Putting the spotlight on cloud-based ERP for connecting global processes
Customer
Delta LightLocation
Wevelgem, BelgiumIndustry
RetailTechnology used
SAP Business Technology PlatformAbout our client
Founded in 1989, Delta Light N.V. is a family-owned and -operated business specializing in cutting-edge tools and excellent customer service for architectural lighting projects. The Belgian company is renowned for ambitious lighting solutions, in-house designs, and guest-designer collaborations that explore the limits of design, performance, architecture, and technology. As a growing multinational company selling in more than 120 countries across North and South America, the Middle East, Asia, and elsewhere, Delta Light offers its products through more than 25 sites, some with a physical presence and others using a partner.
A beacon of light for process standardization
Delta Light used an IT environment in its headquarters that differed from the individual country sites. However, the system couldn’t handle the complexity of Delta Light’s supply chain, products, and interactions. There was also a need to better outline procedures and rules so that all the sites and offices could operate in harmony. Plus, as a project business, planning is extremely complicated since it’s difficult to predict demand from one day to the next. Delta Light sought a solution that would connect its centralized and local processes and streamline operations within a challenging environment to improve its business, management, and strategy.
Our origin as a family company means we strive to be as close to our customers as if they’re family members. We wanted to get a better hold on our business to see what’s going on so we could proactively make decisions to better serve our customers. And we needed to integrate all our external operations with our central processes.
Upgrading the ERP system to digital heights
Delta Light implemented a new ERP system, starting with SAP S/4HANA hosted on Microsoft Azure, before converting to the private edition of SAP S/4HANA Cloud, using the RISE with SAP solution. It deployed the solution across several lines of business, including finance, sales, marketing, and sourcing and procurement. To manage production planning, warehousing, and transportation, it also engaged the add-on for embedded production planning and detailed scheduling (PP/DS) for the SAP ERP application as well as the SAP Transportation Management and SAP Extended Warehouse Management applications.
Another must for the business was the ease of integration of multisites, localizations, and intercompany setups – everything needed to have visibility of the supply chain across all sites in a single tenant. Delta Light is counting on the SAP Fiori design system, part of SAP Business Technology Platform, for a consistent user experience across devices. And it’s running its first robotization implementation in the warehouse, using the SAP Build Process Automation solution to enable the outbound flow to customers.
Delaware Consulting provided guidance around the cloud-based ERP implementation, with ongoing functional support, while Amista partnered on the business process automation deployment.
reduction in TCO anticipated over five years.
data accuracy.
Improving process efficiency while reducing costs and errors
With SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, Delta Light can track, control, and steer its business better because of improved visibility with a single solution. The company can trace costing to the smallest unit to see where things may be going wrong, and then proactively fix the problems. It’s a huge benefit to be able to identify company-wide issues, especially those that are bigger than anticipated. Everyone working in the head office and globally can now work in the same way, as they’re all using a set of standard, clear procedures. That said, this different way of working requires more data and input, so change management was a crucial part of the two-year project.
One of the main aims of the implementation of RISE with SAP was to decrease costs, and the business is lowering its total cost of ownership (TCO) by one-fifth over a five-year period. It’s also keeping IT spending under control by having clear consumption metrics and proactive monitoring. Delta Light also wanted a more reliable infrastructure, and overall, there’s now less downtime since the system is more stable and proactive, recovering faster if something goes wrong.
In terms of process improvements, intercompany flows and consolidation, previously done with Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, are now part of the integrated core. And monthly closing is done in SAP S/4HANA Cloud safe in the knowledge that the data is correct. The use of SAP Build Process Automation has resulted in actual time savings for workers on the factory floor, who can now focus on other tasks.
Switching on other cloud-based solutions
Delta Light is planning on further implementing RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition for its remaining sites, a mix of Delta Light and other brands, as well as improving the solution through change requests. The company hopes to further use SAP Build Process Automation by, for example, automating eight or more administrative processes that it identified and analyzed, where robotic time and cost were less than human time savings over a three-to-six-month period. The next step is to build a robot that receives e-mails from departments, looks at the header containing the material code, for example, and runs planning for that product. It then sends feedback to the person who requested it through e-mail, effectively replacing a part of a full-time equivalent.
The business intends to explore SAP Ariba solutions as a common platform to communicate with supply chain forwarding agents, such as DHL and TNT. With multiple logistics partners, using logistical integration features would allow the company to be more flexible and save costs in development and maintenance. It’s also considering the merits of SAP Signavio solutions for use in business process analysis and is trialing the SAP Signavio Process Insights solutio
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