8 things Sioen would do again on their SAP IBP journey and 1 to avoid

Innovation at the core

Sioen launched an Integrated Business Planning (IBP) project to optimize their supply chain. The results are impressive: sharper planning, quicker inventory turns, and smarter decisions across the board. But how did they get there?

From its roots as a family company in 1960, Sioen Industries has grown into a multinational with 6,000 employees, 30+ plants in 20 countries and global operations. Ever since the set-up, the organization has been committed to innovating safety, designing solutions for sectors like firefighting, construction, and maritime.

“We’ve been running SAP as our backbone since 2009 and continuously improved the solution” says Ana Cristina. “Yet, to stay ahead, we also needed digital supply planning. Having a clear, shared view across the organization isn’t a luxury anymore, it’s essential for smart, agile decisions and, as such, to thrive as a business.”

Build your process muscles first

“Two enthusiastic colleagues from the apparel and coating business unit kicked off the project. They were full of ambition to reshape our supply chain planning. Their commitment lit a fire across the company: people saw their drive and started backing the project. Looking back, we realize things would have gone smoother if we’d had our processes in place and had prepared the move more carefully. Still, even our small first steps were valuable and moved us forward.”

Stay focused

“The wish list kept growing. We wanted the new system to handle really everything. At a certain point, we understood we couldn’t do it alone, so we brought in an external advisor to help us define our requirements and pick the right software. They challenged every idea, pushed back, forced us to rank our priorities, and kept reminding us to stick to a roadmap we could actually deliver.”

Identify the magic triangle’s tangible results

“Large projects burn through budgets quickly, so we structured our goals around the ‘magic triangle’ of service, cost, and cash. Every feature we proposed had to improve at least one of those. This helped us make smarter trade-offs and show ROI to the leadership."

"That said, I admit that we overestimated our internal IT capacity and underestimated how complex it would be to connect SAP IBP to our existing systems. That’s where our budget took the biggest hit.”

Choose the right partner, they’ll strengthen your steps

“We talked to different partners. After Q&A sessions, budget comparisons, and reference visits with companies we trusted, Flexso stood out. They had deep SAP IBP knowledge, strong references, and a culture that matches ours: pragmatic, honest, and no-nonsense. They weren’t afraid to say no or give critical feedback. Our team trusted them completely.”

Keep it simple

“I remind myself of this every day: keep it simple. Users need clear, easy-to-read, easy-to-access data they can trust. Simplicity often requires compromises, but the simpler the system, the better it works, and the fewer arguments you’ll have about the data quality. The same goes for the user interface. The cleaner the interface, the smoother the adoption.”

Go step by step and celebrate small wins

“You can’t digitize your entire supply chain overnight. Prioritize, build gradually, and go live in phases. And celebrate successes. Even the smallest win boosts team energy and shows visible progress across the organization.”

Let one process spark broader change

“As we rolled out each step, the impact of IBP spread fast. Sales started talking about collaborative planning with customers. Planners and purchasers came to us with new ideas to improve safety stocks and production order length. So, SAP IBP didn’t just improve our supply chain processes, it opened the door to new ideas and deeper transformation. By sharing progress, we got the whole organization thinking along with us.”

Keep going, even when it gets tough

“We never gave up, even when things were slow or complex. Step by step, we kept adding processes into IBP. What began as a few green boxes on our IBP dashboard soon turned into a full landscape of live, connected processes. And there’s more coming.”

Don’t wait to load real data, even if it’s not perfect

“Progress was slow at first, but after a while we built momentum. Once we had mapped our processes, the real hurdle was data. Interfaces were delayed, test files came in late, and suddenly we were stuck."

"So, I’d advise everyone to load real data as soon as they can. Don’t wait for it to be perfect either. Too often, missing data is used as an excuse not to start. Keep the data flowing so you can test, adjust, and validate it while the team’s energy is high.”