SAP Printing Infrastructure: A Global Standard from Germany

Flowserve Corporation, headquartered in Irving, Texas, is a leading global provider of industrial flow technology solutions for energy, oil and gas, and industrial applications. The company employs approximately 19,000 people and operates facilities in more than 50 countries.

Since 2011, Flowserve’s German subsidiary has been using Suchy MIPS’s Bens Server for SAP output management. Over many years, the solution has proven itself to be a stable and high-performance foundation for printing and document processes. Until now, its use has been limited to Germany, where it was administered independently. The positive operational experience later formed the basis for the decision to extend the existing architecture to international locations.

Global Output Management

With the goal of rolling out this proven architecture worldwide, Flowserve began planning a globally standardized output management environment. The focus was on high system availability, reduced administrative overhead, and centralized, standardized control of all printing and document processes within the international SAP system landscape. With the planned global rollout of Bens OMS, Bens OMS Panel, and PrintRadar, Flowserve aimed to standardize printing and document processes across all SAP systems while ensuring high reliability.

The existing system landscape comprised more than 1,000 printing systems and over ten SAP instances worldwide—a complex infrastructure that required a reliable and scalable architecture.

Technical Validation

As part of a proof-of-concept project lasting several weeks, the IT teams at Flowserve and Suchy MIPS worked closely together. The goal of this phase was to technically validate the solution under real-world conditions and to develop an architecture that meets global requirements.

The focus was on redundancy mechanisms that enable an automatic or manual switch to a second Bens OMS server, as well as the implementation of database-driven usage logs for the transparent analysis of printing activities and volumes.

Solution and Implementation

After the test phase was completed, the solution was gradually integrated into Flowserve’s international system landscape. The focus was on consolidating the previously decentralized printing environments into a globally consistent platform. Ben’s OMS serves as the technical foundation and handles all output management outside the SAP systems. By offloading spool processing to an external system, load balancing, monitoring, and tracking of print documents were significantly improved. At the same time, administration of the printing environment was greatly simplified, as the solution is available for both SAP NetWeaver and SAP S/4HANA.

„We've had a very good experience with Bens Server since 2011
”Based on my experience—there have never been any problems."

Waldemar Suchy,
Managing Director,
Suchy MIPS

The system architecture was designed to be redundant and allows for automatic or manual failover to a second Bens OMS server in the event of a connection interruption. This ensures that printing operations remain available at all times, even during network outages.

Intuitive Web Interface

The Bens OMS Panel extends this structure with an intuitive web interface through which printer definitions and OMS parameters are centrally managed and automatically transferred to all connected SAP instances. This eliminates the need for manual synchronization between individual systems—a crucial step toward standardized processes. In addition, PrintRadar is used to track all printing activities and make them available for real-time analysis. This provides Flowserve with transparent monitoring of usage, volume, and utilization across all systems—a foundation for future optimizations and capacity planning.

In addition to controlling spool processing, Ben's OMS also includes functions for creating, formatting, customizing, and converting print data, as well as for document distribution and workflow control. This makes output management a fully integrated part of the SAP process landscape.

„Transitioning from the existing printer configurations—which have evolved over time and are highly heterogeneous—is a challenge we’re eager to tackle. The entire team was very pleased with the contract—it’s a great motivation for us to continue on the path we’ve chosen,“ Waldemar Suchy, Managing Director, Suchy MIPS.

Scalable System Architecture

With the global rollout of Bens OMS Systems, Flowserve was able to significantly simplify the management of its SAP printing environment and improve operational reliability. The newly created architecture ensures a stable, scalable, and uniformly managed system landscape across all regions.

Centralized configuration management in the Bens OMS Panel eliminates redundant administrative tasks and the need for manual coordination between individual SAP instances. Changes can be rolled out system-wide in no time, which not only reduces the likelihood of errors but also improves the responsiveness of IT teams. Outsourcing spool processing to the external output management system also leads to higher performance and significantly reduces the load on the SAP environment.

Up to 80 to 90 percent more time

In practice, this results in measurable efficiency gains: Companies typically report time savings of up to 80 to 90 percent in printer management within complex SAP environments.

In addition, PrintRadar provides valuable insights into the actual usage of printing systems. The data collected enables a precise analysis of print volumes and thus provides a solid foundation for operational optimizations and cost control.

The architecture makes it possible to outsource printer management to the central help desk and/or service desk as needed. This simplifies support processes and significantly reduces the workload on SAP teams at the country subsidiaries. „Our American colleagues were looking for a fail-safe solution for printer management in the SAP environment. We’ve had a very positive experience with Bens Server since 2011—there have never been any problems. That’s why we proposed Bens as a global solution for printer management at Flowserve,“ said Ole Flach, SAP Instance Management and Systems Analyst at Flowserve.

Added Value for Flowserve

With the global rollout of Bens OMS and Bens OMS Panel, Flowserve has created a stable and future-proof platform for output management. The previously decentralized structures have been replaced by a unified, scalable solution that enables consistent and transparent operations worldwide. The collaboration between Flowserve and Suchy MIPS demonstrates how technical complexity can be sustainably reduced through targeted standardization and automation.

The project also demonstrates that a solution that has stood the test of time can be successfully adapted to meet international requirements—without compromising stability, performance, or usability.

With this global rollout, Flowserve is setting a new standard for efficient, highly available output management in SAP environments. The flexible architecture also makes it easy to integrate future developments and enhancements—providing a solid foundation for long-term operational reliability and process optimization.

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