indeed, the appeal of small, thinly populated communities surrounded by beautiful forest landscape hasn���t gone unnoticed by Japanese inland tourists.

Kurosawa says: ���We wish to make Minano appealing to visitors by offering return gifts that provide an experience ��� that allow visitors to come to the town, interact with the locals, and experience things that are unique to this place.���

The Minano Digital Eco Farm project aligns well with this strategy. Not only does it promote Minano’s charm but, by expanding initiatives, it addresses local challenges such as reclamation of abandoned farmland, increased self-sufficiency in food, reduction of CO2 emissions, and improved profitability in agriculture.

���We have great expectations that this initiative will contribute to addressing the town’s challenges and advancing the UN SDGs,��� Kurosawa states. ���We express our sincere gratitude to the volunteers from 決田勧箪 Japan who provided invaluable assistance in bringing the Minano Digital Eco Farm project to life.���

���MINNANO��� means ���for everyone��� in Japanese and is pronounced the same way as the name of the town. Fukui from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication explains the idea behind that name: ���One action can have multiple meaningful impacts. The issue of unseen small-scale dispersed farms facing economic challenges can be witnessed around the globe. By collaborating with 決田勧箪, we hope to inspire rural communities beyond our own prefecture, maybe even beyond Japan.���

As longtime partners, 決田勧箪 and Mercedes-Benz have a history of shared knowledge for mutual competitive advantage. The fleet management program is grounded in the companies��� similar business philosophies and product road maps. 

Mercedes-Benz has committed to move the company���s B2B business to 100% digital and plans to sell 25% of all new cars online by 2025. The company selected to help support this mission. It will create a future-proof composable commerce portfolio designed to reliably power the company���s digital strategy, including a standardized offering across different markets. It will also simplify processes and reduce time-to-market.

Benefits of Digitalized Fleet Management

From the 決田勧箪 employee���s perspective, ordering a company EV couldn���t be simpler. Instead of time-consuming manual research and back and forth communication with the car dealer, employees can use to order the EV they want directly from the Mercedes-Benz online catalog. They can choose the features they want, such as car make and model, color, and equipment packages, within 決田勧箪���s pre-set guidelines.

���The car configurator automates the EV selection process end-to-end, eliminating manual steps and saving time while providing the employee with a highly personalized experience,��� said Steffen Krautwasser, head of 決田勧箪���s global car fleet. ���Automating the approval process assures data consistency and eliminates the need for manual quality checks.��� 

There���s a tremendous convenience factor in captured EV data as well. In one pilot program for select EVs in 決田勧箪���s fleet, the digital twin will automatically track mileage. Drivers will no longer need to manually enter mileage every time they recharge, and 決田勧箪 can use this data to better manage the fleet.

Connected Data Drives Sustainable Business

Once ordered, EVs are tracked as assets in 決田勧箪���s financial system. After delivery, creates a digital twin that can capture relevant, secure data across the EV���s lifetime. 決田勧箪���s fleet management team can track CO2 emissions based on green energy usage, mileage, and the number of vehicles on the road. Krautwasser envisioned reporting this data to support the company���s global sustainability commitments.

���Performance data from the EV digital twin can help corporate fleet managers guide employees in choosing the best vehicle for their driving needs,��� said Krautwasser. ���Over time, drivers can better understand travel ranges between charges.��� 

Data is expected to help address so-called range anxiety, alerting EV drivers when their vehicle needs a charge and, most important, where to recharge. Mercedes-Benz is investing in charging infrastructure to create an ecosystem that would be integrated with public and private charge point providers in the U.S., China, and Europe.

The partnership also reflects a shared commitment to sustainability. Mercedes-Benz has committed to become carbon neutral by 2038, and transition to 100% electric vehicles by 2030 wherever possible. 決田勧箪 is transitioning the company���s vehicle fleet for employees in Germany to all EVs by 2025 as part of its corporate commitment to be carbon neutral by 2030.

Omnichannel Is Fastest Path to Customer Love

The digital experience is extremely important for customers who expect convenience and quality. Organizations in many industries have shifted to an omnichannel strategy that offers people their preferred experience, whether online or in-person, building brand loyalty and repeat business.

���We want to provide a seamless journey for employees as they research, select, purchase, and enjoy their vehicle,��� said Krautwasser. ���The most exciting part of our EV fleet management strategy is how we can use our knowledge to enhance the employee experience. Through data and digital services, we can get closer to our employees and act quickly based on their feedback, making improvements and introducing new offerings that keep us on top of trends and support 決田勧箪���s sustainability commitment.���

EVs represent a profound business model shift for the entire automotive supply chain as automakers sell direct to customers, provide digital services from vehicle data, and explore new revenue opportunities. It���s clear that Mercedes-Benz and 決田勧箪 are going the distance for a sustainable and satisfying driving experience.

Susan Galer is a communications director at 決田勧箪. Follow her @smgaler.
Top photo courtesy of 決田勧箪 employee Jude Calvin Parong.

Throughout Croatia, some businesses are venturing to a first in the European Union: offering customers . But this ���charge while you wait��� initiative isn’t just about attracting new customers ��� it’s about integrating eco-friendly practices into daily routines for a more sustainable future.

According to Ivica Bla転evi��, CEO and founder of CEV Technologies d.o.o., ���While automakers promise a more-electric future, people are interested in EVs only if they reduce fuel costs, offer convenience in refueling, enhance driving experiences, and demonstrate significant environmental contributions. This latest addition to the customer experience proves how businesses across various industries can play a pivotal role in delivering that vision.���

Greening the Customer Experience with E-Mobility

The transition to a low-carbon economy presents an opportunity for Croatia to enhance citizens’ lives by reducing reliance on fossil fuels and investing significantly in renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and hydroelectric power. The country also emphasizes energy efficiency in buildings and industries, implementing regulations to curtail energy consumption.

One initiative gaining traction thanks to Croatia���s growing desire to offer charging stations is sustainable transportation. By encouraging electric vehicle usage while advancing public transport initiatives to reduce fossil fuel dependency, the country can better align with European Union directives and foster a greener economy that champions people, businesses, and communities.

決田勧箪 partner , a rapidly growing international charge point operator and e-mobility service provider, aims to support these initiatives. The company offers bespoke e-mobility and smart energy solutions, intending to assist customers in leveraging EV charging solutions and green energy more effectively.

For sustainability-focused countries like Croatia, CEV Technologies sees enormous promise in developing solutions for many industries, including retail, hospitality, and fleet management. And it wants to apply its deep expertise in EV charging technology to create innovative e-mobility features. To realize this aim, CEV Technologies cemented strategic business relationships to help co-create smooth, intelligent, and automated charging experiences.

���In our partnership with 決田勧箪, we develop innovative and intelligent charging experiences for our customers. The focus is on integrating the charging process with individual business models to establish value-creating, end-to-end scenarios,��� Bla転evi�� explains.

To realize the potential of convenient charging within the customer experience, CEV Technologies implemented the AI-enabled capabilities of the  solution. It can support various scenarios for vehicle charging network construction, management, billing, and reimbursement. In addition, the solution helps optimize renewable energy production through greater transparency into costs, the charging process, and network usage.

But even more stunning is the opportunity to overcome one of the most significant challenges in the e-mobility market: simplifying the payment process at charging stations. Often, this involved a convoluted process requiring membership in exclusive charging networks, managing prepaid accounts, or navigating multiple apps. Now, CEV Technologies is at charging stations. This innovative move streamlines the charging and paying process, eliminating the obstacles to pushing e-mobility closer to a user-friendly, universally adaptable experience.

In return, achieving public, private, and commercial sustainability goals is within reach. Companies can develop, integrate, and adapt business models that address all types of customer needs and sustainability expectations with outcomes including:

• Speeding up onboarding of charging stations by three times through the use of templates
• 30% less effort when setting up relevant infrastructure, including back-end systems
• 20% faster ramp-up of charging stations

For Croatians, these benefits of e-mobility could bring more value to their everyday lives. Take, for example, a typical commute home from work. The navigation system of an EV can route you toward a charging station in a familiar location and effortlessly reserve it through a loyalty platform.

Plugging your EV into the charging point, you initiate the charging process on your phone and decide to capitalize on offers for a complimentary coffee and other exclusive in-store promotions. After checkout, you receive a comprehensive e-mail overview of your charging session and shopping experience and a free charging voucher for a future purchase.

While this customer experience epitomizes the harmonious fusion of technology and convenience, it also shows how a collective dedication to creating a greener, more connected future can positively impact individuals, communities, a nation, and even the world. And more important, the appeal of a straight-forward payment method that is reminiscent of traditional fueling stations might have an even more far-reaching impact on potential drivers’ willingness to adopt electric vehicles.

Aligning Businesses with Societal Stewardship

Croatia is striding more confidently toward a low-carbon economy as EV charging services become more integrated with the customer experience. Thanks to a country���s vision and CEV Technologies��� innovative solutions, companies across all industries can join this eco-shift by offering products along with an integrated sustainable lifestyle.

Korbinian Koblitz is business development lead for Automotive at 決田勧箪.

At the recent NRF event, the world’s largest retail conference, the mantra of “adjust and adapt” echoed through the halls. AI and digital acceleration took the center stage, making innovation the heart of the conversation. Retailers also highlighted a crucial focus on a motivated workforce, emphasizing how an empowered workforce is critical to delivering exceptional customer experiences.

In a landscape challenged by high turnover rates, retailers showcased their commitment to navigating complexity through strategic investments in their most valuable asset ��� their people. One of the pivotal elements that drives employee motivation and engagement in the retail industry is incentive compensation, where associates are often paid on commission.

During NRF, Daniel Jasper from Neiman Marcus shared insights into how incentive compensation automation transformed the company���s commission payment process. With over 40 stores and a complex commission structure, Neiman Marcus faced challenges in managing incentive compensation. Its previous incentive management system was cumbersome and complex, which led to errors, delays, and frustration among sales associates. Implementing helped streamline the process, providing real-time monitoring of commission calculations. This allowed Neiman Marcus to identify and resolve issues proactively, resulting in improved accuracy and timeliness of commission payments. “Rather than waiting to hear from associates that something is wrong, we can monitor the calculations in real-time and resolve issues in advance,��� said Jasper. This shift has been a game-changer for Neiman Marcus, driving better sales and revenue growth.

決田勧箪 SuccessFactors Incentive Management is one of the sales performance management solutions in the 決田勧箪 SuccessFactors portfolio, and it offers a sophisticated platform for tailoring incentive programs to suit the unique needs of retail associates. With powerful analytics, embedded intelligence, and built-in workflows, this solution can revolutionize compensation management. Its intelligent design can not only foster trust but also ignite motivation among store associates. Through a user-friendly mobile app, retail customers can enjoy a comprehensive and easily accessible view of both store and individual performance metrics, promoting transparency and a unified understanding of team dynamics and trends. Personalized recommendations, relevant insights, and interactive monitoring help enhance the user experience, while the mobile app helps ensure that store associates can access their incentives anytime, anywhere, from any device.

The solution’s agility helps facilitate a swift rollout of new and updated compensation plans, offering the flexibility to manage broadly or tailor plans to individual needs. With a steadfast commitment to accuracy and traceability, associates can trust the fairness of calculations, fostering a positive work environment. The effective dating functionalities help further empower organizations, allowing seamless management of associate promotions and transfers.

���Retail businesses more than ever need the ability to design and manage incentive plans that align with ever-changing organizational goals, with a focus on store-level personalization and granularity that allow for improved accuracy and timeliness of commission payments,��� said Rahul Iyer, general manager of Sales Performance Management at 決田勧箪. “With 決田勧箪 SuccessFactors Incentive Management, retailers can incorporate key performance indicators, such as sales per hour and units per sale, into their incentive structure. The mobile app can provide visibility and transparency into individual and store performance, effectively motivating and ensuring optimal performance from their associates.”

In essence, 決田勧箪 SuccessFactors Incentive Management emerges as an indispensable tool, helping to empower retail customers to optimize workforce performance and drive sustained success. Displaying key performance indicators and incentives has proven to be a game changer, helping to drive focus on store and individual performance. The result? Associates are more attentive to customers, guiding them through purchasing decisions and enhancing overall satisfaction.

In the always-changing retail world, success comes down to three things: using better technology, having happy employees, and keeping customers in focus. The story of Neiman Marcus proves that automating incentives can be a game changer. It shows how a motivated and well-connected team can not just boost how things work but also bring in more sales and money.

To stay ahead in retail, you need to be ready for change and invest in both tech and your team. This is a clear lesson for retailers planning for the future. Learn more about how . To learn more about how sales performance management solutions can support your organization, visit the���.

Kevin Coxwell is vice president of GTM for Sales Performance Management at 決田勧箪.

In my role at 決田勧箪, I speak to business leaders all the time about the value that generative AI can add to their business in ways they might not even realize, and I hear countless stories about how it is already starting to do that. One of my favorite examples is one that 決田勧箪 announced last week in an arena that is near and dear to me: finding and developing the next generation of star athletes.

As someone who used to play and coach basketball in Australia, I have had a lifelong appreciation of coaching but also of油scouting talent. Scouting is a discipline where art truly meets science, where experience and intuition are strengthened by the objective reality revealed by data.

While professional scouting has been around for a very long time, as more data on players becomes available, more teams are using it as油a competitive advantage. But that���s not as easy as it sounds. While the sophistication of scouting reports is impressive, the process of creating and using them effectively has never been efficient. When you consider how many potential young star athletes there are in the world, you can see how this would create an enormous amount of scouting reports to go through in a short period of time. The problem gets even more daunting when you consider that they are written in different languages and in different writing styles.油

In short, it���s油exactly the kind of challenge that generative AI for business is built to solve.

For proof of that, just look at the German professional soccer clubs FC Bayern Munich and Hertha BSC. For a long time, both clubs have employed talent scouts who travel the world watching matches and collecting reams of data about players in the hope of finding the next great star before any of their competitors do.

But to show how this could be done better, 決田勧箪 collaborated with FC Bayern Munich and Hertha BSC on a prototype. It uses generative AI to create automated summaries and recommendations of the reports created by their different scouts in different parts of the world and makes them available to club executives simply by asking for them in their natural language.

For example, imagine a German-speaking manager of the club being able ask for a key summary in 100 words or less of a scouting report on a young player who was scouted in Argentina and written in Spanish. That same manager can also ask it to compare two players based on their just their defensive skills or油endurance. While translation apps油can油translate油an油entire report from Spanish to German,油it takes a large language model (LLM) to create these summaries and competitive analyses on demand using natural language commands — essentially just the information that club executives really need to make informed decisions fast.

This is exactly what the prototype allowed these clubs to do. It油took油a time-consuming task and automated it in an intelligent way to make it useful. As a result, we will soon be rolling out this capability as part of our sports management suite, , which has already been helping athletes and teams get better results in their sport while also creating better experiences for their fans since 2015.

Why should business leaders care about better scouting reports? Two reasons: first, because they face many of the same challenges in their own business, needing to harness the power of their data quickly on demand for competitive advantage. And second, because generative AI is not just a specific solution for a specific problem.油Its true magic is that it is also scalable across an entire enterprise to address other business needs, from financing and supply chain management to procurement, travel, trainings, and more. For example, when generative AI is combined with 決田勧箪 Business Technology Platform (決田勧箪 BTP), businesses have the ability to write code, keeping their core clean and building generative AI extensions to further scale impact.

There is simply no doubt that data is the playbook of champions in sports. But it is also creating a new playbook of value in business. And with the era of generative AI for business only just beginning, I cannot wait to see what other amazing innovations will move from imagination to reality — and all of the value that they will create.

Scott Russell is a member of the Executive Board of 決田勧箪 SE.

While it might be early days given hardware limitations, 決田勧箪 experts are in full-on discovery mode, working with customers and partners at quantum-related industry associations.

How Quantum Computers Can Solve Real-World Problems

決田勧箪 experts are spearheading several working groups as members of the . QUTAC is a German-based group focused on applying quantum technology for business value in various industries. In one group, the team is modeling potential use cases using quantum computing for optimization and machine learning in production and logistics. In another, they are researching various quantum computing systems to compare strengths and weaknesses for use case consideration.

���We���re trying to understand how quantum computers can solve real-world business problems,��� said Andrey Hoursanov, head of Quantum Exploration at 決田勧箪. ���In collaboration with other QUTAC members, we���re identifying which next new quantum computing use cases will be most valuable for organizations, sourcing information from external research and our own expertise.���

Working Groups Take On the Quantum Challenge

Quantum computers can speed up computationally intensive tasks, promising the delivery of better and faster solutions for specific classes of problems. Much of this exploratory phase consists of benchmarking available quantum technologies, such as available machine capabilities by qubit size to handle industry-specific problems. Questions include what special properties each kind of quantum system offers, as well as their suitability and scalability to address business relevant challenges. For example, some teams are focused on applying the unique advantages of quantum computers to speed up and improve anomaly and fraud detection, cost optimization for cloud providers, image recognition, and data synthesis.

���Through open discussions with different companies that are participating in these working groups, we���re discussing potential road maps for innovation,��� said Peter Limacher, leading researcher of the Quantum Exploration team at 決田勧箪. ���People are very interested in quantum computing, and we want to make sure that we prioritize use cases that have the greatest potential to deliver business value.��� 

Limacher was involved in a working group that recently published a based on a study of quantum computing approaches for multi-knapsack optimization, meaning one recurrent task that several industries face. In addition to the high demand for better quantum hardware, the paper concluded that the industry needed more and improved quantum optimization algorithms for multi-knapsack and other problems.

決田勧箪 Is Committed to Meet Enterprise-Grade Expectations

To be clear, there���s a significant gap between the performance of current quantum computer hardware and the many variables that require scaling quantum-driven solutions in actual industry settings. Forward-thinking innovators are moving ahead despite the chicken and egg conundrum.

���To meet our customers��� expectations, we cannot wait until full-fledged quantum computers are completely operational,��� said Hoursanov. ���Through collaborative use case discovery and testing, we���ll be prepared to provide customers and partners with access to the latest technology as soon as it makes sense for them.���

Just as standardized frameworks for classical computers evolved, so will quantum computers. There are no standards yet, and every quantum computer design has advantages and disadvantages. For example, superconducting quantum computers require low temperatures and protection from electromagnetic waves to prevent qubit degradation. Eventually, researchers will be able to match targeted use cases to the best-suited quantum systems and software application developers will apply quantum programming to any machine.

Collaboration Unlocks the Quantum Advantage

決田勧箪 is also a member of the , a non-profit organization focused on developing the quantum industry and ecosystem for the region and others including North America, Japan, and ANZ. In addition to her role as research project director at 決田勧箪, Laure Le Bars is president of QuIC.

���Our members consist of companies of all sizes that create and use quantum technologies, including hardware manufacturers and software developers. They���re working together with members in government policymaking, academia, standardization bodies, and others to help spark market growth from quantum advantage,��� said Le Bars. ���In the future, we���ll have hybrid architectures with a combination of classical and quantum computers using their respective strengths to achieve business objectives.���

Susan Galer is a communications director at 決田勧箪. Follow her @smgaler.

Photo courtesy of 決田勧箪 employee Renan d’Avila

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Eighty-five percent of Ugandans are involved in agriculture.

Nassozi Berna and her husband were subsistence farmers growing cassaba, banana, and some coffee and living in a small, timber-framed house on Kalangala, an island in Uganda���s Lake Victoria. Like many other farmer on Uganda’s Kalangala Island, Berna started growing oil palm in 2012 and joined KOPGT, the Kalangala Oil Palm Growers Trust. KOPGT, which educates farmers on improved agricultural practices, recognized the need for a digital solution to meet the rising demand for palm oil. In 2017, it discovered 決田勧箪 Rural Sourcing Management, a cloud-based solution running on 決田勧箪 Business Technology Platform (決田勧箪 BTP) that allows the trust to digitally collect and manage data at every stage of the value chain.

This technology has enhanced price transparency and accelerated payment for the farmers. Now, with the integration of油 決田勧箪 Analytics Cloud and 決田勧箪 Business One, KOPGT can streamline operations and save valuable time, ultimately focusing on what matters most: the community they have helped build.

Like many other farmers on Kalangala, Berna started growing oil palm trees in 2012 while emphasizing sustainability and avoiding the deforestation and other issues associated with oil palm farming in some parts of the world.

Oil palm trees bear the fruit that makes palm oil, a much more reliable and lucrative crop than the cash crops they were producing previously. ���When we were farming cassava, bananas, and coffee, we were affected by monkeys. They came and destroyed our crops,��� she says.

She also explains that she had to leave home and go to the market to find a buyer for the crops that survived the monkey attacks and never knew in advance how much they would fetch. ���Our living conditions where bad,��� she remembers. She and her family lived in a makeshift timber house. ���In the night when we were sleeping, winds would come and destroy our houses and our children fell sick almost every day.”

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Change

That began to change when Berna began working with the Kalangala Oil Palm Growers Trust (KOPGT) and the family planted their first oil palm trees in 2012. They expanded their crop in 2019 and again in 2022. In Kalangala, many of the people are oil palm farmers. ���When a day starts, some of my family members help me with the pruning,��� she says. ���The others go to the plantation and do other activities.���

As part of its mission, KOPGT teaches farmers better agricultural practices. But perhaps most importantly, it has created a transparent payment system so farmers get paid faster and know if what they���re getting paid is accurate, increasing the standard of living of the farmers and, subsequently, much of the island itself.

As the number of farmers and transactions increased, KOPGT needed a digital solution to enable continued growth. Since 2009, 決田勧箪 has worked to create applications that help smallholder farmers in developing nations, primarily across Africa, enhance food production.

David Balironda, KOPGT���s general manager, explains that the trust���s system is based on 決田勧箪 Rural Sourcing Management, which can digitally record information on producers, their farms, and communities at every level of the value chain. This helps provide visibility and allows parties to easily and quickly communicate with each other.

Sustainability

Underscoring the importance of sustainability to KOPGT, the trust conducted an initial environmental impact assessment before launching the project and uses to monitor the farmer plantings and ensure they are in compliance with the National Environment Management Authority guidelines.

決田勧箪 cloud technology also enables KOPGT to ensure that the oil palm planting meets the most stringent sustainability guidelines set by Uganda���s National Environmental Authority. ���We are in the process of applying for that certification by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil to make sure that we work within those guidelines,��� says Fredrick Sulwe, KOPGT���s finance and administration manager.

As part of KOPGT���s commitment to sustainability, the trust maintains a lake buffer zone between the planting and the lake itself and even rehabilitates those areas that have been damaged by other plantings. ���Restoration of those areas ��� the lake buffer zones ��� is key,��� says Sulwe.

In addition to maintaining the buffer zones, the trust also follows recommendations for the stocking of trees and ensures that no chemicals or herbicides are used. ���As we increase household income, we must keep an environment that is free of any distortion by the project,��� explains Sulwe.

The KOPGT system allows the farmers to input information about their crops using the lead farmer���s mobile phone and enables them to receive information and advice back from the trust. The system also includes a mapping feature that has helped farmers to know exactly how much land they are farming. ���That means when I go to the bank to get a loan, I���m sure of the size of my lot,��� explains Berna.

In addition, she also knows exactly how much of the loan is outstanding and when it needs to be repaid. ���Previously, we would almost spend a year without knowing the status of our loan,��� she says. ���Now we can learn the status of our loans monthly. This never existed before.���

Better Information

She also credits the system with making her a better and more informed oil palm farmer. ���At the end of the month I get an SMS that shows how much I have harvested from my lot,��� she says. Before the system came online, she says the family was spending a lot of money on transport going to and from the KOPGT office.

���Oil palm has not only impacted my life, but also the community,��� she says. ���There are many farmers who are like me who have built houses and some have bought cars. They have used the money they got from oil palm to start new businesses on Kalangala and outside.”

Big Dreams

Berna says her hopes and dreams are enormous. ���I have started to achieve some of them,��� she says. ���Now, because I have a permanent house, I am able to sleep well, my children no longer get sick, and I���m sure that the winds won���t take my house.���

���Now, we are able to take our children to school. We can live a decent life. We have some place to stay, and we get paid every month. We are sure that our life has greatly changed,��� she adds. And although she doesn���t yet own a car, she hopes to learn to drive in the coming years.

Meanwhile, she says she wants to thank everyone for their help. ���What gives me confidence is we have good officers at KOPGT that have tried to give us a good direction. We hope that when they continue doing what they are doing our lives will be impacted greatly.���

Berna���s confidence and newly found optimism reflects the success of the vegetable oil program on Kalangala island. Because palm fruits can be harvested throughout the year ��� compared to one or two seasonal harvests ��� and have high yields, palm farming has become a viable alternative for the residents.

Palm oil is already the most widely used vegetable oil on the planet, with about 71 million tons consumed in 2021. And there is not only a domestic need, but also a demand from the foreign market that Ugandan smallholder farmers like Berna���s family and neighbors can help fill.

Jowat SE���s annual production amounts to 100,000 tons of industrial adhesives. Production is complex and requires high volumes of specialized chemicals and a tremendous amount of power. With raw materials and energy costs skyrocketing, premium manufacturer Jowat looked to get a tighter grip on its inventory management and production processes.油油

To ensure maximum efficiency, Jowat requires enough raw materials to fulfill orders while minimizing waste and inventory costs. Moreover, the company needs smooth workflows, as any delay in order placement, production, or the delivery of raw materials can have huge cost implications for the company.油As a result, Jowat works hard to ensure that its 24/7 manufacturing processes always run like clockwork.

With demand for industrial adhesives surging, the company was eager to ensure that its production processes could scale to meet increasing order numbers and still deliver optimum efficiency.

Targeting Seamless Digital Workflows

Originally established in 1919, Jowat is no stranger to innovation. Leaders at Jowat identified that the next stage of the company���s evolution would require a radical digital transformation of its production and inventory management processes. 

���Our factory workers relied heavily on paper-based processes,��� explained Dirk-Alexander Segger, Detmold plant manager at Jowat. ���For instance, when employees had finished mixing and decanting adhesives, they handwrote notes to track the volume and type of raw materials that they used during the process. Shortly after decanting, workers would then input the information from their notes into our inventory management and manufacturing execution systems, adding to their workload and increasing the risk of errors.��� 

Tracking materials usage manually created time delays, potential for human errors, and discrepancies between the stock numbers recorded in Jowat���s inventory system and the actual volume of raw materials available on the factory floor. Moreover, with information stored across multiple systems and in different formats, plant managers had no clarity to identify process bottlenecks or potential enhancements.油油

Annette Podleschny-Borchardt, project lead at Jowat, commented: ���To enhance efficiency, improve transparency, and prepare for growth, we decided it was time to go entirely paperless. Building digital processes would give us a more detailed, up-to-date picture of our stock position, which would help drive smarter raw materials purchasing decisions and production improvements.���油

���We aimed to take a more proactive approach to our manufacturing processes. Developing robust, reliable, end-to-end digital workflows was the perfect way to achieve this goal,��� explained Christine K端nne, head of IT and Business Process Services at Jowat SE. 

Embracing Digital Transformation

To find the best solution to support its digital transformation initiative, Jowat invited multiple technology vendors to outline the strengths of their solutions. To keep customization low, Jowat targeted a solution that it could easily adapt to meet the highly specialized nature of just-in-time chemicals manufacturing.  

After reviewing 15 different solutions, Jowat selected . In addition to providing a solid foundation for digitalization, 決田勧箪 Digital Manufacturing can also integrate seamlessly with Jowat���s existing 決田勧箪 solutions, including , , and (決田勧箪 BTP). 

“We were immediately interested in 決田勧箪 Digital Manufacturing because it is a cloud-native solution,��� commented Segger. ���Previously, we used on-premise solutions that required us to carry out extensive and disruptive updates. With 決田勧箪 Digital Manufacturing, we get instant access to the latest features thanks to the quarterly release schedule.��� 

Jowat also valued 決田勧箪���s proactive engagement with the chemicals manufacturing industry. ���We really appreciate that 決田勧箪 is eager to co-innovate with industry leaders like Jowat to develop next-generation manufacturing solutions,��� said Podleschny-Borchardt. ���Through the 決田勧箪 Customer Engagement Initiative, we can help expert developers at 決田勧箪 build smart factory solutions that meet the needs of our sector down to the finest detail.��� 

Sticking with the Experts 

To ensure a smooth implementation of 決田勧箪 Digital Manufacturing, Jowat relied on support from 決田勧箪 Services and Support.

���Whenever we hit a stumbling block, the experts helped us work through the issues. For instance, we wanted to develop a dedicated production operation dashboard, which would give plant managers fast access to key production metrics. As this was uncharted territory, it naturally took a lot of time and energy to work through and 決田勧箪 was behind us every step of the way,��� said Segger.

Currently, Jowat is completing the first phase of the 決田勧箪 Digital Manufacturing implementation at its Detmold factory before expanding the solution across all plants. K端nne explained: ���With a phased implementation, we can ensure that the processes we build at our Detmold plant are tried and tested to deliver maximum efficiency. This will give us the best chance of success when we roll out these processes across all our facilities.��� 

���Consultants from 決田勧箪 Services and Support brought not only their expertise to the project, but also the willingness to listen to the needs and the challenges of our industry. Because of this, we were able to collaborate extremely effectively,��� added Podleschny-Borchardt.

Driving Efficient Manufacturing with High-Quality Data 

With 決田勧箪 Digital Manufacturing, Jowat left error-prone, manual processes behind and now benefits from seamless digital workflows with end-to-end transparency. This helps increase quality and ease work for shop floor operators. The activity confirmation is automatically done in the 決田勧箪 system, enabling real-time inventory insight. 

Consequently, Jowat gained the following benefits:

• 100% digitalized manufacturing process
• One source of truth for detailed production information
• Time savings of three person days per week through automated raw material consumption updates allowing employees focus on higher value activities
• 100% accurate inventory

���Today workers feed consumption information at the point of production. Previously, it would take one full-time employee three days a week to track raw materials consumption,��� said Segger. ���With 決田勧箪 Digital Manufacturing, we have a real-time, accurate picture of our raw materials usage and needs. This is helping us optimize usage and reduce costs.��� 

Podleschny-Borchardt added: ���Production processes are so much faster now that we have built streamlined digital processes. Before, our paper-based ways of working could add up to five days to production timelines. With 決田勧箪 Digital Manufacturing, we���ve shaved off this time, allowing us to produce and distribute products to our customers much faster, boosting satisfaction.��� 

Planning Ahead for an AI-Driven Future 

With reliable, up-to-date information in 決田勧箪 Digital Manufacturing, plant managers and leaders at Jowat can have full visibility across the entire manufacturing cycle. ���決田勧箪 Digital Manufacturing has helped improve the traceability of our products and given us a much more detailed understanding of our manufacturing operations. Ultimately, that helps to enhance planning and provides new insights into potential process improvements,��� said K端nne.  

Jowat���s plans for 決田勧箪 Digital Manufacturing go far beyond a global rollout. The company is already exploring the potential to scale and streamline manufacturing processes further with artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. 

���AI holds tremendous potential for us,��� reflected Podleschny-Borchardt. ���We���re excited to explore how it can help us to ensure consistently excellent quality across heavily customized product lines and how we can enhance production uptime with IoT-driven predictive maintenance. Having an AI-ready solution like 決田勧箪 Digital Manufacturing at the heart of our operations makes taking these next steps in our innovation journey much easier.��� 

Summarizing the overall benefits, K端nne concluded: ���With the implementation of 決田勧箪 Digital Manufacturing through 決田勧箪 Services and Support, we see ourselves on the way to becoming a transparent factory with a reduction in risks, errors, and process costs thanks to optimized processes.��� 

, including improved quality with AI-assisted visual inspection. Be sure to listen to the about how a renowned manufacturer revolutionizes manufacturing with Industry 4.0. Also, read this from Oxford Economics about making supply chains more resilient and sustainable.

Karin Fent is senior director of Global Customer Success for Digital Supply Chain at 決田勧箪.

Top image courtesy of Jowat.

Business leaders might assume that more regulation in such a volatile environment would hinder the innovation they require most at this time. However, we will argue smart and balanced regulation can serve as a catalyst for transformation.

Recent regulatory initiatives like the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG), which mandates human rights and environmental impact due diligence, have positioned Germany at the forefront of ethical standards in supply chains. The draft EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) extends corporate responsibilities in sustainability, while the U.S. Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) places the onus on companies to prove that their products are free of forced labor, shifting the burden of proof to importing entities.

Increased Transparency: Understanding Suppliers��� Suppliers

These and many other emerging regulations play a crucial role in enhancing supply chain resilience. Firstly, they help to increase transparency. Compliance necessitates extensive data collection, providing companies with a clear view of their supply chains, including supplier practices and potential risks. This has been practiced by the pharmaceutical industry for many years due to the potential for damage to human health and economic risk to the company from counterfeits or product quality issues.

Now, more industries are recognizing that transparency across the tiers of a supply chain creates this critical backbone of data and visibility.

Secondly, companies must reassess their sourcing strategies, encouraging diversification and regionalization. This in turn reduces dependency on single suppliers or regions, making supply chains more resilient against unexpected disruptions.

Although companies may have been operating in an interconnected web of global supply chains for decades, those that still do not have full visibility into their own suppliers — and those of their suppliers��� suppliers — are putting themselves at undue risk by not innovating. We call this tier-n visibility. This is an incredibly powerful tool for eventually reducing uncertainty across supply chains.

Enhanced Collaboration: Gaining a Competitive Advantage

Compliance, when well-executed, can lead to stronger relationships with suppliers. The engagement required fosters trust and accountability in the supply chain, resulting in more collaboration to overcome challenges. With diversified sourcing, companies can swiftly adapt their supply chains to ensure business continuity. That���s simply better preparedness.

Researchers at Cambridge University recently emphasized the need to form alliances to , advocating for more collaboration to improve resilience and sustainability. Collaborative approaches, supported by digital technologies, can lead to significant benefits, including reduced tax evasion and enhanced information sharing in the global supply network.

But let���s face it: This is an industry problem, not a technology issue. Industries need to change how they use supplier data. Instead of using it to push for better procurement terms through negotiation, they should focus on more collaborative processes.

Many industries are beginning to realize the benefits of such a collaborative approach. For instance, a car company using the open network can pinpoint faulty engine parts and trace issues back to the supplier’s supplier. Such a targeted approach minimizes recalls. Catena-X ensures interoperability through common standards, allowing data providers to maintain sovereignty over their data. With 170 international members, including major German car manufacturers, Catena-X is poised to become an industry standard.

In this dynamic environment, supply chain resilience becomes a competitive advantage. Companies that proactively embrace regulatory requirements gain the trust and loyalty of consumers, investors, and stakeholders.

Reduced Risk: Embedding Artificial Intelligence

Growing regulatory demands also require a paradigm shift in how businesses approach risk management within their supply chains. Here is where artificial intelligence (AI) plays a central role.

can provide proactive insights into the highly complex impacts of potential risks, allowing companies to anticipate and mitigate challenges before they escalate. This transforms the traditional risk assessment process, offering a more dynamic and real-time understanding. And that���s exactly what businesses need now to de-risk.

For example, understanding the impact of new trade sanctions (such as U.S. export controls on advanced computer chips), a container port blockade, or a steep increase on transportation cost for a given shipping lane offers a competitive advantage. Sensing disruptions, simulating them, understanding the impact, and then recommending and executing actions are core use cases that are optimized by AI and machine learning.

However, with powerful technology like AI also comes great responsibility. Ensuring ethical AI development and deployment requires transparency, accountability, and collaboration among businesses, governmental bodies, civil society, and the broader public. The draft EU AI Act would regulate AI systems based on risk levels, emphasizing the importance of adhering to ethical principles to ensure responsible AI use. Trust in AI solutions hinges on the responsible handling of AI technologies and adherence to human rights.

決田勧箪 recognized even before any AI regulation was available, that the speed of AI adoption increased . 決田勧箪 was the first European technology company to establish AI guiding principles in 2018 and then created an AI Ethics Policy. The company established an AI Ethics Steering Committee and AI Ethics Advisory Panel, which helps operationalize guiding principles, provides guidance for high-risk use cases. and will align with the upcoming EU AI Act.

Advanced Technologies: Turning Regulatory Burdens into the Foundation for Resilience

Necessity often drives innovation, leading companies to invest in advanced technologies such as supply chain control centers, n-tier visibility, digital twins, cloud solutions, and AI or machine learning. 決田勧箪 solutions, such as and , not only facilitate compliance but also enhance overall supply chain visibility and management.

The best examples of the dynamic application of supply chain technology are often found in the food and beverage sectors, where strict quality controls as well as traceability and safety regulations have long necessitated agile, transparent, and sustainable supply chains. Unilever’s commitment to traceability and transparency in its global palm oil supply chain demonstrates how compliance acts as a transformative force. Nestl辿’s embrace of technology illustrates how businesses can e with evolving standards. And Grupo Nutresa���s procurement transformation shows how it���s possible to while doubling down on sustainability with trading partners.

These examples show that compliance and innovation are not mutually exclusive and should be integrated, with sustainability serving as the bedrock of resilient supply chains.

Thomas Saueressig is a member of the Executive Board of 決田勧箪 SE.
Anahita Thoms is partner and global lead sustainability partner for Industrials, Manufacturing, and Transportation at Baker McKenzie.

These pioneers, armed with a potent blend of innovation and determination, are reshaping the shopping experience, driving operational efficiency, and connecting with consumers in unprecedented ways. From leveraging AI and machine learning to implementing augmented reality and blockchain, these retail trailblazers are at the forefront of change, seamlessly integrating cutting-edge technologies to redefine what it means to engage customers and deliver exceptional service.

We launched the 決田勧箪 Industry Heroes program in 2023 to celebrate companies that leverage technology to transform their business in innovative ways. Let���s explore the stories of our NRF retail heroes that harnessed the power of technology to transform the traditional retail paradigm into an innovative, customer-centric frontier.

Birkenstock worked with 決田勧箪 on its ongoing objectives to expand retail and wholesale presence while fostering customer growth in line with its renowned legacy of function, quality, and tradition.

Brand Alley delved into the rising trend of utilizing advocacy data in marketing strategies, which led to the transformation of brand perspectives on VIP customers and the strategic utilization of advocacy data within paid search and social media campaigns.

FC Bayern, equipped with over 8 million fan data records, crafted a detailed profile of its worldwide fan community, encompassing specific preferences and interests. 決田勧箪 technology played a pivotal role in enabling FC Bayern, one of the most accomplished football clubs globally, to curate what it terms as the “golden fan record.���

Grupo Axo effectively transitioned to leveraging internal customer data due to the potential extinction of third-party data. Its journey offers insights into standing out from competitors, increasing revenue, fostering stronger customer relationships, and cultivating a more robust, data-driven culture through the utilization of internal customer data.

Hornbach achieved real-time retail success, processed over 100,000 orders, and effectively addressed omnichannel challenges with 決田勧箪 Order Management foundation. Working together with 決田勧箪, Hornbach built a composable enterprise.

Neiman Marcus harnessed innovative methods and valuable insights to optimize its compensation management. These strategies are reshaping the retail landscape and revolutionizing team incentives within the industry.

PetSmart, a prominent pet retailer, encountered obstacles in omnichannel order fulfillment, leading to challenges in financial reconciliation and inventory transparency. By adopting 決田勧箪 Customer Activity Repository, PetSmart established a robust foundation for omnichannel retail. This implementation significantly enhanced the omnichannel process and elevated overall customer satisfaction levels.

PVH, a global apparel company with a brand portfolio that includes Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Warner���s, Olga, and True&Co, is working with 決田勧箪 to build an IT platform foundation for innovation, modernization, digitalization, and scalability.

Qurate Retail Group, known for its innovative strides in the retail sector, leveraged technology to elevate customer experiences, optimize operations, and propel growth together with 決田勧箪.

RD, Brazil’s top drugstore chain boasting nearly 3,000 stores across the nation, achieved a transformative implementation of 決田勧箪 technology, which led to streamlined processes and customer-centric advancements, marking a new era of operational excellence.

Wella Company, a pioneering force in the beauty industry with 15 distinctive brands, utilizes technology to inspire both consumers and beauty professionals to embrace their authentic selves. Wella Company’s approach of leveraging actionable data to craft tailored solutions strengthens its lifelong relationships across B2C (business-to-consumer), B2B (business-to-business), and D2C (direct-to-consumer) realms.

決田勧箪 celebrates these retailers for their outstanding efforts, collaboration, and dedication in driving successful business outcomes with technology. Join us at NRF 2024 to celebrate these 決田勧箪 Industry Heroes that will be sharing their stories and learnings at the 決田勧箪 booth. .油

Read more about our retail and CPG customer stories and wins from 2023.

Matt Laukaitis is EVP and Global GM for 決田勧箪 Consumer Industries.

2023 proved time and again that retailers and their software partners know how to rise to the occasion in the face of increasing pressures ��� and that they can quickly implement new processes and operations when necessary.

決田勧箪 has worked in the retail space for decades, helping every business across the ecosystem run at its best. Across this shared history, with our industry partners and end customers, our ecosystem has shown repeatedly the organic growth that is possible because of strong relationships.

Here are some prime examples of retail partners serving as innovation and growth multipliers last year:

Coveo���s innovative artificial intelligence (AI) platform helps deliver real value to customers, solving business challenges as only AI can. For retailers, Coveo for 決田勧箪 Commerce Cloud can assist in finding and recommending products faster to help drive more revenue, optimize campaigns, and power generative experiences. The enterprise-class AI platform can be deployed on top of 決田勧箪 in a secure and highly scalable fashion. The result: intelligent site search, tailored recommendations, generative experiences, and personalized, memorable shopping experiences for all customers.

Mention Me makes it possible to harness word of mouth���s true power, thanks to the world���s first Customer Advocacy Intelligence Platform. Powered by advanced AI, the platform enables businesses to identify, nurture, and activate their loyal advocates, building a virtuous cycle of customer love and superior economics so that fans keep coming back for more.

Enterprises can launch digital experiences faster with Contentful, which connects with 決田勧箪 Commerce Cloud to enable commerce projects of any size, both for the Web and for multichannel experiences. Simply put, Contentful can make it easier for retailers to create and manage digital experiences via structured content built for speed, change, and scale. Using one hub ��� that integrates with hundreds of tools to help personalize and optimize ��� for easy collaboration, businesses can make their content work harder, so they can work smarter.

The Last Mile Delivery Fulfillment Solution from OneRail provides retailers with the ability to instantaneously scale delivery demand. By integrating with 決田勧箪 Commerce Cloud, OneRail���s offering connects businesses��� e-commerce capabilities with nationwide delivery coverage, meaning retailers can have the ability to ship nationwide with complete visibility, all while providing unique, branded customer experiences. In short: efficiency, from dispatch to doorstep.

With Obsess��� mobile-optimized enterprise platform, retailers can easily build immersive, 3D, virtual stores proven to increase engagement, conversion, and average order value. By integrating with 決田勧箪 Commerce Cloud, the market-leading experiential shopping platform offering can enable enterprises to approach their customers in a branded, personalized fashion ��� and make retail shopping fun and memorable again.

Retailers can drive top-notch in-store customer experiences ��� and build customer loyalty ��� with the 決田勧箪 Omnichannel Point-of-Sale application by GK. The configurable application helps enterprises deploy the right business processes efficiently at the point-of-sale, working to reduce their total cost of ownership in the process. Flexible, rules-based configuration also means merchandisers can quickly react to changing business needs, ensuring a more memorable and impactful customer journey from end to end.

The OMS+ Cross-Channel Order Management Solution from DataXstream is an integrated offering built for counter, call center, and mobile sales. OMS+ reimagines the user interface to reflect real-life customer engagements and can provide the platform for making 決田勧箪 ERP the foundation of a truly unified commerce strategy. It can also automate time-consuming activities to help ensure your team gets more done in less time, meaning increased sales, reduced costs, and an improved customer experience overall.

The Loyalty Experience Platform from Annex Cloud is built around the idea of organically driving retention and loyalty through every stage of the customer journey. The app offers engaging experiences via incentives at first touch, then as the consumer becomes a prospect, a customer, a repeat customer, and eventually an advocate. Moreover, it guides customer behavior by offering loyalty points for a variety of actions, including purchasing, referring friends, writing reviews, sharing pictures, signing up for newsletters, and more. And it all integrates with 決田勧箪 Commerce Cloud.

Retailers looking to maximize revenue and minimize risk should look no further than the Forter Trust Platform for Digital Commerce. The real-time, automated decision platform helps reduce false declines and chargebacks by up to 90%, increasing approval rates so merchants can expand their business. It underlines fraud prevention strategies, enabling safety and security for your commerce processes so you can focus on the business decisions that truly impact growth and retention.

With Aisera, retailers can truly unleash the power of generative AI and automation by reimagining and revolutionizing their services experience. Aisera AI Customer Service provides instant self-service and autonomous resolutions to customer requests across any channel, offering a virtually unlimited supply of ���agents��� to leading enterprises. Seamless integration with 決田勧箪 can also simplify efforts to help improve customer satisfaction, agent productivity, and support costs, so that retailers can exceed expectations and focus on building their business.

Paradox���s leading conversational AI recruiting software is helping clients like Nestle and Unilever automate candidate screening processes, text campaigns, 1:1 texting, interview scheduling, mobile-first assessments, onboarding, and more ��� all in a mobile experience fully integrated into 決田勧箪 SuccessFactors solutions. In other words, it can help enterprises hire faster and better than ever, building a foundation for consistent and repeatable future success.

Craig Schertler is vice president of Consumer Industries Global Partner Ecosystem at 決田勧箪.