SAP Japan has been at the helm of many Japanese enterprises’ digitization, providing cutting-edge business software to help them navigate the journey to becoming intelligent, sustainable enterprises. Most recently, the local subsidiary of the German software enterprise has introduced new cloud-based products to help customers in the country innovate and drive business transformation amid the ever-changing customer profile and business operations needs.

Latest SAP Products to Back Digitization of Japanese Enterprises 

SAP Warehouse Robotics

SAP Warehouse Robotics, which enables SAP Extended Warehouse Management (SAP EWM) application users to integrate almost any warehouse robot, has now been made available in Japan. (InsideSAP Asia often references articles from websites in other languages to bring you as much information as possible.) The solution addresses manufacturers’ challenge in operating multiple heterogenous robots by utilizing one software stack. SAP Warehouse Robotics centralizes management and instruction coordination of each robot that has different roles and capabilities. 

Here are some of the features and benefits of SAP Warehouse Robotics:

• Drives cost-effective and simple warehouse automation by integrating a new generation of collaborative robots with SAP EWM, a modern, flexible warehouse management system (WMS) that allows enterprises to manage a high volume of goods while running agile operations made possible by digitalized and accelerated warehouse processes

• Faster collaborative development with robots, cutting months to weeks, and expanding robot connections easier

• Supports the changing robotics needs in Japan by driving automation in managing complex material handling and kitting tasks, significantly reducing on-site labor support and allowing rapid on-site work scale expansion

SAP Japan mentioned the company’s plan to utilize SAP Digital Manufacturing Cloud, a manufacturing execution system (MES) based on near real-time data and analytics, to help businesses maximize the number of robots from the warehouse site to the manufacturing site.

“We support the realization of next-generation distribution warehouses and smart factories that have been utilized in Japan,” stated the company.

New “Group Management Function” for Customer IDs 

Starting in June, a new feature in the SAP Customer Data Cloud focused on enhancing the group management function for customer IDs can be utilized by Japanese companies. (InsideSAP Asia often references articles from websites in other languages to bring you as much information as possible.) SAP Customer Data Cloud, comprised of Customer Identity, Customer Consent, and CIAM (Customer Identity and Access Management) for B2B solutions, allows enterprises to identify their consumers, securely, across channels and devices. The solution enhancement is designed to enable enterprises to improve corporate marketing activities and protect customers’ personal information. 

Here are some of the key features of the added “Group Management Function” in SAP Customer Data Cloud:

• Enables businesses to manage multiple IDs in groups 

• Allows service contractors and users to add end-users, which supports data sharing to enable companies to create specific marketing activities

• Manages consent necessary for conducting marketing activities for individuals

• Enhances security with the capability of individual authentication

• Recognizes the person of authority within the group such as obtaining proxy consent from parents to market to minors

• Unique ID provides important data such as payment information

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Early on, SAP has laid out its global initiatives to help businesses better manage and adjust to the changes that are happening inside their companies, with their customers, and with their supply chains in these unpredictable times. SAP offered select supply chain solutions at zero cost to help companies easily identify and address potential supply chain disruptions as well as pinpoint alternative sources of supply and move goods efficiently and cost-effectively.

The German company’s dedication and efforts to aid the global supply chain challenges have not gone unnoticed in the recent Gartner Magic Quadrant report. Gartner Inc. announced that SAP received several recognitions for its logistics, transportation, and supply solutions.

Outstanding Logistics and Supply Chain Management Solutions

Franz Hero, Head of Development for SAP Digital Supply Chain, commented that this year has disrupted the supply chain without warnings that may have immediate and long-lasting impact. Appreciating Gartner’s recognition for SAP, he said:

“Companies must operate resilient supply chains that are agile, predictive, and intelligent in order to make informed decisions quickly and confidently. These third-party recognitions show SAP’s leadership in helping organizations continue moving forward — even in times of disruption.”

According to recent Gartner reports, SAP has been:

• A Leader in Gartner “Magic Quadrant for Warehouse Management Systems” for the sixth time in a row

SAP Extended Warehouse Management (SAP EWM) helps companies reduce warehouse and distribution costs by improving productivity and visibility into processes, labor, and stock. It covers all the facets of warehouse and distribution management, including multichannel fulfillment and distribution, inventory management and control, cross-docking, labor management, and billing for companies of all sizes and industries.

Basic features of SAP EWM are included in SAP S/4HANA Enterprise Management.

• A Leader in Gartner “Magic Quadrant for Transportation Management Systems” for the sixth year in a row

The SAP Transportation Management solution helps organizations optimize logistics and improve services by increasing visibility and control and streamlining goods movement, integrating fleet and logistics management.

In May 2020, SAP has released the functionality of Normalized quantity (NLQ) in embedded Transportation management (TM ) with S/4HANA 1909 release and in standalone TM with TM 9.6 release

• Ranked by Gartner as the number one market share leader in supply chain management software, worldwide, for the 18th year in a row

According to Gartner:

“The supply chain management software market grew 8.6{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} in 2019, exceeding $15 billion in vendor revenue. Cloud revenue grew 2.5 times faster than the overall market, accounting for nearly 34{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the market as all leading vendors transitioned their new product strategy to cloud.”

• Ranked by IDC as number one by market share for supply chain management applications

Published in April 2020, the “IDC Semiannual Software Tracker 2019H2” reported that SAP ranked number one in supply chain management revenue and overall market share.

Other Q3 2020 Recognitions 

September has just begun but SAP has already received several recognitions from Gartner and IDC in various categories this third quarter of 2020.

• A leader in Gartner “Magic Quadrant for Data Integration Tools” report based on its “ability to execute” and “completeness of vision.” 
• A Leader in Gartner’s July 2020 Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation for SAP’s completeness of vision and ability to execute.
• International Data Group Inc. named SAP Business One as Leader in the worldwide software-as-a-service (SaaS) and cloud-enabled small office ERP applications market.

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The Virtual Conveyor utilises Freight robots, which are autonomous mobile platforms, together with warehouse employees and the SAP EWM. The associates pick goods from shelves and place onto a contain or a shelf on a Fetch robot, which is an advanced mobile manipulator. When all the goods are picked, the picker send the Freight robot to the packing station using either a mobile device or the robot’s touch screen. As the task is completed, SAP EWN is updated with the completed order and another Freight robot engages wth the employee for their next picking order.

According to Fetch Robotics, using such a system can reduce the physical demands on employees, who often spend a large amount of time traversing the warehouse floor, and increase the time they spend fulfilling orders.

“We’re delighted to combine our expertise in robotics with SAP’s experience in warehouse management,” said Melonee Wise, CEO of Fetch Robotics.

“It’s an innovative combination of hardware and software that benefits warehouse operators and their employees.”

“The combination of Fetch Robotics and our warehouse management system means that warehouse operators benefit from more efficient operation,” according to Franz Hero, SVP, supply chain and logistics development, SAP.

“This integrated warehouse functionality allows logistics companies to automate the transportation of picked and packaged goods within their warehouse and drastically improves the efficiency of the warehouse workers.”

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