SAP
SAP ’ s Sam Castro is a solution manager for Digital Manufacturing . He tells us about AI , risk resilience and supply chain sustainability
SAP is a global software provider and a leader for enterprise business process software , including solutions to manage supply chains . SAP provides technologies , supports the cloud and cloud platform environments , as well as artificial intelligence / machine learning ( AI / ML ) libraries , robotic process automation ( RPA ) and in-memory technology for high-end computers . SAP ’ s solutions for manufacturing execution and insights are part of a portfolio of products for supply chain management and leverages these technologies .
“ We ' re an enterprise business software and a technologies company ,” says Sam Castro Senior Director , Solution Management , LoB Digital Manufacturing .
Castro is a Senior Director at SAP and a part of the line of business manufacturing solution management team . The line of business covers the 27 manufacturing industries for which SAP provides software solutions .
“ All of those industrial companies have needs around operations visibility , control and reporting ,” Castro explains . “ The different industries have different targets that they ' re after . Some are heavier on the asset side , some of them are heavier on product quality and yields , others are all about logistics and moving products around on-time through the supply chain .”
SAP is met with a diverse set of requirements and needs from its customers . Solution management takes these industry needs and applies them to market direction and invests them in the portfolio .
“ We provide guidance on where to focus and the emphasis for development , and that strategy big picture where we want to take the products ,” Castro explains .
In college , Castro completed a Bachelor ' s in computer engineering and a Master ' s in computer science at the Rochester Institute of Technology ( RIT ).
“ I came from the hardware bridge to the software bridge very naturally after graduating ,” says Castro . “ I was dropped into the manufacturing floor because that is exactly where the hardware automation side bridges over into the software .”
He was faced with a great deal of information and digital signals from the automation layer and was tasked to turn it into information — how does SAP make that translation ?
“ I started at the very lowest level and moved my way through Lighthammer Software , which was acquired by SAP back in July 2005 ,” says Castro . “ I worked my way through SAP into the role that I ' m in today .”
“ Being a sustainable enterprise means that you ' re an efficient enterprise ”
SAM CASTRO SENIOR DIRECTOR , SOLUTION MANAGEMENT , LOB DIGITAL MANUFACTURING , SAP
28 April 2023