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05 September 2024

SAP S/4HANA Go-Live at Lenzing Plastics

Perfect start to the new financial year with the system changeover to SAP S/4HANA.

Lenzing Plastics GmbH & Co KG (LPG) is one of the world's leading manufacturers of products made from polyolefins and fluoropolymers. Thanks to the perfect interplay between LPG and INFORMATICS as well as foresighted planning and intensive testing, the changeover to S/4HANA went off without a hitch.

LPG is no stranger to an innovation-driven project approach and proactive action. Future IT projects for the future were planned and scheduled some time ago. As early as 2018, LPG decided to implement a new S/4HANA system based on the readiness check. Established processes were taken over from the existing system and many things were rethought," says Wolfgang Wiesmayr, SAP Senior Consultant at INFORMATICS. This decision, which was made on the basis of historical legacy issues, technical necessities and the desire for a future-proof system, required early and detailed planning and the full commitment of LPG and INFORMATICS. Close coordination within LPG between the specialist departments and also with INFORMATICS is essential to keep such a project on track.

Meticulous preparation

Intensive workshops with key users started at the end of 2020 on the basis of an S/4HANA sandbox. "Not only were the new possibilities with SAP S/4HANA discussed and run through, but new and adapted processes were also developed," says Wiesmayr. The end result was a fit/gap analysis,
which mapped out the further path to an efficient ERP system. The iterative project approach allowed for many short test cycles in which the highly motivated LPG key users were able to put the new system through its paces together with the INFORMATICS consultants.


"A successful SAP project requires a realistic vision, good planning and good cooperation with the consultant."

Harald Jell, Head of Logistics & SAP at Lenzing Plastics GmbH & Co KG and project manager.


Harald Jell here at the INFORMATICS SAPshots together with Lenzing Plastics Managing Director Dr. Martin Schädle and INFORMATICS founder Otto Kitzmüller.

Problem-free go-live

Another important topic was the migration of master data and "open" transaction data. "After extensive data cleansing in the old system, the data was transferred with the help of the SAP Migration Cockpit," explains Wiesmayr. Material masters, open SD orders or G/L account balances, and even the new business partners were automatically created during the migration based on the customer and supplier masters. After a successful migration and integration test, the go-live date, which had been planned well in advance, was finally set. The time had come at the turn of the year 2022 to 2023. Thanks to well-prepared project teams on both sides, the go-live went like clockwork.

Production at LPG resumed on time on January 2, 2023 after the planned Christmas shutdown.
Dr. Martin Schädle, Managing Director of LPG, concludes: "Timely planning with sufficient lead time, detailed preparation, close coordination and, above all, the intensive cooperation of LPG's key users were the key to successful project completion."