Industry:
Chemical industry / Specialty chemicals (ACTEGA, ALTANA)
Key technologies:
FlexMobile apps and SAP S/4HANA
Areas of application:
Goods receipt, production feedback, warehouse (storage/transfer), packing table, loading control, inventory
Special features:
Parallel S/4HANA go-live, harmonized locations, offline fallback, high user acceptance, process reliability, global rollout planned
ACTEGA: Three perfect landings in one day
The chemical company ACTEGA manages goods receipt, production supply, shipping, and loading at three German production sites using FlexMobile apps from Flexus. This has significantly improved the quality, consistency, and transparency of processes.
Courageous and committed: this is the attitude with which ACTEGA implements even extremely complex IT projects. ACTEGA is a division of the chemical group ALTANA and specializes in plastic granulates, sealants, coatings, and adhesives. On June 1, 2025, three formerly independent production sites in Bremen, Lehrte, and Grevenbroich were merged into a single limited liability company, and their ERP system was converted from SAP R3 to SAP S/4HANA.
ACTEGA is a division of the internationally active specialty chemicals group ALTANA. At its site in Bremen, ACTEGA specializes in the production and development of soft elastic plastic granulates and sealing compounds for food closures and packaging, as well as thermoplastic elastomers for medical technology, the pharmaceutical sector, and the consumer goods industry.
At its Grevenbroich site, ACTEGA develops and produces coatings and adhesives for flexible packaging made of aluminum, steel, tinplate, plastic, and paper. The Lehrte site is Europe’s largest production and development site for overprint varnishes for paper and cardboard packaging, flexible packaging, labels, publications, and commercial printing. In addition to its strong presence in Germany, ACTEGA has further locations in Europe, North and South America, and China. Further information is available at www.ACTEGA.com.
VIDEO Success Story
Watch the success story as a video:
Watch the video to see how ACTEGA successfully uses SAP S/4HANA and FlexMobile Apps in its operations.
User-friendly interface
At the same time, Flexus AG’s FlexMobile apps were launched to control processes in the areas of goods receipt, production supply, shipping, and loading. The simultaneous introduction of SAP S/4HANA and Flexus’ FlexMobile apps was essential in order to be able to control and document all goods movements seamlessly and efficiently right from the start. “The main advantages of Flexus were direct access to SAP and the mapping of all movements and processes in real time,” recalls Jens Alex, CIO of ACTEGA GmbH. Added to this was the user-friendly interface, which could be optimized to the needs of ACTEGA and the respective process design of the individual locations.
The well-structured interfaces of the FlexMobile apps also met with great interest among the workforce. “The apps were quickly accepted. Younger colleagues in particular recognized the potential of the solutions and contributed to the project with specific tips for further optimization,” reports Alex.
“The main advantages of Flexus were direct access to SAP and the ability to map all movements and processes in real time.”
Jens Alex, CIO of ACTEGA GmbH
“The trusting collaboration between ACTEGA and Flexus was extremely cooperative and solution-oriented. Whenever we had questions, the Flexus experts were always available at short notice.”
Philipp Junge, Division Business Analyst
Collaborative and solution-oriented
The implementation was carried out as requested and was the result of a constructive project phase. “The trusting cooperation between ACTEGA and Flexus was extremely collaborative and solution-oriented. The Flexus experts were always available at short notice to answer any questions,” summarizes Division Business Analyst Philipp Junge.
From the outset, the goal was to digitize processes, minimize errors, and provide employees with the best possible support. After all, intralogistics is a key factor in all production operations. “In some cases, we have continuous production over several days, with constantly changing products and batches. It is essential to have the right raw materials and semi-finished products in the right place at the right time,” says Jens Alex, emphasizing the importance of reliable processes.
Book even in case of WLAN failure
In Bremen, around 30 forklift terminals and hand scanners were equipped with FlexMobile apps. In addition, several desktop devices were installed so that goods movements can still be recorded in the event of a Wi-Fi failure. Here’s how the process works: With the FlexMobile app “Feedback on Process Order,” handling units from production are digitally recorded and automatically posted or reported back to SAP as available (bagged) goods. At the end of this process, the product label is printed, which makes the container uniquely identifiable from then on.
Mobile label printing and feedback on process orders alone are an important partial result of the project for ACTEGA. “These functions are used hundreds of times a day in our company. Feedback is now recorded directly on mobile devices in the filling department and no longer via collective terminals for several systems,” Alex notes.
The “Process Warehouse Orders” app supports smooth storage in the next step, as well as subsequent provisioning and any necessary transfers. The “Packing Table” and “Loading Control” apps are used for goods issue. With the FlexMobile “Loading Control” app, goods that have been made available can be assigned to the respective delivery by scanning the product label. During the loading process, the app also shows the current work progress and the items still open.
Proof of load securing
Finally, the integrated photo documentation function via scanner is activated. The app prompts the forklift driver to take a photo of the loading area, which is automatically linked to the process. This means that not only can the undamaged condition of the goods at the time of dispatch be verified retrospectively, but also that the load has been secured in accordance with regulations. “This is a huge relief compared to the previous manual process,” says Philipp Junge.
Once a year, the FlexMobile app “Inventory” is also on the agenda. The combination of mobile SAP transactions for inventory counting and the document manager for post-processing and checking has already proven its worth at ACTEGA in its first year. “With the FlexMobile app, our last inventory went better than ever, and the on-call service for emergencies guaranteed by Flexus wasn’t even needed,” confirms Alex, who gives a positive overall assessment: “The quality, consistency, and transparency of the processes have increased significantly since the FlexMobile apps were introduced at the three German production sites.” Another factor contributing to this success is that the apps make it impossible to skip individual work steps or take other “shortcuts.” In addition, ACTEGA benefits from user-friendly and error-free processes as well as enormous time savings in the warehouse and in production.
“With the FlexMobile app, our last inventory went better than ever, and Flexus’ guaranteed on-call service for emergencies wasn’t even needed.”
confirms Jens Alex, CIO of ACTEGA GmbH, who draws a positive overall conclusion.
Global rollout
The next step is to roll out the system to other production facilities. The initial focus will be on plants in the USA. In the coming years, all ACTEGA locations worldwide in Europe, North America, and South America will be uniformly controlled using SAP S/4HANA and FlexMobile apps from Flexus. At the same time, existing processes will be further optimized and refined.
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