Grundfos: transforming from pump manufacturer to data-driven leader

Founded in 1945, Grundfos is the world's largest pump manufacturer, present in over 100 countries, producing more than 16 million units annually. Their products move water across homes, cities, and industries, directly influencing global infrastructure. With pumps consuming roughly 10% of global electricity and Grundfos holding a 10% market share, they impact 1% of the world's energy usage. In the digital age, they asked: "What if we became as good at using data as we are at building pumps?"

The challenge: fragmented data and slow insights hindering global operations

Over decades of growth, Grundfos accumulated a sprawling data landscape with dozens of sources including SAP BW, SAP Data Sphere, C4C, MES systems like "One Plus", IoT platforms, legacy CRM tools, and external data providers. This created data silos, fragmented ownership, and barriers to speed and scale. They needed to transform from legacy to living architecture.

The solution: agile data transformation with VaultSpeed – a strategic partnership

Grundfos selected VaultSpeed to automate complex data vault modeling, enable fast onboarding with template-driven development, power domain-driven data products, facilitate governed vault layers, and support multi-region deployments.

Building the Modern Data Platform: a phased approach to unifying data

The journey to a modern data platform began with a clear vision: a single source of truth for all Grundfos' data, accessible faster than ever. VaultSpeed's automation was central to this. In the initial phase, Grundfos adopted Data Vault 2.0 as their architectural blueprint for its agility and scalability. VaultSpeed's native support for Data Vault 2.0 automation significantly accelerated modeling and development. The team integrated critical data from their primary ERP, and VaultSpeed's automated code generation enabled initial data ingestion and raw data vault layers to be operational in a fraction of the time compared to manual coding. Alongside this, a robust Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipeline was established early, ensuring seamless data model changes, integrations, and deployments with version control and automated testing.

Following this foundation, the project expanded, integrating data from other legacy ERP systems, including those from acquired entities. VaultSpeed's model-driven approach facilitated rapid onboarding of new data sources, standardizing disparate schemas. Grundfos further expanded its data foundation to include vital third-party integrations like market intelligence, shipping logistics, and CRM platforms, enriching their internal operational data with external context. On top of the raw Data Vault layer, Grundfos leveraged VaultSpeed to build Business Vaults – curated datasets optimized for specific analytical needs, such as sales performance and financial reporting. "The speed at which we could integrate new sources was astonishing," says a Senior Data Engineer at Grundfos. "What used to take months of manual coding and debugging, VaultSpeed allowed us to accomplish in weeks. It fundamentally changed how we approached data projects."

Night Sky Success Metrics

he "Night Sky" project stands as a testament to Grundfos's successful data transformation. It not only became a critical revenue-generating tool, seamlessly integrating customer data with market intelligence for targeted engagement, but also demonstrated a rapid evolution from a mere prototype to a robust production system. This showcased the immense power of VaultSpeed-enabled data products, proving their ability to drive measurable impact on pipeline and sales and serving as a model for replicable data solutions across Grundfos's global operations.

Data Mesh in Action: Scaling Knowledge, Not Dependency

Grundfos’s data journey is underpinned by a deep commitment to Data Mesh principles, focusing on scaling knowledge and empowering domain teams, rather than creating bottlenecks. As Lærke, Data Leader at Grundfos, states, "We can't grow by adding meetings. We need structure that helps teams move without waiting on me." This philosophy guides their strategic approach to data governance and adoption.

Their approach to implementing Data Mesh involves several key elements:

• Standardized Onboarding: New teams are rapidly onboarded through VaultSpeed Academy, providing them with the necessary skills and understanding of Grundfos's data platform and methodology.

• Comprehensive Support: Domain teams are equipped with extensive support material and governance guides, ensuring they have the resources needed to effectively own and manage their data domains.

• Collaborative Architecture: Joint workshops with architects are a regular practice, aligning domain teams on architectural decisions and ensuring consistency across the entire data landscape.

A core tenet of their strategy is the "one vault, shared semantics" philosophy. Even as dozens of teams spin up their own use cases and build data products, fragmentation is actively avoided. Each team retains ownership and models its business domain, while VaultSpeed ensures consistency and automation across the enterprise data vault. Data products are meticulously designed with clear contracts and are built for reuse across various teams, maximizing efficiency and minimizing redundant efforts. To further enhance trust and reliability, Grundfos leverages governance tools like Collibra for robust traceability and data quality management.

"We don't build different vaults. We build one — and we plug and play digital solutions on top."

Business Impact: Accelerated Insights & Strategic Growth Across the Enterprise

VaultSpeed enabled multiple strategic programs including Grundfos Product Catalog (powering 70-80% of online sales), Digital IoT Pump Solutions, Manufacturing & Supply Chain Analytics, and Paid Media & Customer Marketing. The platform supports a true Data Mesh approach where teams own their domains while maintaining consistency through VaultSpeed.

The Grundfos Product Catalog (GPC) is a mission-critical project, powering digital product search and configuration, enabling 70-80% of online sales. It supports complex product specifications, bundling logic, and search configurators, and is being revived with VaultSpeed-based modeling principles after early delays, ensuring a robust and scalable solution for product data management.

Digital IoT Pump Solutions manages master data for connected pumps and devices, replacing outdated Excel-based tracking systems. Plans are underway to integrate real-time IoT sensor data for predictive maintenance and enhanced service offerings. This project is notably built by a small team, including a student assistant, leveraging VaultSpeed to maintain speed and governance in development.

Manufacturing & Supply Chain Analytics focuses on MES integration, lead time prediction, and production optimization. It integrates data from over 6 MES sources, each with more than 130 objects, providing a comprehensive view of manufacturing operations. This initiative is migrating from SAP BW to SAP Data Sphere, with VaultSpeed accelerating the data modeling process for seamless transition and enhanced analytical capabilities.

Paid Media & Customer Marketing analyzes digital customer behavior and optimizes marketing spend by connecting Paid Media, Marketo, and Night Sky data. This enables short-cycle, delta-based deployments where teams can collaborate independently on the shared VaultSpeed-powered data foundation, leading to agile campaign optimization and improved ROI.

"VaultSpeed helps us move fast — but more importantly, it helps us move smart."

— Lærke, Data Leader, Grundfos

Future Innovation

With this robust foundation, Grundfos is well-positioned for the future. The infrastructure is ready to support advanced initiatives in AI, drive further automation across operations, and enable real-time data processing for immediate insights. Furthermore, the "develop once, deploy anywhere" approach ensures global compliance is inherently baked into their data solutions, facilitating seamless expansion and adherence to diverse regulatory requirements worldwide.

The Road Ahead: Continuing the Data Journey

Grundfos transformed from a pump manufacturer to a company that builds data products, with VaultSpeed providing the foundation for AI, automation, and real-time operations.