Flexitech turns to Rimini Street to extend SAP ECC 6

Flexitech, a French manufacturer of brake and cooling hose products for the automotive sector, has moved SAP ECC 6 support to Rimini Street. The company aims to extend the life of its current ERP environment and redirect spending to security, compliance and product development.

The move places Flexitech among manufacturers using third-party support as an alternative to SAP's standard maintenance model and the migration path to S/4HANA. Flexitech operates across Europe, Asia, North America and South America, using SAP ECC 6 to run core processes across its operations.

Support shift

Flexitech reviewed its SAP support as maintenance costs rose, and it assessed the economics of moving to S/4HANA. It concluded that a major ERP migration would not deliver a clear return on investment in the near term. The company also wanted to maintain a stable environment while advancing other IT and manufacturing programmes.

Under the new arrangement, Rimini Street will support the SAP ECC 6 platform. Rimini Street positions its service as a way to keep existing SAP systems in production longer while avoiding vendor-mandated upgrade timelines.

"We had been working directly with SAP for many years, but the maintenance services were costly, and the value added was quite questionable in comparison," said Thierry Le Gouanvic, CIO at Flexitech. "The strategic move to Rimini Street freed up significant budget while giving us faster, better support, and we were able to extend the life of our very stable SAP ECC 6 platform for at least 15 additional years without feeling pressure to take on a disruptive move to S/4HANA."

Spending priorities

Flexitech plans to use the savings to fund initiatives in cybersecurity, compliance and manufacturing systems. It also cited research and development tied to next-generation brake and cooling hose technologies.

Compliance readiness is rising in importance for automotive suppliers as carmakers and tier-one suppliers increase expectations around information security and supplier assurance. Flexitech identified preparation for the Trusted Information Security Assessment Exchange (TISAX) as a key objective. The framework is widely used in the European automotive industry and has become an important supply-chain requirement.

The company also prioritised modernising manufacturing execution systems. These systems typically connect shopfloor activity with planning and reporting platforms, including ERP, and can support broader factory digitalisation programmes.

Rimini model

Rimini Street provides third-party support for enterprise software, including SAP, Oracle and VMware products. Its model typically runs alongside a customer's existing software environment and focuses on ongoing maintenance, incident handling and updates linked to tax, legal and regulatory changes.

Third-party support remains a point of debate for SAP customers as organisations weigh cost, risk and the timing of major platform changes. SAP has been encouraging customers to modernise their environments, including moves to S/4HANA and cloud-based approaches such as RISE with SAP. Some organisations with stable implementations are looking to extend current platforms while prioritising other investments.

Flexitech framed the decision as a way to keep SAP ECC 6 stable while spending more on security and compliance. It also cited a need for greater flexibility to support future changes such as acquisitions and new manufacturing sites.

"The funds we saved, and the system stability achieved by moving to Rimini Street have empowered us to reinvest our people, time and money towards initiatives that put us on the forefront of innovation," said Le Gouanvic. "If we decide to acquire competitors or set up new manufacturing facilities in Asia or diversify into new types of hoses for cars, Rimini Street gives us the flexibility to support and optimise SAP to align with our strategic direction."

Partner Scope

Flexitech also cited partner availability. As manufacturers expand across regions, they often seek providers that can cover multiple time zones and deliver support in local languages. Rimini Street said its SAP support includes Level 4 support and engineer coverage, as well as service level agreements.

"We previously had limited options when it came to external partners who could support us as our business expanded," said Le Gouanvic. "Rimini Street's extensive capabilities and experienced team give us confidence that whatever our next step-acquisitions, new manufacturing sites or product diversification-our SAP systems will be supported and optimised to match our strategy."

Rimini Street described Flexitech as a manufacturing customer using third-party support as part of a broader IT investment plan, shifting spending from software maintenance to operational and strategic work.

"Flexitech's story demonstrates how organisations can unlock immediate value by moving away from costly, vendor-driven support models and toward a strategy that prioritises stability, security and innovation," said James Harvey, Regional CTO, EMEA at Rimini Street. "By choosing Rimini Street, Flexitech preserved a reliable, mission-critical ERP foundation while redirecting critical resources toward business-driving initiatives-exactly what modern manufacturing leaders need to stay competitive in a rapidly evolving global market."

Flexitech expects the support change to underpin a multi-year roadmap focused on security investment, TISAX readiness and manufacturing systems modernisation, while keeping SAP ECC 6 in place for the long term.