Gamechanger

Set the foundation for scalable and global growth with a standard roll-out template

The 200-year-old traditional company Wieland-Werke (5.4 billion euros in annual sales), based in Ulm, Germany, is taking on a scalable and global challenge. Wieland is the world market leader for copper and copper alloys and is currently expanding its influence to the Americas. After the company had successfully carried out several roll-outs on a national and international level, Wieland turned to cbs with the request to industrialize and thus significantly accelerate its roll-out strategy for North and Central America. 

When Wieland approached cbs in the summer of 2021, they decided to continue the existing S/4 transformation project together. On a national and international level, the company had already carried out several roll-outs independently. As Wieland-Werke is steadily expanding its presence in the Americas, further S/4 roll-outs will have to be implemented in the USA.

Roll-out strategy

At this point, the company's roll-out strategy lacked efficiency - roll-outs were carried out sporadically at irregular intervals and overall too slowly. Although those involved within the Wieland Group had experience with international roll-outs, they were working exclusively with internal resources. For the new major project called "Accelerated Roll-outs", the goal was to industrialize the processes in order to carry out as many roll-outs as possible in parallel.

"We had to change the way roll-outs are carried out. It was clear to us that we would not be able to increase the speed of implementation and the frequency of roll-outs without a change in strategy," explains Daniel Bischof, IT Business Consultant and responsible project manager. First, Wieland started the so-called template readiness project. In this process, the experts evaluated Wieland's template and the business processes it contained down to the last detail. The consultants were involved in the processes, as only rollouts in the USA were planned and the local experts were to take over the consulting and the lead on site. 

The goal of the original template readiness project was to embed Wieland's existing template, including in-depth process knowledge, into clean documentation processes and then retain standards for global roll-outs.

Know-how and methodology

Furthermore, it was a question of defining a procedure for carrying out the rollouts. The good basis in terms of project documentation and process know-how paved the way for a successful project. The use of the proven M-cbs methodology can be classified as a further milestone. "Previously, roll-outs at the national level worked well with internal resources. But on a global level, the close cooperation with an external partner like cbs and their methodology was a real gamechanger and the key to success," emphasizes project manager Bischof.

Nevertheless, at the beginning of the collaboration between Wieland and cbs, it was a challenge to establish the new methodology and to bring everyone involved on board. Prior to this, rollouts had already been carried out using a different methodological approach and at national level. However, the legal requirements in the USA require many specific adjustments. In addition, the documentation had to be standardized, as it previously existed in numerous different formats. It was also necessary to distribute the tasks of the national Wieland Core team on an international level between internal and external stakeholders. "Onboarding an external partner was a challenge for us because it was something fundamentally new for Wieland," Bischof explains. Maintaining team balance under an extremely tight schedule was not always easy. But thanks to very open and honest communication, the collaboration was a success.

Flexibility and complexity

Flexibility and a relocation of the project work to the USA were desired on both sides and could thus be successfully implemented. "In cbs, we have found an experienced partner who fully meets our requirements and provides us with optimum support for this complex task," sums up Daniel Bischof. The first go-live in the USA is due to take place shortly. All other locations are to follow step by step along the strategic roadmap. 

Daniel Bischof is satisfied: "Now we have a stable basis for our global growth and can ramp up the roll-out speed. The expertise of the cbs consultants in template design and the broad know-how of defining a standard together with the business and then building it accordingly for our needs has helped us a lot. In addition, cbs has built us an individual roll-out methodology that will guide us step by step to our goal from now on."