Hitachi Astemo Aftermarket Germany GmbH is one of the leading partners for high-quality automotive parts in the automotive and motorcycle aftermarket. As the regional competence center for aftermarket activities in the EMEA region, Hitachi Astemo supplies a wide and constantly growing range of spare parts. Shipments must always reach customers very quickly and are therefore sent primarily via the transport service providers United Parcel Service (UPS) and Night Star.
In recent years, the number of express shipments has risen very sharply. This led to increasing difficulties in internal processing, as all shipments had to be manually transferred to the various IT solutions of the transport service providers for dispatch. At the same time, customer requirements also grew. More and more of them wanted to know exactly which items were packed in which package for each shipment. In addition, many customers demanded information about the exact delivery times using tracking data.
To better map these requirements, Hitachi Astemo was looking for an SAP-integrated solution that would speed up the packing of goods and enable the automation of shipment creation. If possible, processing for all existing and future transport service providers should take place in one solution with uniform processes and interfaces.
![[Translate to englisch:] Hitachi Logo](/fileadmin/images/referenzen/svg/hitachi-3.svg)
Success with Mercoline as a solution partner
Hitachi Astemo quickly found what it was looking for with its SAP solution partner Mercoline and its M.SmartLogistics Suite solutions. The solutions were particularly convincing due to their high level of integration with the SAP ERP and S/4HANA standard and their good combination options. Another advantage was that other SAP add-ons from Mercoline were already successfully in use in the area of foreign trade, e.g. for ATLAS customs processing. This meant that there was already a reliable EDI connection to Mercoline, which could then also be used to exchange data with the transport service providers.
In mid-2020, the start was made with the introduction of M.PackingStation, the Mercoline extension solution for automatic packing. The process was set up so that a scan dialog is used during packing at the packing station, in which the EAN of the item to be packed is scanned using a barcode scanner. This ensures that the articles are precisely assigned to the packing unit (handling unit), i.e. the actual SAP object. Thanks to this "qualified packing", Hitachi Astemo is now in a position to make a clear assignment of the articles to the individual packages.
In the course of time, further functions have been implemented, e.g. to automatically select the correct transport service provider via route determination as well as other information. The appropriate label is printed automatically at the packing table. The labels also comply with the specifications of the automotive industry, the VDA guidelines. Another advantage is that a send document (TC document) is then automatically created in the background. This is very well received by the employees, who currently pack more than 40 shipments per day.
![[Translate to englisch:] Verpacken bei Hitachi](/fileadmin/images/referenzstory/hitachi-verpacken.jpg)
There is no longer any need for time-consuming switching to different applications, as all information is now available directly in SAP, centrally and in the same user interfaces. The packaging process is now much faster and less error-prone.
After the first project was successfully completed in 2020, the implementation of M.TransportCommunicator, which was to simplify the shipment process and data exchange with the transport service providers UPS and Night Star, started at the beginning of 2022. Within less than six months, Hitachi Astemo's requirements were implemented. The special feature of the process today: the shipment can already be triggered from the packaging process. Since all information missing for the shipment (e.g. weights) is already added during packing, there is no need to manually intervene in the shipment creation.
At the end of the day, only the manifests for UPS and Night Star need to be printed out. The shipment and tracking data is automatically exchanged with the transport service providers in the background via Mercoline's integrated EDI services. In the SAP document flow, all employees can see from the document status whether the delivery has arrived. With just a few clicks, each of them can view the tracking data and tracking status from the corresponding SAP vouchers.
After a few months in productive operation, the two solutions of Mercoline's M.SmartLogistics Suite are indispensable. The shipping process has been greatly improved. Throughput times for shipments have been significantly reduced. Shipments can now be handled automatically with less time dependency on individual departments.
"The high level of integration of the Mercoline solutions into our SAP system landscape impressed us from the very beginning. Our colleagues in the shipping department find it easier to work with a standardized user interface, which has enabled us to significantly reduce the susceptibility to errors. The Mercoline consultants did a really great job," says Hartmut Mühlnikel, IT Manager at Hitachi Astemo Aftermarket Germany GmbH, summing up the project.
About Hitachi Astemo Aftermarket Germany GmbH
Hitachi Astemo Aftermarket Germany GmbH is the regional competence center for the EMEA region within the Hitachi Group Customers benefit from the strong Hitachi, HÜCO and Tokico brands.
The central areas of purchasing, quality assurance, development, sales, materials management, quality management and logistics are united under the umbrella of the company at the Espelkamp site. The merger between Hitachi Automotive Systems and original equipment manufacturers Nissin, Showa and Keihin to form Hitachi Astemo has further expanded the core business since January 2021. The introduction of additional products from Keihin, Nissin and Showa is planned. These new products will be available for passenger cars as well as motorcycles and marine applications.