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ERP implementation for a Global leader in metal recycling

Our customer is a subsidiary of the wider Global manufacturing and recycling organisation. They embarked on an ERP ‘upgrade’ to a new platform as a consequence of rapid growth through acquisition. A bespoke, complex ‘Metals recycling’ solution was selected in 2020 in the form of Makor ERP Solutions. The goal was modernisation and standardisation with retirement of multiple legacy platforms.

Challenge

Major challenges existed in this erp implementation, and the key ones are highlighted below:

Makor ERP itself: the core system required significant development to add the intelligence required to support the organisation’s processes – continuous issues with key elements of the system have caused further delivery delays. This coupled with significant vendor management challenges has been a constant.
This global business has three regional operations all delivering in different ways and with different levels of automation which brings inevitable challenges. Staff capacity and specific capability issues and in a rapidly growing business have made it very challenging to deploy an internal programme delivery capability effectively. There was also a lack of real experience of delivering IT and Transformational initiatives on the scale of Makor.

The option to do nothing meant continuing to further stretch an already stretched operation on multiple legacy ERP systems with all the associated inefficiencies and costs as the business grows. The business was at a point of inflection whereby it must use a new ERP platform to enable transformation of its business and remain abreast with competitors in the industry, both from a processing and cost base standpoint.

Approach

Recognising a lack of delivery and vendor management experience internally, our customer asked Project One to help by bringing our experience in the programme delivery space. Makor ERP platform was selected as being most fit for the business and a platform for future growth. Project One also supported by managing the relationship with Makor and full vendor management including contract negotiations.

One of the key challenges was working with a capacity constrained vendor in an Agile delivery environment and where requirements were not properly understood and agreed with the vendor at the outset of the project. Couple this with working with an internal delivery team who had little experience of what ‘good’ delivery looks like.

This provided us an opportunity to demonstrate rigour both in vendor management and programme delivery (for example the introduction of Jira for defect and Change Request management). We applied an appropriate level of governance to demonstrate control across the patch. We also worked with the internal delivery team to both upskill and empower them.

Outcome

Project One played a key part in helping the organisation land a new industry leading edge ERP platform, which will form the basis of their technology consolidation and standardisation agenda.

Now live on their new ERP platform with a small number of clients on all three global regions on the system, they still need to undertake further work to migrate all customers, but they now have a live largely stabilised system.

Providing clarity, predictability, control, governance and assurance throughout this erp implementation, we are proud of how we worked shoulder-to-shoulder with our customers acting as an integral part of their team, providing coaching and sharing expertise, perhaps a differentiator from a traditional Systems Integrator.

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