Cintas: Embarking on a digital transformation to stay agile in the face of supply chain and market changes
Explore Cintas’s journey with SAP
Cintas Corporation, an American company specializing in professional services equipment and safety courses, prides itself on its diverse product and services portfolio and customer satisfaction. But as its competitors continued to modernize, it revolutionized its rental division’s business model with a targeted selection of SAP solutions.
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Professional services | Mason, Ohio | 44,000 employees |
facilities established.
reduction in energy use.
increase in efficiency.
Vice President and CIO, Cintas Corporation
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Professional services | Mason, Ohio | 44,000 employees |
facilities established.
reduction in energy use.
increase in efficiency.
Vice President and CIO, Cintas Corporation
Creating new opportunities to better serve its people
Cintas Corporation, known for its well-established product and services portfolio, stands as a reliable cornerstone in the American professional services market. Focused on technology innovation and process transformation, the company helps more than a million businesses deliver their best with workwear, apparel, mats, mops, restroom supplies, first aid and safety products, fire extinguishers and testing, and training and compliance courses.
The company has an ethos of safety and attention to detail that is present throughout its force of 44,000 employees. Servicing such a vital sector for a variety of businesses and industries, the company aligns each aspect of its rental division with a corresponding level of dedication its customers have come to expect. Considering its rental division serves approximately four million wearers and tracks 40 million garments daily, Cintas consistently collects a massive volume of data.
Cintas operated with a legacy system of solutions that it built to meet its unique business needs. However, as the core standards within the industry became increasingly influenced by digital trends, it knew it needed to consolidate, digitalize, and update its processes. Without a swift course of action, Cintas could find itself falling behind its competitors. After a period of introspection, the company wanted to revitalize several aspects of its rental division, namely its data management infrastructure, customer relations platforms, and HR system. Having a plan set in place, the company sought to solidify its reputation as a reliable and adaptable provider with a solid network of flexible solutions.
Enhancing internal processes with a web of specialized solutions
After careful evaluation, Cintas decided to integrate a series of solutions from SAP to breathe new life into various aspects of its rental division. At the very core of its foundation, the company deployed SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP). With SAP BTP, Cintas could collect, analyze, and store data from each corner of the rental business on a singular, centralized platform. This would drastically reduce information silos and open a data highway to facilitate greater communication and efficiency. Additionally, SAP BTP can swiftly integrate with other SAP solutions and some aspects of the company’s legacy software, making it an ideal staging area for additional integrations. For instance, Cintas integrated the SAP Extended Warehouse Management (SAP EWM) application with SAP BTP to help it smoothly manage eight large distribution centers.
Through the SAP Commerce Cloud solution, the company created a complimentary customer platform it dubbed “myCintas.” Designed to be an intuitive, user-friendly platform, myCintas allows customers to quickly explore the product catalog, order for multiple employees at once, view order history for quicker reordering, and receive real-time order and shipment updates. Continuing its plan of improving user experiences, Cintas also integrated SAP Concur and SAP Customer Experience solutions, which it used to further connect customer, travel, and spend data in a digitalized environment. Since it has improved data visibility and a connected digital platform, Cintas took the opportunity to create a mobile app that allows customer-facing drivers to report customer orders, inquiries, and needs while in the field.
Cintas also decided to tackle its legacy HR architecture as part of its digital transformation journey. It adopted SAP SuccessFactors HCM including the SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll, SAP SuccessFactors Learning, and SAP SuccessFactors Succession & Development solutions. This combination of digital HR solutions allowed the company to focus on managing, upskilling, and retaining its talented workforce with accessible trainings, concise payroll operations, and career planning tools.
Vice President and CIO, Cintas Corporation
Improving customer and employee satisfaction across the enterprise
Since undergoing its multifaceted digital transformation, Cintas has recorded a dramatic improvement to its everyday operations. This radical change has not only enabled real-time visibility for the diverse aspects of its rental division but also has shown the potential digital transformation can have for the rest of the enterprise. Cintas has also ingrained sustainability – including environmental, social, and governance consciousness – into its corporate culture on a large scale. This included the rollout of smart trucks that capture data to help reduce fleet idle times, lower maintenance costs, and minimize future purchases of new trucks. It also developed a production dashboard to measure and decrease the chemicals, water, and energy used in each washer and dryer cycle while optimizing load size (see the figure).
With an integrated system based on SAP BTP, the company has noted a decrease in TCO, an increase in employee productivity and engagement, and more-profitable customer-facing processes. Tight integration between SAP BTP and SAP EWM means distribution centers can deliver goods and products to customers on time and consistently. Additionally, this digitalized system, complete with a unique customer portal and driver reporting app, helps the company stay agile in the face of supply chain and market changes.
Since migrating to SAP SuccessFactors HCM and corresponding SAP SuccessFactors solutions, the company is able to manage HR transactions on a connected digital platform, allowing it to depart from its previous on-premise system. The solutions smoothly integrate with its existing SAP solutions architecture and connect its employee data with enterprise data to give its people the insights they need to manage their career development journey. Additionally, managers now have greater control over the workforce through internal learning and trainings that help them identify top performers and areas where employees need to improve in order to work their best. The portfolio’s self-service capabilities in a mobile environment also increased employee productivity, data accuracy, and engagement levels both in the office and in the field.
This departure from on-premise, siloed systems has launched the rental division into a new era of digitalization that has let the company reach new levels of productivity. The enhanced systems and processes touch almost every corner of the rental enterprise, and both Cintas employees and customers have reported increased levels of satisfaction. With its interconnected system of SAP solutions, Cintas feels more confident in its ability to thrive in the professional services industry.
Vice President and CIO, Cintas Corporation
Want to know more about Cintas?
Cintas: Increasing Satisfaction Levels While Anticipating to Customer Needs (SAP video)