Case Study | Kautex Textron

B2B/EDI Cloud Service with Maximum Flexibility and Highest Operational Reliability

To meet the requirements of the automotive industry now and in the future, smooth EDI processes are indispensable along the entire supply chain. Kautex therefore decided in 2015 to replace the EDI service of a VAN provider, which had previously been used and regularly led to escalations.

 

Automotive expertise and operating model flexibility

With more than 30 years of experience in the automotive industry and its standardized solutions, SEEBURGER was convincing in the selection process. After the succesful migration to SEEBURGER Cloud Services in 2016, the technical EDI error messages were eliminated within one year. Furthermore, with the SEEBURGER iPaaS Cloud, the process know-how of the in-house EDI team can be used more intensively and the requirements of the specialist departments can be reacted to more quickly. The SEEBURGER Service Manager serves Kautex as a single point of contact and ensures smooth team collaboration in complex projects as well as in daily operations.

With the SEEBURGER iPaaS Cloud we are well prepared for future EDI requirements. This operating model offers us maximum flexibility with regard to our customer requirements on a highly available and secure service platform. Our own process know-how can be used and processes can be implemented effectively.

Jörg Kern, Global EDI Manager at Kautex

Fast and flexible implementation of requirements

 

Kautex uses various SEEBURGER Cloud Services for the following tasks and projects:

  • Worldwide EDI connection of customers and suppliers via the SEEBURGER iPaaS Cloud
  • Disaster recovery via two SEEBURGER data centers
  • Redundant network access
  • Operation of the EDI Service for SAP GTS customs communications for the Atlas procedure
  • Various SAP ECC6 roll outs (North America/Mexico/China)
  • Specific Asia roll outs with old ERP SAP 4.7
  • Replacement of ISDN by OFTP2
  • Reduced downtime by using the Active/Active service environment

 

Kautex also uses various SEEBURGER tools and services:

  • SEEBURGER On-boarding Portal (Community Management App) for the selfservice connection of suppliers managed by Kautex
  • SEEBURGER Compliance Check for checking syntax and content, including ASN D97A for incoming EDI data from suppliers
  • SEEBURGER Compare Service for mass data reconciliation in migration projects
  • SEEBURGER roll out team to support the Kautex EDI team in case of capacity bottlenecks

Benefits for Kautex

Quantitative benefits:

  • Cost savings
  • Strong reduction of EDI rules and their administration
  • Simplification of communication (SSID/SFID)

 

Qualitative benefits:

  • Maximum stability in operation and processes
  • Multi-level system landscape including transport processes to enable dual control processes (SOX/EUROSOX)
  • Extensive repository with predefined partner mappings

 

Benefits for EDI-Team:

  • Motivation leap in the EDI team through project work instead of administration
  • Flexible implementation of changes by Kautex or SEEBURGER
  • SEEBURGER Service Manager as single point of contact

About Kautex

With more than 30 facilities in 14 countries, Kautex is one of the top 100 automotive suppliers worldwide. As a well-positioned partner, the company develops and produces blow-molded fuel systems, selective catalytic systems, clear vision systems, engine camshafts and plastic industrial packaging solutions with over 6,000 employees on four continents. Kautex is part of the Textron Industrial Group.

www.kautex.com