SAP Customer Success Story Metal Umicore. Umicore: recycling precious metals and business knowledge, with SAP Business One

Transcription

1 Umicore: recycling precious metals and business knowledge, with SAP Business One

2 Umicore Industry Metal Products and services Material technology Website SAP solutions SAP ECC + SAP Business One Partner Vigor Companies that centrally run SAP ECC, can rely on SAP Business One to effectively integrate their subsidiaries and help these meet all corporate standards. Materials technology group Umicore, too, chose this approach. Since 2011, Umicore and its implementation partner Vigor have introduced SAP Business One in three North-American Umicore branches. The implementation and the training cycle was short and the results excellent: every branch can now smoothly streamline all business processes and report with ease. 2

3 Materials for a better life The roots of Umicore go back to over 200 years ago. The current group results from the merger between a number of mining and smelting companies, which gradually evolved into the global materials technology company that Umicore is today. Umicore focuses on application areas where its expertise in materials science, chemistry and metallurgy makes a real difference. Its activities are centered on four business areas: Catalysis, Energy Materials, Performance Materials and Recycling. Each business area is divided into market-focused business units offering materials and solutions that are at the cutting edge of new technological developments and essential to everyday life. For years, Umicore has been amongst the world s ten most sustainable companies. Its overruling goal of sustainable value creation is based on the ambition to develop, produce and recycle materials in line with its mission: materials for a better life. The group, for example, aims to develop innovative solutions to face challenges such as raw material scarcity as well as provide renewable energy and clean technologies. Umicore materials are found in, e.g. electronics products, emission control catalysts, photovoltaics and rechargeable batteries for electric cars, etc. In addition, Umicore is the world s biggest recycling company of precious metals. The Umicore Group has 80 production sites, dotted across all continents, and serves a global customer base. In 2013, Umicore turned over EUR 9.8 billion (EUR 2.3 billion excluding metal). It currently employs around 14,600 people. 80 The Umicore Group has 80 production sites, dotted across all continents, and serves a global customer base. 3

4 SAP tailored to smaller branches Umicore relies on SAP ERP to support its complex manufacturing processes. The SAP ECC platform, which was introduced many years ago, continues to evolve and expand on a company-wide level. For smaller, often new Umicore branches, though, the smaller-scale SAP Business One seemed like a better solution. Umicore and implementation partner Vigor have therefore integrated several SAP Business One packages, over the past few years. The first SAP Business One project was in one of our manufacturing sites in the state of New York. After many years of collecting its information manually, the branch understood it needed a solution to gain insight into the profitability of its manufacturing processes, says Kurt Blaton. Based in the Belgian town of Hoboken, Kurt is at the helm of Umicore s Business Applications Team, part of the Corporate Information Systems group that takes care of all SAP projects worldwide. Together with his colleagues, he started searching for an integrated solution for the US facility. Was the choice of SAP Business One logical, for a manufacturing site? Not really, says Esther Evens, who coordinates the SAP projects within Umicore, together with business partners in Europe and the US. Our team did have experience with the package but not with the manufacturing functionality. To be honest, we assumed the solution lacked powerful features to support manufacturing, yet the Vigor team won us over. Even though they, as a small Belgian SAP integrator, did not have a US-based team, their pragmatic approach, enthusiasm and strong proposal convinced us. Vigor expanded SAP Business One with PPS One, an add-on with a rich functionality for manufacturing companies. To follow up the metal processing processes specifically, Vigor integrated a tailor-made solution into Coresuite. The choice of SAP Business One was not logical for a manufacturing site. partner Vigor expanded the platform with PPS One, an add-on with a rich functionality for manufacturing companies. 4

5 The power of a template In just a few short months, Vigor installed a complete, integrated ERP-system for 55 users, Blaton continues. It was not a SAP Business One plus PPS One plus Coresuite, but one single, well-oiled system based on a reusable and well-documented template. Together with the Business Applications Team, Vigor laid the foundations for rollouts at other sites too. Change management appeared to be crucial, as was knowledge building. Blaton: A successful rollout strategy requires a deep insight into the organisational structures, the processes in the branches, the local market approach and the cultural differences. In 2012, Umicore and Vigor kicked off a second SAP Business One implementation project, again in the US. The template immediately proved its worth. A business unit with activities centered around renewable energy was setting up a new entity for trading activities, Blaton explains. It wanted to try out a new business model, with a small team and needed a system to manage purchases, sales, the logistics activities and financial administration. Thanks to our template, the team could solely focus on the business activities. The run time of the project, from A to Z was just 4 months. In just 6 months, Vigor installed a complete, integrated ERP system for 55 users. Kurt Blaton, head Business Applications Team 5

6 SAP Business One to replace SAP ECC (2) The starting-point for the third SAP Business One implementation, in the Umicore facility in Rhode Island, was totally different again. Evens: A series of business processes and workflows needed urgent reviews. Six years before, a local partner had implemented SAP Business One, while the add-on Lisa was used to support the logistical processes. The integration into SAP Business One, however, was almost non-existent: Lisa was an island. As Vigor had built up plenty of know-how during the two previous Business One projects, we decided to call on them to help our business team restructure the business processes. Vigor did a new rollout of SAP Business One and improved the integration with Lisa. A lot of existing customized software was replaced by standard features. As a result, everyone working at the Rhode Island branch is now enthusiastic about SAP Business One. The successful re-implementation of SAP Business One led to a remarkable strategic decision, Blaton added. The site has two business lines. One runs SAP Business One, the other SAP ECC. The rollout in the first business line taught us that Business One is also perfectly usable in the second line. As a result, we were able to significantly cut our licence costs. The replacement is scheduled for later this year. Vigor did a new rollout of SAP Business One and improved the integration with Lisa. A lot of existing customized software was replaced by standard features. Everyone working at the Rhode Island branch is now enthusiastic about SAP Business One. 6

7 Fast rollout, sharp prices and minimum training SAP Business One can be rolled out quickly, at a low price that offers great value for money and with a minimum of end-user training. It is an excellent choice for branches without ERP and for business units in transition. I would also recommend it for new entities and business models, says Blaton. In addition, he stresses the importance of choosing the right business partner: The time of the in-house team is precious, especially in small branches. So the implementation partner has to be able to see everything through our eyes, understand our needs and be firmly committed to the project. If you wish to create reusable templates, you need insight into the organisation, the business processes and the technical environment. Vigor was able to understand the processes of the different Umicore sites in no time. Consequently, they can deliver excellent work pragmatic and results-oriented without too much support from our side. Moreover, more than just implementing ERP systems, Vigor brought a contagious type of enthusiasm. Their commitment to success was major. They really went the extra mile, Blaton concludes. Or even further, if that what it takes to make the project a success. It is an excellent choice for branches without ERP and for business units in transition. I would also recommend it for new entities and business models. Kurt Blaton, head Business Applications Team 7