Abstatt/ Neu-Esting (Germany), ”Money makes the world go round” but to manufacture plastic money, you need the most modern technology - like the one Winter AG in Neu-Esting near Munich is using. Winter AG, the supplier of high tech card solutions, has decided to use SAP R/3 and the industry solution Steeb as//print. ”If there is one constant factor in the 75 year history of Winter – a company steeped in tradition – then it is innovation.” Says Gerhard Osterrieder, spokesman for the Board of Directors of Winter AG, which is listed on the New Market in Frankfurt. It’s no wonder that a manufacturer of innovative card solutions would use modern products in information technology for itself. Ten years ago, hardly anyone could imagine the central signification of plastic cards in everyday usage. Today people use many plastic cards for their convenience, like credit cards or debit/ ATM-cards, gsm-cards for mobile phones or health insurance cards. You can find such products of Winter AG in almost every household. Winter AG is certified by all well-known card organizations and is regarded as one of the leading suppliers of high-tech cards featuring extra-progressive technical procedures, like solid-state data transmission. As one of few suppliers, Winter AG is in a position to deliver tailor-made solutions from the initial concept to the final finished product. The flexible permutation of customer requests, the tailor-made products and the object-oriented work are in the limelight. Almost each card product has its own requirement definition – from layout design through material selection, expensive card structure, chip and data carrier definition, to personalized processes. The high-security pretensions for using card products make high demands on the logistics of Winter AG. From pre-production of printing sheets, through the manufacturing of card ingots and chip implantation, to personalization. In addition, the multilevel production processes are consistently interrupted by interim storage, and therefore must be optimally supported by the IT system. Customers (e.g. banks) wants to have transparency over inventory levels, running processes, and delivery data at any time. Various printing configurations, tailor-made solutions and a lot of single forecast delivery schedules are all part of a normal day’s work at Winter AG. Almost simultaneously to the IPO (initial public offering) of Winter AG in fall 2000, the signing of a licence for the printing industry solution ”Steeb as//print” by SAP’s wholly owned subsidiary Steeb Anwendungssysteme GmbH took place. Associated with the contract for implementing Steeb as//print was the takeover of an existing maintenance contract for SAP R/3 from another system house. The implementation project for the industry solution contains almost 150 days and went live in May 2001. Additionally, the SAP modules Financials (external accounting), Controlling, Sales and Distribution, Materials Management and Production Planning come into operation. A release upgrade of these modules to SAP R/3 release 4.6C was realized during the project. Steeb, the industry-specific partner for printing industries, offers with Steeb as//print a solution for integrated processing of sales and production processes to innovative print houses. The main function of this industry solution is the Print Configurator, which takes the printing peculiarities of the configuration and cost estimation of printing products into account. The functions of Steeb as//print are wholly integrated in the SAP system. Therewith the usage of all functions within the SAP system is guaranteed. Furthermore the user benefits from the well-tried advantages of the world wide ERP standard, like product maturity, investment safety, internationality, development and service. In 2000, Winter AG reached 49.5 billion EUR annual sales with 330 employees.