German food and beverage manufacturer supplying Lidl and Kaufland with diversified products
Schwarz Produktion operates a multi-category food manufacturing footprint—beverages, chocolate, bakery goods, pasta, ice cream, coffee, and PET packaging—across eight production facilities, all serving two anchor customers. The tech stack is SAP-native and manufacturing-focused: SAP S/4HANA, MES, Siemens industrial controls (Sinamics, S7), and materials management modules (PM, MM, EWM) indicate a maturing ERP foundation undergoing cloud migration. Hiring velocity has accelerated, with engineering and finance roles leading—a pattern consistent with supply-chain digitalization and maintenance-automation projects listed as active priorities, suggesting the organization is shifting from reactive to predictive operations.
Notable leadership hires: Maintenance Team Lead
Schwarz Produktion is one of Germany's largest food manufacturers, headquartered in Weißenfels (Sachsen-Anhalt) with approximately 6,500 employees across production and support functions. The company manufactures beverages and PET packaging, chocolate, dried fruits, bakery products, ice cream, coffee, pasta, and paper—all produced under subsidiary brands (Solent, Bonback, Bon Gelati, Bon Presso, Bon Pasta, Maxauer Papierfabrik) and distributed exclusively to Lidl and Kaufland. Operations span production facilities, recycling operations, and administrative units (Schwarz Produktion Stiftung, MEG Weißenfels, Pro Projekte, Sindra locations). The organization employs an integrated ERP environment centered on SAP, complemented by production control systems and facility management tools.
Core systems include SAP (S/4HANA, R/3, ERP, FI, MM, PM, BW, Controlling), Siemens industrial automation (Sinamics, S7), MES, Oracle, and Microsoft Office/Google Workspace. Active adoption includes SAP EWM and cloud-based Google Workspace migration.
Active projects center on supply-chain digitalization, automated intralogistics, production equipment improvement, maintenance state-based automation, and lager-layout optimization. Primary pain points include SAP FI process optimization, avoiding production downtime, and IT system integration across production and logistics.
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