09/18/2012

Munich, September 4, 2012 – Saum & Viebahn completed the implementation of Infor M3 this past May – nearly six weeks before the originally scheduled launch. The international textiles wholesaler replaced its previous solution, for which the manufacturer no longer provided support and which could only be adapted by means of complex additional programming. Today, Saum & Viebahn benefits from a standard solution that is tailored to the textiles industry and meets new market demands with regular updates.

The mid-sized company manufactures privacy shields and sun shades at its Augsburg location, but Saum & Viebahn primarily specialises in the retail of high-quality curtains and upholstery and decorative fabrics. Accordingly, the main focus of the company’s processes is efficient logistics and enterprise resource planning. Saum & Viebahn receive up to a thousand orders from interior decorators and designers in Germany and neighbouring countries every day. The textile wholesaler’s goal is to deliver all orders within 24 hours. In order to ensure that all of its products are always available, Saum & Viebahn maintains a large warehouse for its merchandise. Infor M3 continuously reports on the status of all inventory, helping the Kulmbach, Germany-based company avoid supply shortages while still keeping storage costs as low as possible.

“Infor M3 is the most important system for our company, as we use it to regulate all of our operations,” explains Christian Vieth, Head of IT & Processes at Saum & Viebahn. “Our previous solution, which we had been using since 2003, forced us to implement numerous modifications in order for it to meet our business needs. This made upgrades expensive and time-consuming. In switching to Infor M3, we’ve finally acquired an industry-specific solution that included all the functions we need from the outset.”

Employees of the company’s other departments also benefit from the new solution. For example, whenever the tax code was updated in the past, the accounting department had to manually program updates to its software. Now, Saum & Viebahn receives automatic updates from Infor. At the company’s production facility in Augsburg, Infor M3 is used for developing production plans and documenting all important processes. In combination with an external product configurator, Infor M3 allows employees to check whether all necessary components are in stock and how soon the shipment will be ready for delivery as soon as the order comes in.

“Saum & Viebahn’s old system was installed ten years ago, so the goal of this project was to eliminate all the modifications that had been integrated,” says Friedbert Schuh, Regional Manager Central Europe at Infor. “Our partner terna carried out the upgrade to Infor M3 at Saum & Viebahn, replacing nearly 140 modifications with standardised functions.”

Infor partner terna implemented the solution. A particular challenge for the systems integrator was the fact that Saum & Viebahn works in a virtualised IT environment that had to be imbedded in the Infor solution. Infor M3 runs on an AS/400 system. terna optimised interaction with the virtualised Citrix servers so that end users could access the Infor solution via their thin clients.

About Saum & Viebahn

Saum & Viebahn is an international textile wholesaler specialising in high-quality upholstery fabrics, curtains, and decorative fabrics. The company’s product line also includes a broad range of curtain rods and interior sun shades (pleated blinds, roman blinds, panel curtains, and vertical blinds). When it comes to upholstery fabrics, Saum & Viebahn partners with major brands like Q2, Infinity Loft, and Charmelle.