Automated order processing: international, flexible and S/4HANA-ready

User report tangro OM at Dräger

Dräger manufactures medical and safety technology products that are used all over the world, for example in hospitals, fire departments and rescue services. tangro software helps to ensure that the required goods reach the customer quickly:  "tangro is a flexible, lean software that makes our work easier and speeds up order processing. I am very convinced of tangro"says Anja Jäger, key user in the Market Fulfillment department at Dräger. 

The automation solution records orders received by e-mail or fax. In this way, the software takes care of what previously had to be processed manually, and brings exactly the desired optimization effect: a reduction in the workload of employees by eliminating busywork. No more picking out customer numbers, no more typing out materials, no more data entry errors. Instead: A better quality of master data and, most importantly: more time for customer communication and order follow-up. "At our site in the USA, the amount of work involved in order entry has been reduced by 50 percent," reports Christin John, who also supports tangro at Dräger as a key user.

tangro won the race in the selection process because, compared to other systems, the solution offers maximum flexibility, is easy to use and, thanks to customizing, can be adapted particularly well to the special needs at Dräger. In addition, implementation at tangro is exceptionally fast. Within three months, tangro was up and running at Dräger. "The project ran exactly to schedule and was well structured. We were very well taken in hand", says Anja Jäger. Another plus point for tangro was the fact that the software can run on S/4HANA without lengthy customizations. So nothing stands in the way of the switch to S/4HANA, which is scheduled to take place next year. Initial tests have already been successfully carried out.

The rollouts to other national companies are also running smoothly with tangro. Dräger is represented in around 190 countries around the world and has its own sales and service companies in around 50 countries. Automated order entry is required at all these locations. "We keep getting new requests from colleagues in other countries", says Anja Jäger. Accordingly, tangro is now used globally at Dräger: in addition to the European countries, for example, in the USA, Canada, Singapore and Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand. And more are being added all the time 

The roll-outs are carried out independently by Dräger's key users. They set up the required e-mail boxes, assist with initial test runs and train the new key users in the individual countries in handling and recognition. All this is done quickly. The new users are able to operate the system after just one day, and the handling of the learning function is also easy to understand. The next step is to train the system to recognize the customer's order forms so that the software can automatically read out the relevant order details from the forms and enter them in advance. But this is also done quite quickly. "Learning data can be transferred directly from the test system to the live system at tangro. Nothing has to be executed twice here"says Anja Jäger.

After one week of training, the users are then able to use the automated order processing in the productive system at the new location: Now the software automatically determines the customer for incoming orders and also recognizes the order number, material data, quantities, prices and partners. The employees in the back office see the recorded contents directly in the incoming book and can see at a glance which order can be booked directly and where post-processing is still required. 

The operation is very simple. "The input screen is much clearer and easier to understand than the regular VA01 input screen in SAP"says Christin John. Christin John also finds the possibility to send e-mails to the corresponding customer directly from tangro super. And the fact that all content about the order can be retrieved at any time. This makes it much easier to search for information in case of queries. "The traceability and documentation in tangro is very good because when an order is created, all attachments are also filed."

 "tangro is a great labor saver," sums up Christin John. "We have fewer errors in the order, fewer returns and less need for clarification." The training of new employees in customer service is also faster thanks to the automation solution, because a lot of things are predefined automatically.

The key users at Dräger are very satisfied with the detection rate. "In 80 percent of the jobs, tangro automatically recognizes the client and the other job contents."says Anja Jäger. Among other things, recognition depends on the quality of the documents. If they are not set up properly, then it is also difficult for the software to read anything. The quality of the master data also plays a major role: if the data is not properly maintained, then the software cannot find the right client, for example. Indirectly, tangro contributes to further process improvements. On the one hand, by bringing the master data up to date. On the other hand, by encouraging customers to send their orders in a clearly structured format. 

Where, what and how can be further optimized is shown by the key figures that tangro automatically determines for order processing. Anja Jäger: "The KPIs in tangro OM are very good. This allows us to see at a glance the biggest levers for further improvement." For example, key users can track which customers order particularly frequently and where recognition should be further improved. 

The feedback on the automation solution from the individual national companies is correspondingly positive. Initial skepticism about a new solution has given way to absolute enthusiasm. "Usage and uptake is much better than we had originally anticipated"Anja Jäger is delighted. "There are many countries that capture over 90 percent of their orders with tangro - we never thought that would happen."