Vetter has won the silver SAP Quality Award for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) for its company-wide implementation of the "mySAP ERP" planning software. A specialist in the aseptic filling of drug-delivery systems, Vetter captured the prize in the small- and medium-sized enterprise category. Ever since the implementation, Vetter has been controlling all its business processes by means of the SAP program: customer orders, purchasing, production planning and manufacturing, as well as quality management and maintenance. This has produced a high level of transparency in throughput times and logistics, a company-wide mapping of the end-to-end supply chain processes, and reduced complexities and risks in all planning steps. Thanks to this system, Vetter has been able to adapt its processes to growth and future developments regarding safety and quality. A major supplier to the pharmaceutical industry, the company currently fills 22 customer products with FDA approval, as well as others, and works with 19 of the world's top 20 pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. In the past five years, Vetter increased its total sales volume by around 100 million euros to over 280 million euros. During the same period, the company headcount grew from around 1,500 to 2,200, of which 1,200 work with the SAP application.

"With this software, we have given our planning and processes a very modern foundation," says Max Horn, Managing Director, underscoring the significance of the SAP implementation. "We are maintaining a strong focus on the needs of our customers and are orienting ourselves towards the evolving industry. Receiving a SAP Quality Award confirms this." A key evaluation criterion for the prize was an emphasis on the goals and needs of customers. Other criteria included collaboration with stakeholders to achieve customer goals and comprehensive project planning and controlling.

Vetter launched the project by introducing the SAP software in May 2006, with the aim of making all business processes sustainable. The previous systems were replaced with the new SAP functions, which would enable the company to meet upcoming challenges. The company implemented the application in two steps. The project team first integrated Finance, Controlling and Asset Management. The second step involved incorporating the company's logistics processes. During the 18-month implementation phase, 1,200 employees were trained to use the program. Then, in early 2008, "mySAP ERP" went live throughout the company. In follow-up projects the company will implement functions including end-to-end material tracking and electronic batch records.

As one of the leading producers of corporate software, SAP pays homage to outstanding introduction projects with its Quality Awards. The prize is given to companies that have implemented SAP solutions using formalized quality processes by the software company as a basis. The decisive criteria are continuous quality management, support from top management and constant control of the individual process steps. By winning the gold medal at this year's German SAP Quality Awards, Vetter qualified for the SAP EMEA Quality Awards.