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Automated supply with SAP

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#Supplychain #SAP #AssetManagement #Livello #NagarroEs
IoT Use Case - nagarro + Livello
4 minutes Reading time
4 minutes Reading time

The smart cabinet from the startup Livello, for example, replaces conventional food vending machines for snacks and offers fresh food and drinks. SAP integration by specialist Nagarro Allgeier ES enables a white label solution. This allows retailers to offer the vending machines under their own brand. In addition, the use of similar systems in other industries is possible, for example, as a material cabinet.

The challenge: A supply chain for smart distribution

Healthy and fresh dishes sold and delivered automatically – these are the possibilities offered by a new type of food vending machine from the Düsseldorf-based startup Livello. It uses the IoT (Internet of Things), the combination of sensor data (sensor fusion) and machine learning. This includes custom-built hardware that can be called Livello Smart Kiosk

Basically, a smart kiosk is an automated refrigerator for fresh food. The mini-canteen is used, among others, by companies that want to offer employees or customers a snack for in between meals. The cabinets are networked and monitor the freshness of the food with sensors for temperature or humidity as well as the fill level of the individual compartments.

In functional terms, the smart kiosk is a PoS (point of sale). It can independently recognize, track, manage, sell or rent physical objects. The solution also makes it possible to identify and assign users and articles. This makes various evaluations possible, such as which user withdrew or returned which item and when.

But there is no PoS without a supply chain: supply must be regulated and automatic. Real-time inventory management and fulfillment planning can determine availability and production needs to optimize delivery. Since the Smart Kiosk is also offered as a white-label solution for retail companies, SAP integration is also required.

The solution: Integration into the supply chain with SAP ERP

The startup was looking for an architecture that was as flexible and scalable as possible, covering different use cases and variants of the smart kiosk. That is why Livello works with the Nagarro Allgeier ES , an SAP full-service provider for critical enterprise applications and complex ERP landscapes. The company already has developed some innovative solutions for SAP integration in the Industrial IoT.

The Smart Kiosk itself determines which meals are running low and triggers delivery via the SAP interface. The data determined by the sensors, for example on the fill level, is first evaluated and summarized by an integrated edge device. Then the information goes to an IIoT platform in the cloud via mobile communications. There they are fed into the applications of the installer.

In addition, there are some special supply chain solutions. For example, the drivers who bring dishes to the refrigerators have their own app with integrated route planning and the information about the goods they need to load into the vehicle. There is also a dashboard where the person responsible for this service can see all the information: Where are the refrigerators? How are the sales? Which dishes are ordered particularly frequently, which only rarely?

This information helps the supplier or food manufacturer to improve the assortment or to inform the drivers more precisely. SAP integration makes it easy to query the data for the company’s own systems. In addition, a forecast of merchandise sales (demand forecast) is possible on the basis of this evaluation.

This is based on machine learning: the software learns from previous data how sales are likely to develop at a particular location and can compile the individual items of a delivery to suit each location. Replenishment always comes when there is only a little left in the vending machine.

The result: Automation of the supply chain

The Smart Kiosk can be used flexibly as an intelligent refrigerator – wherever conventional food vending machines are used. However, the concept can also be scaled up: A walk-in smart container functions as a miniature supermarket, including payment with NFC or even fully automatic upon exit with BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy).

The concept is also easily applicable to other industries. The kiosk allows any kind of “goods issue”, whether by sale, rental or internally in a company. One example is asset management. Smart C-parts containers determine the fill level by weight and automatically reorder as needed. Smart tool cabinets use RFID tags to detect withdrawal and return. Smart medicine cabinets in hospitals only open when authorized persons identify themselves via the NFC interface on the smartphone.

In these use cases, integration into the SAP systems of the operators is crucial. Companies often have established suppliers, so they use their own supply chain and manage it via SAP. In short, SAP expertise opens up a large market in many industries for both companies.

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