ANSCHÜTZ Takes Aim at Growth with Infor

Infor, a global leader in business cloud software for Enterprise and SMB companies, today announced it is supporting J. G. ANSCHÜTZ GmbH & Co. KG by renewing its IT infrastructure. The family-owned company from Ulm (located in the German state of Baden-Württemberg), a renowned manufacturer of sports and hunting rifles, will introduce Infor CPQ  to strengthen its foreign sales business. In addition, the old enterprise resource planning (ERP) system will be replaced by the new Infor LN solution and the Infor OS technology platform. By undertaking this project, ANSCHÜTZ intends to meet the increasing challenges of the digitalisation age as well as the growing demands of its customers.

Founded in 1856 in Zella-Mehlis, Thuringia, ANSCHÜTZ has made a name for itself mainly in the world of sports: More than 97 percent of all professional biathletes use the manufacturer’s rifles and appreciate the workmanship and precision of ANSCHÜTZ products. The business is strongly geared to international markets.

To comply with national and international legal regulations and, at the same time, organise sales in a profitable manner, efficient IT is indispensable. Recent years have also shown a clear trend towards individualisation and personalisation of products, which is forcing suppliers to differentiate their portfolios.

To meet these requirements, ANSCHÜTZ decided to roll out new technology. Among other things, the company was looking for connection options to an existing, external web shop for agents in the United States. Infor convinced the management of another approach: after a thorough review, ANSCHÜTZ decided to seek direct contact with resellers instead by leveraging Infor Configure Price Quote (CPQ).

Infor CPQ gives companies the ability to customize their configuration and quote generation. This allows the CPQ process to be tailored to the needs of sales channels, distributors, or end users. The solution offers document automation (automatic creation of quotation documents or functional descriptions) and 2D/3D automation (including integration of the design).

The ANSCHÜTZ implementation project will be followed by an upgrade from the previously used Infor ERP system to Infor LN, which is specifically designed to meet the requirements of manufacturers. In addition, the Infor OS (formerly Infor Xi) technology platform, which includes the Infor ION open network middleware and the Infor Ming.le™ social collaboration platform, will ensure that other software and/or other companies, such as those in the supply chain, can be connected smoothly.

“Globalisation and digitalisation have been challenging our business model,” says Jochen Anschütz, CEO, ANSCHÜTZ. “If you want to be competitive, there is no way around efficient IT. Thanks to Infor CPQ, we will be able to deepen our relationships with local wholesalers, especially in North America. This will strengthen our sales activities tremendously.”

“Consumers are increasingly demanding highly personalised products. Manufacturers can only offer these if they use the appropriate software to deal with complex manufacturing requirements,” says Jörg Jung, managing director Central and East Europe, Infor. “This can only be done with software that is tailored to companies’ industry-specific needs. ANSCHÜTZ shows there is a great need for such solutions – and that our approach at Infor is the right one.”