Case Study:
ECHA Connection: STIEBEL ELTRON’s Integration Journey with Gepard
Driving compliance through automated product data management with SAP ↔ ECHA bidirectional flow and component-level hazardous substance declarations
Case Study:
Driving compliance through automated product data management with SAP ↔ ECHA bidirectional flow and component-level hazardous substance declarations
Founded in Germany, STIEBEL ELTRON is a global leader in providing energy-efficient home comfort solutions, including water heaters, heat pumps, and ventilation systems. The company focuses on innovation, quality, and environmental responsibility, supporting sustainable energy solutions across markets in Europe and beyond.
To maintain regulatory compliance with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and enhance the product data management process, STIEBEL ELTRON partnered with Gepard. They use SAP as the system of record for product master data and BOM/components, which serves as the authoritative source for ECHA submissions.
STIEBEL ELTRON set out to automate and simplify the delivery of product data to the ECHA platform, ensuring submissions were complete, accurate, and compliant. Key objectives included:
In this case, SAP is both the starting point and the return system. Gepard ingests product master data and BOM/component structures from SAP, transforms them for ECHA submission, and then writes ECHA confirmation fields (e.g., registration IDs) back into SAP, closing the compliance loop in a single system of record.
Gepard applies mapping rules to align SAP taxonomy/BOM with the ECHA data model, including nested, component-level hazardous/toxic substance declarations (component → substance), which is more complex than flat attribute mapping.
Products are stored and enriched within Gepard PIM with role-based permissions and governance tuned for compliance workflows.
Data is validated against ECHA rules and submitted in required formats (API/file as applicable).
ECHA return fields (e.g., confirmation/registration identifiers) are captured and written back to SAP, closing the loop for compliance and reporting.
Manual effort in preparing product data for ECHA compliance.
Mapping from SAP’s standardized schema and BOM structures to ECHA’s strict compliance schema, with any field enrichment or adjustments performed solely to satisfy regulatory requirements, not to remedy gaps in STIEBEL ELTRON’s data standards.
Single-language, technically precise submissions per ECHA specifications.
Tracking validation status and ECHA return fields within SAP for end-to-end traceability.
Gepard ingests product master data and BOM/component structures directly from SAP, ensuring a single source of truth and removing the need for manual re-entry.
Data is mapped from SAP’s standardized taxonomy and BOM to ECHA’s strict compliance model, including complex component → substance declarations, reducing the risk of non-compliance.
Gepard validates all data against ECHA rules before submission, preventing rejections and ensuring smooth, accurate regulatory reporting.
ECHA responses (IDs, confirmations, statuses) are automatically written back into SAP, giving STIEBEL ELTRON a complete audit trail inside its core system.
Where ECHA requires fields not present in SAP, Gepard enriches the data in a controlled, auditable way, reducing manual corrections while keeping compliance intact.
By automating and guaranteeing ECHA compliance directly in SAP,
Gepard makes submissions correct the first time, reducing the risk of penalties, cutting manual reviews and resubmissions, and speeding product onboarding and EU launches.
These are stored against the relevant product/component records, creating a complete compliance trail.
Delivered a bidirectional integration aligned with ECHA: Gepard submits declarations and, in response, writes the following specific ECHA fields directly back into SAP (Confirmation ID, Registration Number, Submission Status(e.g., received/accepted/rejected), and Timestamps (submission and acknowledgment).
Automated mapping, transformation, and validation (including component-level hazardous/toxic declarations) saved significant internal resources.
Practically, this frees specialists for higher-value engineering and compliance tasks, enabling more SKUs to be processed without additional headcount.
Predictable billing model supported long-term budgeting and planning.
Finance gains a stable OPEX profile (no surprise integration spikes), improving forecast accuracy and aligning compliance spend with business growth.
Head of Customer Success at Gepard
Project Manager at Gepard
Gepard is an independent turn-key eCommerce platform that automates work with product data. For more than 15 years the Gepard team of 150+ dedicated specialists has been working on product information management solutions for clients around the globe.
Automated compliance management with SAP–ECHA bidirectional data flow and component-level hazardous substance transparency
