Henke-Sass, Wolf was looking for a mobile SAP solution for complex warehouse processes in the medical device industry — and found in Ontego an intuitive approach that brings existing Z-function modules to the handheld scanner without touching the SAP logic. The result: paperless warehouse management, inventory effort cut in half, and significantly reduced CSV validation effort under GxP.
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Henke-Sass, Wolf GmbH, headquartered in Tuttlingen, is one of the world's leading manufacturers of injection systems, disposable syringes, and surgical instruments for the medical device industry. The company produces high-precision products for the global healthcare market including optics where a single carton the size of a cigarette box can be worth €100,000. This places extremely high demands on inventory accuracy, serial number tracking, and regulatory compliance in the warehouse.
Media Disruption in the SAP Warehouse: Paper Lists, Time Delays, and Missing Parts
Before HSW transitioned to mobile SAP processes, warehouse operations ran in the classic analog fashion: employees walked the aisles with paper lists, manually checked off withdrawals by hand, and only posted SAP goods movements later at a PC a classic media disruption and its cost was felt daily in intralogistics.
"Production planning could see: we have 1,000 units in stock — but someone had already physically packed them. We simply wanted to post in real time and stop working in a time-delayed mode."
By the next working day, these discrepancies would appear as apparent missing parts in SAP ERP even though the material had long since been removed. The requirement for the mobile data capture project was clear: post goods movements directly at the storage location, using handheld scanners and mobile data capture devices, in real time, without media disruption, and seamlessly connected to SAP via RFC interfaces.
SAP Fiori Alternative for Intralogistics: Why HSW Chose Ontego
HSW had actually attended LogiMAT 2017 because an SAP consultancy had proposed a mobile warehouse solution. However, the solution presented on-site did not fit the operational reality of the medical device company. While browsing the trade show floor, the team came across the Ontego booth and what they saw there was immediately convincing: a mobile scanner solution that accesses existing SAP BAPIs and customer-specific Z-function modules directly via RFC, without touching the process logic. Making Z-function modules mobile without new development, without Fiori customization was exactly what HSW needed.
"The key advantage was that Ontego can adopt our SAP logic — both SAP standard and our function modules in the Z namespace. We don't need to change anything logically in SAP itself."
The central argument against SAP Fiori as an alternative: the development and administration effort is significantly higher for complex SAP MM processes. As a medical device company, HSW works intensively with serial number and batch number management — processes where the system must verify whether a specific combination can even be posted. For such requirements, a specialized mobile data capture application is more efficient to develop and operate than a generic Fiori interface. Those familiar with the comparison between SAP Fiori and mobile data capture-based scanner solutions know: the decision depends heavily on the degree of process complexity.
"I want my MIGO on the device — and for that, Ontego is simply easier and more flexible."
From Picking to SAP Inventory: Step-by-Step Build-Out of Mobile Processes
In 2017, HSW started with a single function: mobile picking for production orders — goods issue with SAP movement type 261, posted directly at the scanner via RFC. Since then, the range of mobile SAP processes on Android mobile data capture devices has grown step by step:
- Production supply with planned and unplanned withdrawals to production orders
- Reversal posting to production orders
- Mobile SAP physical inventory and cycle counting
- SAP stock transfers
- Mobile SAP goods receipt for purchase orders, including batch traceability and serial number management
Particularly impressive is the planned use during the annual physical inventory: more than 50,000 materials — from tiny high-precision optics barely visible to the naked eye, to large components — are set to be fully counted by handheld scanner within a single week and posted directly as SAP inventory documents. (How a mobile SAP inventory works in practice is covered in a dedicated article on this blog.)
"Before: a colleague counts, writes it down — often illegibly — and a data entry person types it in. That's three steps. Today: scanner, capture quantity, done. We've achieved a performance level that is a thousand times better."
Validation of Mobile SAP Processes under GxP: An Underestimated Advantage
As a regulated medical device company, HSW is subject to the requirements of Computer System Validation (CSV) under GAMP 5, GxP guidelines, and U.S. FDA regulations including 21 CFR Part 11 for electronic records and audit trails. That Ontego also delivers a concrete advantage in this area was not originally the primary purchase argument but for Thorsten Minge, it has since become one of the most compelling.
Since Ontego operates as a mobile layer on top of already-validated Z-function modules and SAP standard BAPIs without introducing its own posting logic the CSV effort is substantially reduced. The SAP-side business logic was tested and documented once; Ontego executes it without modification. Because commsult acts as a qualified software supplier, the effort for internal development validation is also eliminated. The audit trail resides entirely within the SAP layer not in the mobile app.
"We say: take this Z-program. We've tested it, it works. That saves us documentation effort and testing effort — we don't have to retest everything from scratch."
In the CSV process, this means: no separate user requirements specification (URS), fewer regression tests, and reduced documentation effort. For IT managers in regulated industries, this represents a significant difference compared to a custom development or a fully customized Fiori application.
Results Overview
- Inventory duration reduced by approximately half
- Approximately one-third fewer staff required to carry out the inventory
- Significantly reduced error rate: batch traceability and serial numbers are captured as mandatory fields with system support
- No more media disruption: no paper lists, no subsequent manual SAP postings
- No follow-up queries due to incomplete count data
- Reduced CSV validation effort: Ontego introduces no application logic of its own — the audit trail remains in SAP
Outlook: S/4HANA Migration and Mobile Goods Issue
HSW is planning its migration to SAP S/4HANA. Ontego is set to continue operating in the S/4HANA environment — the RFC- and OData-based integration works on the new SAP platform just as it does today. The mobile SAP strategy therefore does not need to be rebuilt for the migration. The mobile SAP goods issue is also on the roadmap, with initial discussions already underway with the commsult team.
The story of Henke-Sass, Wolf demonstrates how paperless warehouse management with SAP works when it grows incrementally: one process at a time, closely aligned with the existing SAP logic, without media disruption. The result is not a revolution, but an efficient, practical infrastructure that the team embraces — and one that will survive the next SAP migration as well.
Know-how
Speak to an expert in mobile data capture in SAP logistics.
