PEZ stands on new digital feet

By: Trademagazin Date: 2023. 05. 10. 11:12

Minnie Mouse, Harry Potter and Prince William – they certainly have one thing in common: a PEZ candy dispenser “head” made of them all. A sophisticated production and sales system is needed in order for the cult figures and their associated sweets to bring joy to young and old all over the world. The company therefore put its operations on a new, digital basis with the help of the SAP S/4HANA Cloud system.

The PEZ Group is one of the 100 largest confectionary companies in the world and is headquartered in Traun, Austria. The world-famous PEZ candy was first made in peppermint flavor, its name was made up of the first, middle and last letters of the German word “Pfefferminz”, i.e. peppermint, and it was originally a smoking cessation product for adults. In addition to the iconic rectangular candies, the company also produces effervescent vitamin tablets. Its products are available in more than a hundred countries. In addition to Europe and the United States, Japan and Australia are also important markets for the company, and in 2019 the products were also successfully launched in China. The company sells about 90 million dispensers and 5 billion candies each year. Around 900 people work for PEZ worldwide. In 2010, the parent company moved its Austrian production to Hungary, to its plant in Jánossomorja.

With increasing success, the internal processes became more and more complex over time. The company is now entering the digital future with a new corporate management system, for which it called on SAP and the Phoron SAP consultancy directly.

“We work with sales partners in more than 100 countries. We receive orders from individual distributors, which we have to forward to production and manufacture in our three factories”

– says Silke Huber, head of finance, controlling and IT at PEZ. For this route planning, the company had a goods circulation system that operated separately from finance and accounting. These two areas had to be united by a new system at all production sites simultaneously. In addition, special legal framework conditions also caused difficulties.