Milking Success: SAP S/4HANA transforms our customer’s New Zealand dairy operations

IN A NUTSELL

Our customer, a global leader who offers naturally good food and beverage ingredients and solutions, has enjoyed a long and successful history in New Zealand. There is strong and growing demand from their global customers for high-quality, New Zealand-made dairy products.

Catering to meet this dairy demand, our customer embarked on a greenfield project to establish a state-of-the-art dairy processing facility in New Zealand. As one of the world’s top suppliers of dairy ingredients, this plant is a key enabler for their business and forms part of a global network that spans 20 major milk consumption markets, such as South-East Asia, China, the Middle East, and Africa.

The greenfield project aimed to leverage SAP S/4 HANA as the ERP solution from day one of plant operations. Key operational departments, including Finance, Logistics, Quality, and Procurement, were integrated into the SAP system.

The impact

14 hours per month: Milk Solid Application

120 hours per month: Automated Goods Receipt

420 hours per month: LIMS-SAP Interface

150 hours per month: Vendor Label Barcode App

8 hours per day: Fiori Warehouse Apps

4 days per year: HU Inventory App

Getting into the details

About the customer:

Our customer is a global leader who offers naturally good food and beverage ingredients and solutions. With their long and successful history in New Zealand, and due to the growing demands for high-quality New Zealand-made dairy products, our customer decided to invest in their dairy processing facility – a significant step in achieving their goals. With operations in 48 countries, our customer has a vast network that connects farm producers to over 8,000 customers worldwide. We are excited to be a part of their mission and look forward to enabling them with the right technology in their journey towards a better food industry.

Overcoming Challenges:

Transforming Dairy Operations: Success with SAP S/4HANA for New Zealand Dairy Procurement and Third-Party Integrations

New Zealand's dairy industry thrives on its peak season, a demanding period fueled by global demand for high-value products. But traditional siloed systems struggle to keep pace with the surge in processing, inventory management, and logistics.

Milk Solid Application: This custom interface app streamlined the conversion of raw milk into fat and protein, collapsing a 5-step process into one. This improved traceability and saved 14 hours per month.

Automated Goods Receipt: Fiori apps seamlessly integrated SAP with the GEA server, automating goods receipt and backflush against process orders. This eliminated manual entries, saving 120 hours per month.

LIMS-SAP Interface: An interface facilitated automatic posting of results from the LIMS system to SAP, eliminating manual data entry and saving 420 hours per month.

Vendor Label Barcode App: This Fiori app captured vendor barcode details for purchase orders, streamlining goods receipt and saving 150 hours per month.

Fiori Warehouse Apps: Scanning functionality was enabled for various warehouse and production processes, including stock movement, handling unit management, and outbound picking. This saved approximately 8 hours per day.

HU Inventory App: A custom Fiori app simplified physical inventory counting by allowing for handling unit-wise posting with SAP and vendor HU numbers. This reduced annual inventory time by 4 days.

Results

01 Increased Efficiency

Streamlined processes reduced manual efforts and transaction times, improving overall operational efficiency.

02 Enhanced Traceability

Automated data capture and integration ensured accurate and transparent tracking of raw materials, production processes, and finished goods.

03 Reduced Costs

Time savings translated to cost savings through increased productivity and reduced labor hours.

04 Improved Decision-making

Real-time data availability facilitated informed decision-making and proactive issue identification.

The journey of our customer showcases the potential of technology in optimizing dairy operations. By embracing innovative solutions, significant efficiency gains were achieved, enhancing traceability while reducing costs. This has positioned them for continued success in the highly competitive dairy industry of New Zealand.