Innomotics GmbH is a global leader in electric motors and large drive systems, combining deep engineering expertise with leading innovation in electrical solutions across industries and regions. With more than 150 years of experience in electric motor development, the company forms the backbone of reliable drive technology for industry and infrastructure worldwide. Innomotics leads the way in industrial efficiency, electrification, sustainability, and digitalization. Headquartered in Nuremberg, Germany, the company employs approximately 15,000 people worldwide and generates annual revenue of more than €3 billion. With 17 production sites and a comprehensive sales and service network in 49 countries, Innomotics maintains a balanced global presence in a growing market.
CUSTOMER: Innomotics GmbH
INDUSTRY: Motors and large drive systems
PROJECT: Replacement of the existing SAP configurator with an integrated CPQ solution
SOLUTION: Web-based configuration system
TECHNOLOGIES: 3PQ®
Geared motors represent highly complex mass products with billions of possible variants. Depending on the application, they differ in technical performance parameters such as power ratings and operating points. Regulatory frameworks, including EU regulations and country-specific requirements, further increase complexity. For many years, the existing solution within the SAP ecosystem met these demands. However, growing product dynamics and an ever-increasing number of combinations pushed the system to its limits, particularly due to inflexible SAP release cycles and rising maintenance and performance issues.
At the same time, Innomotics sought a configurator that combined a modern look and feel with speed and flexibility, while integrating seamlessly — both visually and functionally — into the existing system landscape. The objective was clear: a cohesive, end-to-end system that delivers a consistent, high-performance, future-ready configuration experience for machine manufacturers.
Today, the new CPQ solution maps a product portfolio specifically tailored to sales customers. From project start in June 2024 to go-live in September 2025, the team delivered a powerful solution in a comparatively short time — one that combines technical depth, flexibility, and ease of use.
A key feature of the new system is its integration with Innomotics’ existing SAP system landscape. Via the CPS adapter, the solution prepares all configuration data so that the SAP UI presents it as a native configurator. The adapter acts as a translator, converting the data stream from the configurator into an SAP-compatible format. SAP continues to generate the user interface, while the configuration system delivers all relevant parameters in the background. Users benefit from a seamless experience in which the flexibility of modern 3PQ® technology blends smoothly with the familiar SAP environment — without visual or functional disruptions.
This setup creates an end-to-end process for users: from configuring the appropriate geared motor and providing customer-specific pricing through to the shopping cart and order placement. Based on integrated CAD models, the system generates a 3D visualization of the product after configuration, along with automated outputs such as quotations, dimensional drawings, 3D models, and STEP files. These outputs ensure technical feasibility and allow immediate use in downstream processes. High system performance guarantees fast response times, even for complex configuration scenarios with numerous dependencies.
Following the successful implementation of the sales configurator, Innomotics already plans the next expansion phase. The next step will introduce a plant configurator that integrates more deeply into production processes and covers a broader range of product variants. The goal: further simplify and automate production workflows, product testing, and documentation processes across the entire product lifecycle. Based on the order code (MLFB), the configurator will automatically resolve requests into bills of materials, routing plans, and 3D data, feed them back into SAP, and transfer them seamlessly into production.
