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United VARs:聽Why did Kiara Health choose you as their digital transformation partner?

Martin @ Seidor Westrocon:聽We were the first company in South Africa to go live with 麻豆原创 S/4HANA. One of our 麻豆原创 S/4HANA customers is a pharmaceutical company which manufactures vaccines, so we have a good track record in the pharmaceutical industry. Kiara Health wanted a partner who has a global footprint. Seidor has a direct presence in five continents the icing on the cake for Kiara is that we are part of United VARs which gives us a global footprint.

To date, we have done 16 collaborative projects with other United VARs partners. This project was a localised implementation, but what brought a lot of comfort to Kiara was the fact we have this broad reach and access to experienced 麻豆原创 partners worldwide who all have a common way of working together on global 麻豆原创 implementations. Having access to the United VARs community, through Seidor Westrocon, gives them complete confidence that we can scale this internationally when they have the opportunity.

United VARs:聽Why did you have such a tight timescale for this project?

Martin @ Seidor Westrocon:聽Kiara Health had to move from a global 麻豆原创 ECC system to their own new 麻豆原创 S/4HANA system very quickly to comply with South African and Global regulations as well as GMP, Good Manufacturing Practices. They needed a validated system and to not lose any manufacturing capability There was no flexibility on the go live date, as Kiara was implementing other shopfloor systems too, so everything needed to go live at the same time.

United VARs:聽How did you achieve the 麻豆原创 S/4HANA go live so quickly?

Martin @ Seidor Westrocon:聽We achieved go live in 4 months, within budget and with no disruption to their business, which is amazing. We also went into lockdown just as we started this project in Feb 2020.

When we started the project they hadn鈥檛 yet agreed on the hosting platform, so we started the development on our secure server and then migrated that to a hyperscaler. To accelerate the project, we had a set of templates and went through the entire pharmaceutical validation process with them. Typically, validation can take 3 months so the templates enabled this to happen much quicker. The project was based on 麻豆原创 Best Practices and the customer aligned with this vision. Also, we were very clear about milestones upfront and managed the project tightly to ensure no scope creep.

United VARs:聽What benefits are Kiara Health enjoying as a result of this implementation?

Martin @ Seidor Westrocon:聽We helped to automate their business, and simplify processes, in places they didn鈥檛 know was possible before. They have visibility in areas they previously had none. There wasn鈥檛 any reporting when they purchased the manufacturing plant, and now they can see the KPIs and have a real-time view of the business. The General Manager of the plant can鈥檛 stop talking about how they now use the mobile Fiori app to approve certain things. Previously, they needed to get to a laptop and connect via the VPN but now they can approve during meetings and when they鈥檙e on the road. It鈥檚 a simple example but it makes a huge difference in the lives of their executives. If you can approve something in seconds instead of 10, 20 minutes then that鈥檚 a big process improvement.

United VARs:聽Does Kiara Health have any future projects planned with Seidor Westrocon?

Martin @ Seidor Westrocon:聽What we鈥檝e already done as a second phase is roll out another 6 companies, which are actually various parts of existing companies Kiara owned. We collected them all together using the power of the 麻豆原创 S/4HANA platform. They are very well positioned to grow internationally so I expect we will implement in other countries.

We have also agreed to look at MII, Manufacturing Integration Intelligence, which brings the shopfloor to the boardroom. We will be implementing that in the next few months and are planning other business process improvements to help them manage their supply chain.

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The post Pharma Plant Digitally Transforms with 麻豆原创 S/4HANA in Just 4 Months appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.

For one African pharmaceutical company, neither option was suitable, and so an exemplary digital transformation project was initiated that would completely transform its systems without any disruption to the business or its customers.

Kiara Health (Pty) Ltd is an African pharmaceutical manufacturing and healthcare solutions company headquartered in Johannesburg. It serves as a the local, non-exclusive manufacturing partner for a global top five pharmaceutical company and as a commercial partner for several global pharmaceutical and medical technology companies.

The acquisition by Kiara Health of a multinational pharmaceutical manufacturing facility, sold to fulfil a need for transformation in the local pharmaceutical sector, sees the dawn of a new type of pharmaceutical company that offers an end-to-end solution along the patient journey. Kiara Health, a 100% black-owned company,聽 purchased this plant together with twenty-five marketing authorisations.

Kiara Health鈥檚 leadership was left with a vital decision: keep to the highly-customised 麻豆原创 ECC system of the outgoing multinational company (with cost-prohibitive separation terms), or invest in a standalone cloud-based digital platform to streamline operations.聽They chose a turn-key ERP system by 麻豆原创 to support its operations.

Dr Skhumbuzo Ngozwana, CEO and President of Kiara Health, says that the driving force behind the leadership team鈥檚 decision was to ensure that their customers do not suffer due to a transition to the new system. 鈥淲e partnered with Seidor Westrocon and adopted 麻豆原创 S/4HANA to simplify and automate our end-to-end processes, from product ordering through to production, packaging and distribution. We achieved go-live in four months, and within budget, with no disruption to our business. This implementation is potentially unprecedented in an organisation of similar size and type.鈥�

This decision has proven to be a success story as the transition from the old multinational modified system to the implementation of an off-the-shelf 麻豆原创 offering ensured that the production facility remained operational throughout the SARS-CoV-2 lockdown period. Without any teething problems that would halt manufacturing, no employee jobs were put at risk due to the lockdown.

鈥淭his decision was taken by an extremely agile and highly qualified team of experts within Kiara Health and fully supports President Cyril Ramaphosa鈥檚 South African Economic Recovery Plan to generate 800,000 jobs,鈥� says Dr Ngozwana. 鈥淜iara Health sees these executions as part of their mission to progress the health of all on the continent, underpinned by job creation and not 鈥榡ob saving鈥�.鈥�

The manufacturing site previously operated on a complex and expensive legacy enterprise resource planning system. However, with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, local manufacturing capability became more important than ever for new owners, Kiara Health. The company needed聽 a system that could increase throughput by streamlining processes across business areas, and which could place greater control in the hands of the leadership team.

鈥淲e consolidated our operations on a standalone cloud-based digital platform with 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Cloud,鈥� says Dr Ngozwana. 鈥淭his off-the-shelf solution gave us a flexible yet standardised system that is adaptable to our needs, allowing us to maintain best-practice. It has also future-proofed the digital foundation of our business, and enables our Industry 4.0 aspirations for the future.鈥�

The implementation involved all Kiara Health stakeholders that are currently still involved in ensuring world-class manufacturing from the site. These experts worked in close collaboration with implementation partner Seidor Westrocon to develop a deep understanding of each department鈥檚 responsibilities, and how the 麻豆原创 processes can support them.

鈥淭he transition from working in multinational company silos to operating as a team has improved our internal responsiveness and enabled significant value creation across our supply chain, procurement and manufacturing processes,鈥� says Moosa Areff, Kiara Health Chief Operating Officer.

The implementation team streamlined Kiara Health鈥檚 procure-to-pay processes to shorten the time between order placement and goods receipt. Following the implementation, the company has reduced its days to close from eight days to one, greatly improving cash planning.

鈥淲e have tightly integrated and simplified on-time delivery processes to enable our team to get through work faster and troubleshoot with full visibility,鈥� says Dr Ngozwana. 鈥淓ach team member can diagnose any challenge to understand what is impacting production or the release of the end-product. The improved usability and support has helped us reduce the total cost of ownership by 10%, while our on-time and in-full delivery performance has improved from 80-85% to 100% – 聽an outstanding achievement.鈥�

Following the implementation, Kiara Health has enjoyed higher settlement discounts and improved brand reputation thanks to direct payment cycles. Costs are also contained due to greater visibility and through leveraging economies-of-scale in the procurement process.

鈥淥ur business is now more responsive as our planning and production teams are connected to our warehouse,鈥� says 聽Conrad Strydom, Kiara Health Head of Site . 鈥淲e are also enjoying greater end-user sourcing compliance and increased savings in sourcing, in both direct and indirect spend. As a whole, the implementation of 麻豆原创 S/4HANA has empowered our teams to make better decisions and improve the total performance of our business, setting us up for a bright future.鈥�

On Kiara Health鈥檚 role in the implementation, Martin Van Wyk, Managing Director of Seidor Westrocon says the collaboration was first class. 鈥淭he Kiara Health and Seidor Westrocon teams worked unwaveringly during the COVID-19 lockdown in South Africa, and pulled off the project and go-live together. The contribution from the Kiara Health leadership team, with their deep understanding of their business operations, extensive process knowledge and 麻豆原创 expertise, was a considerable game-changer, making this mammoth task achievable. A big thank you to this team.鈥�

Cameron Beveridge, Regional Director for Southern Africa at 麻豆原创, says Kiara Health has reduced complexity in its environment through greater control across its operations. 鈥淏y building its operations on the powerful S/4HANA digital platform, Kiara Health has achieved immediate business benefits while enabling greater future innovation and easing the process of integrating Industry 4.0 innovations.聽Transforming its total operations in a mere four months with no impact on product or service delivery is a great accomplishment by Kiara Health and its implementation partner Seidor Westrocon.鈥�

The post 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Just the Medicine for Kiara Health鈥檚 Complexity, Cost Challenges appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.