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In recent years, the mill product industries, including metals, paper, packaging and building materials have faced many obstacles posed by digital transformation. As they strive to modernize, these challenges encompass everything from incorporating automation to enhancing collaborative workflows. Alongside this ever-present push to keep up, there have been a slew of unexpected hurdles set off by the pandemic and an economic slowdown, including supply chain issues, labor shortages, and increasing pressures on margins.
According to the 2023 report by Aberdeen Strategy and Research on Optimizing Cloud Data for Accessibility, Cost Savings, and Efficient Manufacturing, for mid-market manufacturers, one of the biggest hurdles by and large has been integrating disparate technology systems (32%), a logistical issue impacting nearly a third of these types of businesses. However, the list of their top concerns is diverse, including competing priorities (31%), security concerns (31%), and changes to the customer experience (26%). Looking forward, manufacturers also see the value that they would gain from improving their analytical capabilities (24%) and streamlining communication between IT and the rest of the business (23%).
With so much focus on simply avoiding disruptions and reducing downtime, growth has often taken a backseat to more pressing concerns. Confronting issues from rising energy costs to shifting markets, many decision makers have been preoccupied with maintaining the bottom line. However, growth is essential to thrive, survive, and innovate. Whether it’s expanding facilities, launching new products, or modernizing operations, growth empowers success.
It’s no surprise that businesses who invest in the proper IT infrastructure see the returns. By enhancing visibility, control, and efficiency, they, in turn, discover opportunities for growth and innovation.
Implementing Public Cloud ERP Supports Sustained Growth
From high transportation costs to volatile markets, there has been much overshadowing the vision for growth that mid-market businesses have, but thankfully, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for achieving these goals.
For mid-market businesses, enterprise resource planning (ERP) is fundamental to anticipating and preventing disruptions, as well as navigating future expansion. By and large, mill products companies often face a greater risk of losing customers to competitors due to the very nature of dealing in commodities. To help reach their goals, many organizations are turning to cloud ERP solutions to drive best-in-class and efficient processes that are ready to go.
The types of businesses that make up the mill products sector are wide and varied, spanning from delicate glass perfume bottles to nearly indestructible concrete slabs, but they all share certain commonalities in their needs. For one, they largely deal in characteristic-based products across their end-to-end processes — whether it’s selecting a finish or a coating, or choosing a dimension or a weight, complex variant configurations are central to their operations. In selling and producing complex product variants, manufacturers need solutions that can capture and carry those details through every step of the way, from order-to-cash to plan-to-fulfill.
To handle the complexities of manufacturing, best-in-class companies that have integrated SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition, have seen positive outcomes. Year to year, they have cut costs while giving decision makers the power to scale and stay in control of spending. According to the 2023 Aberdeen Strategy and Research report, best-in-class businesses saw a 12.4% decrease in inventory obsolescence costs compared to only 6.9% for all others — nearly double the amount. Their cash-to-cash cycle also improved by 12.4% compared to just 8.5% for all others. Additional key improvements included 12% increase in capital and equipment utilization compared to 8.7% for all others and improvements in their gross margin by 11.3% compared to 9% for all others. Better data management, greater insights across the entire organization, and more visibility can help decision makers gain the confidence to move forward, whether it’s supporting a growing team or adding new facilities.
To help midmarket businesses implement Public Cloud ERP with speed, GROW with SAP is a full-service offering. It encompasses ready-to-run Public Cloud ERP solutions, adoption and acceleration services, and community and learning.
A Closer Look at Grow with SAP
Mid-size mill product businesses need tech solutions that are pre-configured to work and can scale to meet their complex requirements. To gain more control and visibility, GROW with SAP adds services to support midmarket businesses.
Here are ways businesses can take full advantage of Grow with SAP.
- Simplify With a Ready-to-Run Public Cloud ERP Solution: The SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition, allows businesses to easily integrate the latest industry best practices and continuous innovation. Midsize enterprises can build their own breakthroughs and grow without limits.
- Speed Up Deployment With Adoption and Acceleration Services: Midsize mill products businesses can expedite their Public Cloud ERP rollout with proven tools and methodologies. They can plan more efficiently with a predictable scope and timeframe, leaving less to chance.
- Engage With Community and Learning: Enterprises have access to a collaborative, open community of SAP experts, partners, and customers. It allows teams to build skills and improve adoption with flexible learning and training tailored to different goals.
Overcoming the Biggest Hurdles in Mill Products
Implementing Public Cloud ERP has helped real-life customers in the mill products industry improve their operations and outcomes by:
- Building a Resilient Supply Chain
With SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition, users have the option to do material requirement planning (MRP) manually or automatically. Predictive MRP detects issues directly and even offers solutions. This actionable intelligence saves time and fosters a stronger supply chain. - Streamlining Operations
Through increased automation and machine learning, businesses can optimize resources and increase quality. In one case study featured during SAP’s Expert Talk: SAP S/4HANA Cloud (2023), a faucets and valves materials company doubled their output with the same staff after implementing Public Cloud ERP. To improve efficiency, Public Cloud ERP comes equipped with out-of-the-box scenarios for make-to-stock, make-to-order, configure-to-order, and engineer-to-order processes. - Managing Costs to Protect Margins
Mill product businesses need to continually analyze which products are yielding the best profits. Public Cloud ERP increases operational and financial visibility in a number of ways, including embedded analytics dashboards. Businesses are able to see which variant configurations are the most profitable and leverage that data to optimize their product portfolio. - Delivering New Innovations
Public Cloud ERP can speed up the time to market and the launch of new products. SAP’s Expert Talk: SAP S/4HANA Cloud details how after implementing Public Cloud ERP, a midsize business producing polymer-based products was able to transform an entire day’s work into a two-minute automation. - Enabling Intelligent Decisions
Mining data for valuable operational and financial insights is key in today’s landscape. Businesses will have access to real-time analytics that offer granular reports distilled from vast volumes of data. For instance, one brass product manufacturer was able to harmonize their management reporting and reduce their inventory, as highlighted by SAP’s Expert Talk: SAP S/4HANA Cloud.
Takeaway
Roadblocks may have impeded growth over the past few years however, the opportunities to expand and innovate remain as the world depends on the mill products industry and the products and services created by this sector. For increased confidence, midsize businesses don’t have to embark on their cloud ERP journey alone; GROW with SAP is a complete offering that helps accelerate Public Cloud ERP adoption and enables future expansion. Now and down the line, GROW with SAP allows businesses to minimize downtime, boost productivity, and ultimately maximize profits.
Ready to grow your business with SAP? Visit GROW with SAP product page to learn more about how this complete offering of solutions enables companies to successfully adopt Public Cloud ERP.
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