Challenges
- Rebuilding the management base as a truly global company
- Reduce inventory and improve delivery ability
- Improving accuracy and speed of quality control
- Improving productivity of indirect operations
Implemented Products/Solutions
SAP ERP 6.0 (FI/CO/SD/MM/PP)
Project Background
TOTO LTD. (hereinafter referred to as TOTO) is known as a comprehensive manufacturer of housing equipment such as ceramic and system toilets. As the company celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2017, it aims to establish a management structure as a "true global company" under its medium- to long-term management plan "TOTO V Plan 2017," and is implementing reforms across all business divisions.
In particular, in business divisions involved in "manufacturing", themes include speeding up management decisions, strengthening internal controls, and making effective use of MES (manufacturing execution systems), and also making great efforts to revamp business foundations using the latest technology.
Reason for Solution Selection
The reason TOTO adopted B-EN-G's proposal is that it has an extremely simple design that takes full advantage of SAP ERP's standard functions while deploying other individual services externally. They believed that by placing the right people in the right places, they could dramatically improve the operational efficiency of core systems and solve many of the problems that had emerged to date.
Implementation Project Overview
The project began in September 2014. First, prototyping was conducted over a total of six months, two months for each of the three manufacturing divisions in the priority areas of "Ceramic Production Division," "Washlet Production Division," and "Equipment Faucet Division."
Here, B-EN-G's proprietary SAP implementation methodology "TOPPLAN-SAP" was used.
After prototyping, in April 2015, the company began conceptualizing the Ceramic Production Division, which was the first target of the implementation. After requirements definition, development (including development of peripheral functions), and implementation, the project successfully cut over in May 2017.
Implementation Points
One of the key points of the project that should not be overlooked is that the customization to SAP ERP 6.0 was kept to a minimum. This was based on the initial policy of "thoroughly utilizing standard functions and placing all peripheral functions and services outside of ERP." TOTO's thorough implementation of this policy was based on the clear goal of using the introduction of SAP ERP as an opportunity to realize a drastic review of the old business processes, or business reform.
This perspective on business reform was consistently applied during the conceptualization and requirements definition phases, and the company was able to make each decision from the perspective of what business processes should be reviewed in the past and how to increase the added value of SAP ERP.
In addition, one of the themes of the project was to "create a mechanism to promote business reform on their own initiative," using SAP ERP as a step board. To this end, the company not only transferred the knowledge and skills necessary to utilize the system, but also considered specific improvement measures that went into the company's own business itself.
After introducing the system, the company managed and operated the system in-house, and created an operational plan that took into account the possibility that it would be taken over by another vendor in the future.
B-EN-G as an Implementation Partner
B-EN-G's experience and track record as a multi-vendor supported TOTO's current user-led implementation project. B-EN-G's track record of implementing a variety of solutions, including SAP, was behind the project's ability to propose best practices for the simplification and standardization of operations, as well as quick decision-making, aimed at by the Ceramics Production Headquarters.
Implementation Results
When implementing SAP ERP, TOTO's Ceramic Production Division set three goals: to reduce inventories and improve on-time delivery, to improve the accuracy and speed of quality control, and to increase the productivity of indirect operations. The five modules (FI: financial accounting, CO: management accounting, SD: sales management, MM: inventory and purchasing management, and PP: production planning and management) adopted this time are all essential to achieving these goals. The division has made great use of B-EN-G's consulting services to learn the "thinking" that is a prerequisite for utilizing these modules. The most valuable outcome of the project to date for TOTO is that the introduction of SAP ERP has enabled the company to review its own work from a broad perspective, and has provided a clue for each and every employee to take the initiative in working toward the goals of greater efficiency, cost reduction, and productivity improvement.
Approximately eight months have passed since the new core system went into operation, and the Ceramic Production Headquarters is currently analyzing the improvement effects brought about by the introduction of SAP ERP.
*This article is current as of January 2018. Organization names, positions, numerical data, etc. in the article are as of the time of reporting and may have changed by the time of viewing.
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