Delivering an S/4HANA Transformation in the Manufacturing Industry

The customer, which specialises in manufacturing and filling glass containers for the food and beverage industry, was operating a non-SAP legacy ERP system at its UK site and wished to bring its processes up to date by migrating to S/4HANA.

The manufacturer’s parent company, which had been operating SAP for several years, adopted S/4HANA last year. Using this S/4HANA system as the base model, the business was hoping to achieve enhanced functionality, optimised and streamlined processes, complete integration with its automation systems and real time data and KPIs.

Based on our experience and expertise in delivering multi-module SAP implementations and S/4HANA transformations, we were asked to assist with the project, and will now be working in close collaboration with the customer and an additional third-party consultancy to deliver the system.

We have a strong history of successful dual partner engagements, with a customer-first approach based on collaboration, flexibility, clear deliverables and strong communication between all parties, to deliver the best result for everyone. For this engagement, we are responsible for the overall project and programme management, core S/4HANA system, solution design and delivery.

One of the key requirements is for the deployment to be in line with best practices, remaining as standard as possible without heavy customisation. The key business areas and processes covered in the implementation will include SAP Finance & Controlling (FICO), Advanced Manufacturing Planning & Scheduling (MPS), Materials Management (MM), Production Planning & Execution (PP), Quality Management (QM), Sales & Distribution (SD), Extended Warehouse Management (EWM), Dock Appointment Scheduling (DAS), Yard Management (YM) and Handling Unit Management (HUM).

The system will be delivered in a phased approach with flexible timings to work around busier periods, with each phase structured to ensure SAP best practices and a great working relationship is maintained for the duration of the project.

Detailed planning, discovery and exploration phases will see us gathering information and requirements, and designing and blueprinting all aspects of the system in a way that meets those requirements. We will also be preparing for and overseeing the go-live, which includes training key users and testing, and then providing hypercare and early life support following the go-live, ensuring that everything is functioning correctly and all users are comfortable with such a significant organisational change.

Commenting on this project, our head of sales, Paul Fraser, said: “We are delighted to be kicking off this engagement to deliver the benefits of S/4HANA to our customer’s operations.

“With several successful S/4HANA transformations under our belts, we were able to demonstrate our ability to manage all the elements of a large project such as this, along with our collaborative approach to working with multiple stakeholders to achieve goals.”

For more information on our S/4HANA expertise, or any of our SAP supply chain solutions, please get in touch with our SAP supply chain experts.