Vorwerk embarked on a digital transformation journey to support its growth and innovation goals with SAP S/4HANA as the backbone of its global operations. BearingPoint has been Vorwerk’s trusted partner over the past five years in its quest to upgrade its end-to-end processes and leverage cutting-edge technologies.
Vorwerk is the number one direct sales company in Europe and the world leader in direct sales of premium household appliances. The core business of the family-owned company is the production and sale of high-quality household products. Vorwerk seeks direct contact with its customers, whereby its advisors serve as the central point of contact.
The direct sales of premium products has prompted Vorwerk to find smart solutions for greater efficiency and harmonized processes across its global network. Consequently, one of the company’s strategic initiatives was to ensure a smooth transition from legacy systems and processes to SAP S/4HANA, especially as it wanted to avoid any potential disruption caused by the upcoming SAP Business Suite 7 maintenance outage announced for 2027.
To ensure a consistent implementation of SAP S/4HANA in Vorwerk’s existing SAP instance, BearingPoint adapted the previously developed B2C template to the current requirements of the company’s B2B processes. The project team then designed and configured the
SAP S/4HANA system based on the global template and Vorwerk’s requirements while ensuring compliance with local regulations and standards. The addressed processes included the order-to-cash, features related to sales and distribution streams, purchase-to-pay, and financial and controlling workflows. It also covered master data governance, integrating data concerning governance, onboarding, and changing business partners. The historical and master data from the legacy systems to the SAP S/4HANA system data was migrated and validated, ensuring data consistency and accuracy. The Master Data Governance is also the single point of truth for master data delivering data to other systems.
BearingPoint first deployed the SAP S/4HANA solution in Vorwerk International Switzerland, which was soon followed by the central warehouse and other business operations in Germany. The team also managed the change management and communication among stakeholders, such as business users, IT teams, consultants, and partners. BearingPoint also trained and empowered Vorwerk’s SAP S/4HANA users to adopt the new system and processes and leverage the new capabilities and insights. Currently, the eighth go-live release is being prepared.
By leveraging SAP S/4HANA, Vorwerk has now achieved a good level of harmonized and standardized end-to-end processes. The solution provides Vorwerk with a single point of truth, gaining transparency and access to consistent information across the company.
SAP S/4HANA also offers Vorwerk a user-friendly interface with Fiori apps, which makes it easier for the company’s employees to navigate the system and all its processes smoothly and efficiently.
Vorwerk is the number one direct sales company in Europe and the world leader in direct sales of premium household appliances. The family-owned company was founded in Wuppertal (Germany) in 1883. Vorwerk’s core business is the production and sale of high-quality household products (Thermomix® kitchen appliance, Kobold vacuum cleaner). Vorwerk always seeks direct contact with its customers, whereby its advisors serve as the central point of contact. The akf group also belongs to the Vorwerk family. Vorwerk generated group sales of €3.2 billion in 2022 and is active in more than 60 countries.
