In December 2016, global business and SAP consulting expert Westernacher & Partner Consulting Inc. successfully implemented SAP Transportation and Event Management at United Sugars Corporation. Among other things, this first project phase will help the Minnesota based industrial sugar marketer streamline and automate their entire Rail transportation.
“This is again another smooth SAP TM implementation for us,” said Ram Vaidyanathan, Westernacher’s Senior Director of Supply Chain Execution in the Americas. “The entire go live activities were well thought and executed in the right sequence and at the right time.”
Using cutting edge SAP TM and EM software Westernacher clients have come to trust, the implementation marks the first successful SAP TM on HANA for consumer products with end-to-end rail functionality for a US shipper. Highlights of Phase 1 include:
● Automatic routing and rating of rail freight orders
● “Rule 11” functionality thanks to executing and invoicing carriers per stage
● Empty rail car tracking via event messages
● Rail charge calculation and cost distribution at charge type level
● Freight Accruals posted in SAP ERP with PA details
● Invoice posting and verification of Rail & Truck carrier in TM
● SAP TM dispute management functionality
● Loading of historical orders, deliveries and loads
● Creation of freight settlement documents
● Automated marking of paid and matched invoices from last 12 months
Roger Perala, United Sugars’ Senior Director of Business Systems, called the Westernacher team a “big reason” for the smooth implementation. “Without their SAP TM expertise and development skills, we would not have succeeded with this project.”
Denise Eide, Business Systems Technology Manager at United Sugars, was equally pleased: “The Westernacher consultants were able to understand our business process requirements and offer solutions using the right combination of standard configuration and custom development.”
Westernacher’s Mr. Vaidyanathan is confident that Phase 2 of the implementation - managing United Sugars’ entire truck transportation late second quarter of 2017 - will be a similar success story. “We sincerely thank our customer United Sugars for continuously pushing Westernacher to get the desirable solution automation without compromising on the quality and being part of this implementation every step of the way.”
About United Sugars
United Sugars Corporation (USC) is a US marketing cooperative owned by three sugar producers. With total sales of about 55 million hundredweight per year (about $1.5 billion dollars), USC currently has a market share of 15% of total consumer sugar and 31% of total industrial sugar within the US. The company, which ships mostly via Rail & Truck, has an annual freight spend of $300 million. At any point in time, USC tracks close to 4,000 rail cars, with loaded rail cars worth about $75 million of in-transit inventory.
“This is again another smooth SAP TM implementation for us,” said Ram Vaidyanathan, Westernacher’s Senior Director of Supply Chain Execution in the Americas. “The entire go live activities were well thought and executed in the right sequence and at the right time.”
Using cutting edge SAP TM and EM software Westernacher clients have come to trust, the implementation marks the first successful SAP TM on HANA for consumer products with end-to-end rail functionality for a US shipper. Highlights of Phase 1 include:
● Automatic routing and rating of rail freight orders
● “Rule 11” functionality thanks to executing and invoicing carriers per stage
● Empty rail car tracking via event messages
● Rail charge calculation and cost distribution at charge type level
● Freight Accruals posted in SAP ERP with PA details
● Invoice posting and verification of Rail & Truck carrier in TM
● SAP TM dispute management functionality
● Loading of historical orders, deliveries and loads
● Creation of freight settlement documents
● Automated marking of paid and matched invoices from last 12 months
Roger Perala, United Sugars’ Senior Director of Business Systems, called the Westernacher team a “big reason” for the smooth implementation. “Without their SAP TM expertise and development skills, we would not have succeeded with this project.”
Denise Eide, Business Systems Technology Manager at United Sugars, was equally pleased: “The Westernacher consultants were able to understand our business process requirements and offer solutions using the right combination of standard configuration and custom development.”
Westernacher’s Mr. Vaidyanathan is confident that Phase 2 of the implementation - managing United Sugars’ entire truck transportation late second quarter of 2017 - will be a similar success story. “We sincerely thank our customer United Sugars for continuously pushing Westernacher to get the desirable solution automation without compromising on the quality and being part of this implementation every step of the way.”
About United Sugars
United Sugars Corporation (USC) is a US marketing cooperative owned by three sugar producers. With total sales of about 55 million hundredweight per year (about $1.5 billion dollars), USC currently has a market share of 15% of total consumer sugar and 31% of total industrial sugar within the US. The company, which ships mostly via Rail & Truck, has an annual freight spend of $300 million. At any point in time, USC tracks close to 4,000 rail cars, with loaded rail cars worth about $75 million of in-transit inventory.
