GrainCorp Haul-IT solution | SAP & Microsoft .NET

Date: 2 Jun 2008
Location:

AG Haul (now Transport) division of GrainCorp required the transformation of a complex industry-specific manual process to be automated.

Quick Facts

Name: AG Haul, business unit of GrainCorp
Location: Sydney, New South Wales
Industry: Agribusiness, Supply Chain Logistics
Transport: Network of 2,000+ trucks 
Solution: SAP & Microsoft .NET 
Project length: 4 months
Web site: www.graincorp.com.au
Implementation Partner: Extend Technologies

What is AG Haul?

GrainCorp AG Haul's road business is responsible for moving grain for a wide range of domestic consumer customers including millers, maltsters, feed lots and grain traders through their network of 2,000 trucks.

The combination of AG Haul with other Business Units puts GrainCorp in a unique position to provide total supply chain solutions to its customers. The large pool of work means ‘one way running' is kept to a minimum and AG Haul is able to pass on cost savings to customers through competitive pricing.

Project Overview

AG Haul (now Transport) division of GrainCorp required the transformation of a complex industry-specific manual process to be automated.

Movement request were being manager manually through the use of diaries and logs, and only captured into SAP at the end of the period. Carrier and route knowledge was dependent on the experience of the individual Transport Coordinators. This method was identified as being time consuming, prone to error and not user friendly.

The objective of this project was to automate the process using an effective combination of Microsoft .NET and SAP NetWeaver technologies.

Result

Transport coordinators now have the ability to access real-time information from SAP in relation to carriers, routes, sites and customer histories, from a single screen that mashes up data from multiple sources within SAP. Multiple SAP transaction steps have been reduced to a single click, providing enhanced customer service, process efficiency and improved decision making ability.

Through the use of integrated messaging capabilities, Transport Coordinators are able to communicate directly with carriers and customers via email, fax, and SMS communications. By enhancing the quality of information exchanged, the optimal carrier can be selected for a job, maximising transport efficiency.

The Haul IT system was GrainCorp's first hybrid SAP and Microsoft .NET solution and combines an easy user interface with robust data management capabilities.

The users loved the solution so much because they were involved in the Interface Design - in fact they couldn't believe it was still SAP at the back-end.

Client Benefits

This project resulted in the following benefits:

• Increased processing productivity and accuracy
• Improved margins due to accessibility of pricing history information
• Reduced reliance on experienced resources due to the accessibility of carrier and route information
• High User acceptance and low on-going training costs
• A model for the future of software delivery