Preparing for SAP S/4HANA: How TE Connectivity Standardized Supply Chain Operations

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For supply chain teams preparing for S/4HANA, the operational complexity inside SAP is rarely a surprise. Years of business evolution, global expansion, and system customization often create fragmented workflows and inconsistent decision processes across teams. At the scale of TE Connectivity’s global supply chain, these processes needed to be simplified and standardized within SAP so supply chain teams could interpret system signals and coordinate decisions the same way across the organization.

Company Snapshot

TE Connectivity is a global technology leader designing connectivity and sensor solutions for industries including transportation, industrial equipment, aerospace, and communications. The scale and global footprint of their operations meant that inconsistencies in processes and decision-making could significantly complicate their S/4HANA migration.

Key facts

Revenue $18.1 billion
Headcount 10,000+

Supply Chain Organization

2,000+ supply chain users
1,300 buyers
900 schedulers
9 business units
88-person Center of Excellence team

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The Challenge

As TE Connectivity began preparing for their S/4HANA migration, the company took a closer look at the operational complexity that had accumulated inside their SAP environment over time. Supply chain processes had evolved differently across business units and regions, and teams often relied on manual workarounds and external spreadsheets to analyze planning signals and coordinate decisions.

Key challenges included

Inconsistent supply chain workflows across business units

Planning, procurement, and scheduling teams often followed different workflows and interpretations of system signals across regions and business units. This meant similar supply issues were evaluated and resolved differently depending on the team or location. When issues crossed organizational boundaries (as they often do in global supply chains) teams had to spend additional time aligning on what action should be taken.

Technical debt from legacy SAP customizations

Years of incremental customization in ECC added system complexity that made planning signals, alerts, and system recommendations harder for planners and buyers to interpret. Users often needed additional checks or manual validation to understand how the system was generating operational outputs.

Operational analysis happening outside SAP

Evaluating planning signals and exceptions often required context that was difficult to analyze directly within the system. As a result, planners and buyers frequently exported data to spreadsheets to assess priorities and coordinate decisions, creating “digital leaks” where operational analysis occurred outside SAP.

Difficulty prioritizing planning signals and exceptions

Large volumes of system messages and alerts made it difficult to determine which materials, orders, or supply risks required immediate attention. With limited built-in prioritization, planners often had to manually interpret large exception lists to decide where to focus first, making critical supply risks harder to identify early.

Limited operational visibility across supply chain roles

Because SAP workflows are typically organized by functional role, planners, buyers, and schedulers often evaluated issues through separate transactions and system views. This meant different teams were often responding to the same issue without full visibility into how other functions were evaluating or resolving it.

What They Did

Before upgrading to S/4HANA, TE Connectivity partnered with GIB to simplify and standardize SAP-managed supply chain processes. Rather than redesign the processes during the migration itself, the company focused on creating operational consistency ahead of the transition.

Key initiatives included

Standardizing supply chain workflows across teams

Planning, procurement, and scheduling processes were aligned across business units to reduce variation in how operational issues were evaluated and resolved.

Reducing technical debt and simplifying system behavior

Legacy customizations and spreadsheet-based workarounds were replaced with standard capabilities provided by GIB. This reduced system complexity and made planning signals and operational outputs easier for planners and buyers to interpret directly within SAP.

Bringing operational analysis back inside SAP

Teams were able to evaluate planning signals, alerts, and operational priorities directly within SAP rather than relying on external spreadsheets.

Creating a Clear-to-Build (CTB) operational cockpit

GIB Operations introduced a Clear-to-Build (CTB) cockpit inside SAP where planners and buyers could evaluate materials, orders, and operational priorities together, helping teams quickly identify supply issues that required attention.

Aligning planning, procurement, and scheduling decisions

Because the same operational information was visible to planning, procurement, and scheduling teams, supply chain decisions could be evaluated using the same system signals and priorities rather than being interpreted separately across functions.

Results

By addressing operational complexity before beginning their S/4HANA migration, TE Connectivity created a more stable operational foundation for the transition. Standardized workflows reduced variation in how planning, procurement, and scheduling teams evaluated supply chain issues across business units. With clearer processes and simplified system behavior, users were better able to interpret planning signals and system alerts directly within SAP.

Bringing operational analysis back into the system also reduced reliance on spreadsheets and offline data manipulation. Planners and buyers could evaluate materials, orders, and supply risks within the same operational context, improving coordination across teams. With these changes in place, TE Connectivity approached their S/4HANA migration with a more structured and consistent operating environment.

Operational outcomes for TE Connectivity

Reduced system complexity ahead of migration

Improved operational efficiency across a global workforce

More consistent decision-making across planning and procurement teams

Stronger collaboration and coordination across supply chain functions

Faster adoption of new capabilities after go-live (including AI)

Key Takeaway

Organizations preparing for S/4HANA often recognize the operational complexity that has accumulated inside SAP over time. Addressing that complexity before the migration begins can help create a more stable operational foundation for the transition. By simplifying workflows, improving how planning signals are evaluated, and aligning supply chain decision-making inside SAP, TE Connectivity positioned its supply chain organization to adopt new capabilities more effectively post migration.