--- title: European Box Plant Moves to SAP: Time for Taiwanese Printers to Catch Up on ERP lang: en source: https://mindsprt.dev/en/knowledge/rondo-ganahl-sap-corrugated-digitalization/ --- # European Box Plant Moves to SAP: Time for Taiwanese Printers to Catch Up on ERP *Industry Insights · 5 min read · 2026-08-22* > Austrian corrugated giant Rondo Ganahl teamed up with system integrators to migrate its entire production workflow into SAP. Instead of buying newer presses, they rebuilt the foundation from orders to scheduling. For small and mid-sized Taiwanese print shops, the takeaway is much more direct than it looks **Quick answer:** Rondo Ganahl's move to SAP is not about the software itself ## Why Is a European Corrugated Plant Only Adopting SAP Now? Rondo Ganahl is a major Austrian corrugated board manufacturer. They recently brought in system integrators Aicomp and T.Con to move their entire production process into SAP (Enterprise Resource Planning, an enterprise software platform developed by a German vendor to connect orders, finance, production scheduling, and other business processes). The key here is not buying another new machine. It is connecting three previously isolated workflows into a single platform: orders, scheduling, and machine data. In all my years as a printing consultant, I have seen too many plants pour budgets into new machinery while ignoring the data flow behind it. When a European manufacturer of this scale only now catches up on its ERP, the signal itself should make Taiwanese peers think twice. No matter how fast your presses run, if they cannot talk to your orders and scheduling, capacity stays stuck in the exact same bottleneck. ## What Problem Did SAP Actually Solve for Rondo Ganahl? It solved a simple problem: the machines know what they are doing, but the company does not. Corrugated production involves multiple steps: corrugating, printing, die-cutting, and converting. Each stage generates its own machine data, but order status and delivery schedules are often manually aligned in Excel or on paper. The integration by Aicomp and T.Con feeds machine output data straight back into SAP's scheduling and order modules, so production control no longer relies on mental patchwork. The value here is not the buzzword 'digital transformation.' It is whether your schedule reflects actual machine status in real time. When an order changes, the schedule adjusts immediately, without waiting for tomorrow's morning meeting to realize yesterday was scheduled wrong. ## Where Is the ERP/MES Gap for Taiwan's Small and Mid-Sized Printers? The gap is rarely on the machine floor. It is in getting machine data into the company's core system. Many small and mid-sized print shops in Taiwan have invested in solid equipment. However, the production data generated by those machines sits completely disconnected from sales orders, accounting reconciliation, and warehouse scheduling. They operate as three separate silos, or worse, live only in workers' heads. When orders surge or plate changes rush in, scheduling relies entirely on senior pressmen holding things together by experience. The key lesson from Rondo Ganahl is that even a mid-sized European plant needed outside system integrators to bridge this gap. This is not a small task a company can solve behind closed doors, but an engineering project that demands specialized expertise. If Taiwanese print shops keep treating ERP and MES integration as something to deal with 'when there is time,' the gap will only widen as job complexity grows. ## How to Move from Machine Automation to Workflow Digitization? Start by mapping out data breakpoints, not by buying software. The first step I always advise clients to take is drawing out the entire process from order intake to shipping, node by node. Mark where staff retype data by hand, where duplicate entries happen, and where mistakes occurred in the past. Rondo Ganahl followed a clear path by integrating orders, scheduling, and machine data. That sequence offers a practical blueprint: align orders with scheduling first, then layer machine data integration on top. Small and mid-sized plants do not need to replicate a system on the scale of SAP on day one, but there are no shortcuts to seeing where your breakpoints are. If you are unsure where to begin, consultants who understand print production floor realities, such as the [Mai Strategy Knowledge Academy consulting team](https://mindsprt.dev), can help audit your workflow before deciding which systems to upgrade. ## What Does This Mean for Design and AI Applications? The reminder is clear: data integration always comes before automation tools. Over the past year or two, many clients have asked me right away if AI can help with layout or color matching. Yet their scheduling data remains broken. No matter how capable an AI tool is, it only sits at the tail end of a fragmented workflow. Rondo Ganahl chose to clear the ERP backbone first before tapping into machine data applications. That sequence is correct: let data flow first, and only then will you have the foundation for deeper analysis or automation. For print houses handling high-end, fully customized commercial printing like [MINDS](https://www.mindscmyk.com/), order complexity is already high. Whether order and scheduling data match directly impacts lead times and quoting accuracy. The logic is identical to that of a corrugated board plant: build a solid foundation before deciding what to build on top. ## Key Takeaways When even a mid-sized European corrugated plant needs external integrators to connect orders to machines, this is clearly not just a small-shop problem. Machine automation speeds up individual operations, while ERP/MES integration ensures accuracy across the entire workflow. The common bottleneck for Taiwan's small and mid-sized printers is not outdated machinery, but three disconnected silos: orders, scheduling, and production data. Data integration must always come before rolling out AI tools. Otherwise, automation just hangs at the end of a broken process. ## Further Considerations For print manufacturers and packaging businesses, Rondo Ganahl provides very practical advice: map out your full workflow from order to shipping, identify every manual transcription and duplicate entry point, and then decide whether to add ERP or MES modules. You do not need to match the investment scale of a European giant right away. For teams adopting AI applications or SaaS tools, the sequence is just as critical. When data cannot flow, even the best models can only work with fragmented information. A good next step is conducting an internal process audit to see which parts of your operation are still held together by mental memory or Excel spreadsheets. ## Further Reading ・[Aicomp and T.Con digitalize Rondo Ganahl's corrugated production with SAP](https://www.packaginginsights.com/news/rondo-ganahl-sap-production-control.html) ## FAQ ### What workflows did Rondo Ganahl mainly integrate with SAP? This rollout linked orders, scheduling, and machine data. System integrators Aicomp and T.Con helped bring previously scattered production data onto the SAP platform, allowing schedules to reflect actual machine status in real time. ### Do small and mid-sized printers in Taiwan need to implement systems like SAP? You do not need to match Rondo Ganahl's scale, but the issue of disconnected orders, scheduling, and production data is universal. Smaller plants can start with a workflow audit to spot data breakpoints before deciding which systems to upgrade. ### What is SAP? SAP is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software platform developed by a German vendor. It connects orders, finance, production scheduling, and other business processes so data across departments stays aligned within a single system. ### Why do companies with new machinery still frequently misplace or mismanage schedules? Because machine data is rarely fed back into order and scheduling systems. Scheduling still relies on manual coordination. Once order volume or plate change frequency climbs, relying on guesswork and experience quickly leads to mistakes. --- > HTML version: https://mindsprt.dev/en/knowledge/rondo-ganahl-sap-corrugated-digitalization/ > MINDS — 麥思印刷整合有限公司 · https://mindsprt.dev