European snack manufacturer modernizing operations with SAP and AI-driven quality systems
Lorenz is a 135-year-old family-owned snack producer operating 6 European production sites and 9 sales subsidiaries, with over 3,000 employees across manufacturing, sales, and logistics. The tech stack centers on SAP S/4HANA and Siemens industrial automation (Step 7, TIA Portal), grounded in production-heavy operations — yet hiring patterns and active projects signal a shift toward digitalization: quality management digitization, AI integration for compliance monitoring, and automated reporting systems are all live, addressing legacy friction around manual forecasting and process standardization.
Lorenz manufactures and distributes savory snacks — chips, pretzels, nuts, and crackers — across Europe under brands including Crunchips, Saltletts, Curly, and NicNac's. The company operates as a privately held family business with production facilities positioned near major potato-growing regions to minimize supply-chain friction. Sales and production operations span 9 country subsidiaries and 6 manufacturing sites, primarily across Europe. The workforce is heavily weighted toward manufacturing and production roles, with smaller commercial and administrative teams supporting distribution and administration.
Lorenz uses SAP and SAP S/4HANA for enterprise operations, Siemens Step 7 and TIA Portal for industrial automation on production floors, Google Workspace for collaboration, and tools like Trello and Miro for project management. SAP Analytics Cloud handles business analytics.
Active projects include digitalizing quality management, implementing IFS and ISO 9001 compliance systems, introducing AI solutions for quality monitoring, developing forecast tools, and building automated reporting systems — reflecting a multi-year digitalization roadmap.
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