MAHLE reduces group-wide inventory 20% across 148 plants with Celonis Process Intelligence

MAHLE, a €13B+ global automotive supplier serving virtually every major OEM, operates nearly 150 manufacturing plants navigating simultaneous headwinds: material shortages, rising raw material and energy costs, geopolitical disruptions, and an accelerating shift toward electrification. Despite this complexity, material planners had no unified visibility into inventory-relevant factors — pre-booked orders, production requirements, goods receipts, and plant-to-plant stock movements all lived across fragmented SAP instances. The challenge was excess inventory and a lack of supply chain transparency, with discussions about the origin and validity of reports.

MAHLE deployed the Celonis Process Intelligence platform, which applies process mining to construct a living digital twin of the company's supply chain processes — an X-ray of how processes actually execute. MAHLE initially focused on Accounts Payable, Procurement, and Order Management before turning to inventory management in 2022. The logistics and IT teams co-developed the Inventory Control Center with Celonis, consolidating all inventory-relevant SAP data in real time — covering pre-booked orders, production requirements, goods receipts, plant-to-plant transfers, consignment warehouse stocks, and wage provisions. An Inventory Projection App gives material planners forward-looking stock forecasts across their most critical materials, while Celonis Action Flows deliver automated alerts when overstocks or shortages are imminent, enabling planners to take prompt countermeasures.

MAHLE achieved a 20% reduction in group-wide inventory following deployment. The Inventory Control Center was rolled out to all 148 plants within a few months. Key qualitative outcomes accompanied the headline figure:

• Reporting disputes eliminated: all plants now operate from one trusted, real-time data source
• Proactive planning adopted: planners respond to projected overstocks in advance rather than reacting after shortages materialize
• Cross-divisional coordination unlocked: the central inventory team can execute targeted, global optimization actions across business units

• Sequence the rollout deliberately — MAHLE started with AP, Procurement, and Order Management before turning to inventory.
• A single source of truth that resolves reporting disputes is a prerequisite, not a nice-to-have.
• Forecast-driven alerting (impending overstock vs. actual overstock) helps prevent stock build-up — pair a projection app with automated action flows to close the loop.
• Digital twin visibility must capture all demand and supply parameters, including plant-to-plant transfers and consignment stocks.