CONTACT Software announced that its CONTACT Elements product lifecycle management (PLM) interface has achieved SAP certification as integrated with SAP S/4HANA®. For many companies, the integration generates major benefits. Consistent data and end-to-end processes make collaboration easier across teams, departments, and global locations. This speeds up turnaround times in development and manufacturing, improves quality and saves costs.
The SAP® Integration and Certification Center (SAP ICC) has certified that CONTACT Elements version 15.5 integrates with SAP S/4HANA using standard integration technologies. The process-driven interface of CIM Database PLM automatically aligns material master data, engineering and plant-specific bills of material, project and order data, technical changes, documents and much more with SAP applications.
This means that factors such as current stock levels, material prices of components or open production orders can be taken into account as early as the design stage, and work preparation and strategic purchasing can plan better. Especially for configure-to-order (CTO) and CTO+ processes, an integrated view of the users' data is relevant in order to fulfill individual customer requests quickly and cost efficiently.
CONTACT Elements integration with SAP S/4HANA also communicates with other SAP ERP modules such as Plant Maintenance to trigger spare parts procurement or maintenance. This supports the establishment of new Internet of Things (IoT) business models.
"Industry 4.0 or smart services require end-to-end process chains in which product data from ongoing operations and corporate IT are consistenly linked," says Dr. Roland Drewinski, a member of the management board at CONTACT Software. "In the wake of digitalization, the interoperability of software solutions is more than ever a top issue in companies."
With the integration capability of its open Elements platform and the products built on it, CONTACT provides state-of-the-art solutions for digitization along the digital thread. Customer installations are thus highly scalable, flexible to expand with additional applications from CONTACT or third-party providers, and easily configurable thanks to the low-code principle of CONTACT Elements.
