Enabling sparkling customer service by improving back-office performance
Customer Company Size
Large Corporate
Region
- Europe
Country
- Germany
Product
- IBM Power 770
- IBM Storwize V7000
- IBM System Storage TS3500
- IBM System Storage TS3310
- IBM DB2
Tech Stack
- IBM AIX
- IBM Easy Tier
- IBM PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX
- IBM PowerVM
- IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller
- IBM Tivoli Storage Manager
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Cost Savings
- Productivity Improvements
Technology Category
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Storage Services
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Hybrid Cloud
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Private Cloud
Applicable Functions
- Discrete Manufacturing
- Sales & Marketing
Use Cases
- Inventory Management
- Manufacturing System Automation
Services
- Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
Hansgrohe SE is a market-leading sanitary fittings manufacturer, headquartered in Schiltach, Germany. The company operates ten production sites and offices in 44 countries, making it one of the few global players in the sanitation industry. Employing over 3,500 people, Hansgrohe generated total revenue of EUR841.4 million in 2013. After expanding its business operations into emerging global markets, particularly in Asia, Hansgrohe struggled to provide top-notch support to an ever-increasing number of customers without letting costs spiral out of control.
The Challenge
Hansgrohe SE, a market-leading sanitary fittings manufacturer, faced challenges after expanding its business operations into emerging global markets, particularly in Asia. The company struggled to provide top-notch support to an ever-increasing number of customers without letting costs spiral out of control. Previously, Hansgrohe’s integrated SAP applications were running on Oracle databases. As the firm expanded, the existing environment struggled to deliver the required performance, and licensing costs increased sharply when the business needed to scale up.
The Solution
After evaluating offerings from a range of providers, Hansgrohe decided to deploy IBM DB2 and two IBM Power 770 servers, each with 36 IBM POWER7+™ processor cores and 1 TB main memory, connected to two virtualized IBM Storwize V7000 storage systems. In close collaboration with IBM, Hansgrohe migrated its SAP Business Warehouse and SAP ERP applications from Oracle Database to IBM DB2 running on IBM AIX. The firm also profits from improved business continuity delivered by IBM PowerHA® SystemMirror® for AIX. The company now also runs VMware, Windows and Linux on System x.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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