SAP today announced it has signed an agreement with UPS (NYSE: UPS) to collaborate to transform the ad hoc world of industrial 3D printing into a seamless, on-demand manufacturing process from order through manufacturing and delivery.

By integrating extended supply chain solutions from SAP with UPS’s additive industrial manufacturing and logistics network, SAP and UPS plan to enable companies large and small to access on-demand manufacturing with the touch of button, creating new opportunities to streamline their supply chains and get products to market more quickly and cost-effectively. This announcement was made at the 28th annual SAPPHIRE NOW conference.

“Technology innovations such as 3D printing are revolutionizing traditional manufacturing and redefine our notion of the industrial supply chain,” said Bernd Leukert, member of the Executive Board, Products & Innovations, SAP SE. “By bringing together the on-demand manufacturing and logistics expertise of UPS and the extended supply chain leadership of SAP, we can enable direct digital manufacturing and an on-demand industrial manufacturing network that connects from manufacturing floor to the customer door.”

“Markets are changing rapidly, and no company can solve all customer problems on their own,” said Stan Deans, president, UPS Global Distribution & Logistics. “This agreement with SAP adds an important UPS capability to help customers right-size inventories and lower short-run production costs, and help entrepreneurs bring their ideas to life faster than ever.”

SAP and UPS intend to collaborate across their respective solution portfolios to enable critical components of on-demand manufacturing:

• Digitization and simplification of the production part approval process through SAP. By accelerating and standardizing the process, both companies believe a significantly greater number of industrial 3D print-ready production parts can be approved and certified and can be ordered through UPS On-Demand Manufacturing with full integration into SAP manufacturing and procurement processes.
• Automatic quantification of the financial viability of 3D printing vs. traditional procurement or manufacturing options on a host of real-time manufacturing and batch-specific parameters (such as tax calculations, shipping costs, bill of materials, and so forth). SAP and UPS intend to enable real-time decisions on the optimal supply chain path for every parts order.
• Seamless routing of the order to UPS for production and delivery. UPS end-of-runway manufacturing can get most orders sent by 6:00 p.m. manufactured and delivered anywhere in the United States by the next morning. The agreement seeks to enable companies to track their order right from their SAP software system.

The agreement will be part of a new distributed network from UPS, as announced today at www.pressroom.ups.com.

For more information, visit the SAP News Center. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.

SAPPHIRE NOW, May 17-19, 2016, Orlando, Florida, USA

The 28th annual SAPPHIRE NOW conference will bring more than 20,000 in-person and over 150,000 online participants together to engage in dialogue with peers and thought leaders around the globe. With nearly 1,000 C-level executives and 260 exhibitors, this real-time event connects attendees on a range of topics: future of work, digital core, digital supply networks, digital customer experiences, the Internet of Things. Whether on site or online, participants can gain insight into how SAP delivers on its strategy and helps organizations around the world Run Simple. Follow the event on Twitter at @SAPPHIRENOW.