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Enesis Group – SAP S/4HANA

Budiman Goh
COO Enesis Group

Enesis Group – SAP S/4HANA

Early Step Towards Intelligent Enterprise

The big data era requires the speed in obtaining and reading real-time data. For that reason, Enesis Group uses SAP S/4HANA as the company's operation core.

Indonesian government set 5.1 percent target growth for the country's Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) Industry in 2019. However, the industry growth had slowed down at the beginning of the year. One of the contributing factors was the general election, which caused the public to hold their spending.

Despite the slowdown of the industry in the first quarter of 2019, Enesis Group still managed to maintain growth momentum. Chief Operating Officer of Enesis Group Budiman Goh said that Enesis Group's notable brands always keep up with the country's FMCG industry.

"Enesis Group growth is still on the track. Of course, we aim for higher growth in the coming years," Budiman said.

One of the group's leading brand is Soffel, Indonesia's first mosquito repellant lotion product. Introduced in 1988, the brand is now the market leader in Asia and the Middle East. Enesis also expanded its business with its Adem Sari in 1996. The company's product diversification manages to make Enesis Group be the country's' leading FMCG player.

From a single product, Soffel, Enesis now manages 11 brands of non-food household and personal care brands like Kispray, Force Magic, and Plossa Press & Soothe Aromatics; and food supplement as well as ready to drink brands such as Adem Sari, Adem Sari Ching Ku, Vegeta, Proman, Coolant, Tesona, and Scrubber.

The products are manufactured in three factories with international standard of good manufacturing practice (GMP) at Pulo Gadung Industrial Park, Cikarang Industrial Park, and Ciawi. The GMP is strengthening with the implementation of ISO 9001:2008 on Quality Management System.

The manufactured product is not just for sale in the domestic market but also exported to international markets. Enesis Group products are currently exported to Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Myanmar, Malaysia, Brunei, the United States, India, and the Philippines.

Welcoming the Big Data Era

The export market is part of the company strategy for growth. While maintaining existing international markets, Enesis Group continuously looks for new countries to tap in, one of them is China. Expansion in global markets goes in line with the development of the domestic market.

"We are developing multichannel marketing, from traditional to new channels like pharma store, so that Adem Sari could be found in the drugstores," said Budiman.

The expansion from traditional to omnichannel brought complexity to the company's data management. The complexity affects the data integration process in the entire department in PT Herlina Indah, PT Sari Enesis Indah, and PT Marketama Indah, which are Enesis Group companies.

The complexity in the data integration process is not just affecting internally, but also to Enesis Group broader business from purchasing, production, to sales in online and offline retail, involving suppliers and distributors as well. The amount of data traffic from the company's partner brought its own complexity.

The problem did not stop at the external to internal data integration stage since data integration is not the end process to optimize the company's operation. The data's that has been integrated then has to be processed and presented to be used for decision-making tools.

In the current big data era, it is inevitable to use data to help top management make decisions. The era requires speed in reading real-time data, making system integration to be an essential aspect. The entire process will result in a reliable end-to-end system.

"The internal and external complexity requires us to have a reliable system. We decided to rely on SAP S/4HANA," Budiman explained.

Before the company start using Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) from German-based SAP AG, Enesis Group used an in-house built ERP. However, the complexity encountered when building its in-house SAP was a significant problem. Moreover, Enesis core business is FMCG and not software. The cost of building its own software could be higher than partnering with a software company.

Budiman admitted that it took a lot of consideration in choosing the right partner since the ERP will be the heart of the company's operation and making one wrong step will cost more extended implementation of the system. Due to the consideration, Enesis invited several world software houses to present their products.

The software advance feature was not the only consideration. Budiman said that the company looks at whether the software is easy to operate and how many companies in Indonesia already using it. These factors were the primary consideration since Enesis Group ERP will also be integrated with the system used by other companies.

"After doing some benchmarking and scanning with other FMCG companies, one of the most reliable names is SAP. In Indonesia, SAP fits most with the kind of business we are doing. That is why we switch from our old system to SAP S/4HANA," Budiman explained.

S/4HANA is the latest ERP system by SAP AG. The In-Memory Database feature in HANA makes it the fastest database system in the world since it could process the data without importing and exporting it. This System Analysis and Product in Data Processing has been implemented in more than 400 thousand companies around the globe.

Enesis Group partnered with Soltius Indonesia, a premium partner of SAP Indonesia, to implement the SAP S/4HANA. Soltius has more than 20 years of experience in consulting and helping ERP implementation in over 120 companies in Indonesia.

Soltius' vast experience in ERP implementation is a critical factor for Budiman. "We did a background check on Soltius. Due to its experience with FMCG, Soltius knows what modules fits most for the industry," said Budiman.

Efficiency as Final Result

Budiman added that the preparation for the implementation of SAP S/4HANA in Enesis Group took six months, which is quite fast. Many companies took more than six months to implement ERP, and some even failed to complete. Failure in ERP implementation is mostly caused by ego problem in each of the company's department.

Luckily, this did not occur in Enesis Group. The support and commitment from the top management created the same vision. Soltius also contributed the success. As a consultant, Soltius helped Enesis Group in using SAP and adapt with new ways.

Furthermore, Budiman explained that there was a minor fix made during the first month after the SAP S/4HANA was fully implemented with all the functions in the group. The internal ERP system implementation was finalized during the second month.

Although it was just implemented for a couple of months, SAP S/4HANA had brought so many benefits to Enesis Group business process. The benefit can be seen from how the operator shifted from manual to an automatic system. Automation that replaced the manual system made more efficient use of human resources.

"One function that used to be done by five people can now be completed by two to three people. The remaining human resources can be used by the company for expanding other business," Budiman said.

The efficiency in the Enesis Group is yet to touch external aspects. The main focus for the ERP implementation is the company's internal back end system. Enesis Group is now integrating external data's with the company's planning so that the data output could be more accurate. Since not all of the suppliers and distributors are using SAP, Enesis Group will use an interface to integrate with their data's.

Thorough efficiency, Budiman said, will be the end result of the ERP implementation. To make a more efficient purchase, efficient warehousing, and efficient sales will require another system that will be integrated with the SAP system. All of that is planned in Enesis Group roadmap.

Before getting to that final result, another important aspect of efficiency is data reliability. With 11 brands, three companies, three factories, and lots of distributors, the ability to obtain real-time data and process it to help with decision-making is a critical matter.                 

"That is far more important for me. If it doesn't exist, we are managing a company blindly," said Budiman.

For Budiman, the implementation of SAP S/4HANA in the company is like developing strong business tentacles. Now, the tentacles only deal with warehousing, purchasing, sales, and promotion. It will take at least another three years to make the tentacles stronger. After that, the entire ERP system will be fully implemented and made Enesis Group an Intelligence Enterprise.

"This is not the end, and this is just the beginning. This is a start of our long journey in using integrated system. We have the head of the octopus. To make SAP be an intelligent system, we need the tentacles to translate the experience to make us ahead of the competition."

“After doing some benchmarking and scanning with other FMCG companies, one of the most reliable names is SAP. In Indonesia, SAP fits most with the kind of business we are doing. That is why we switch from our old system to SAP S/4HANA.”

 

Problem:

  • Enesis Group vast business scope from purchasing, production, to sales.
  • The need to run omnichannel to serve omni-customer.
  • The need to obtain real-time data and process it to help with decision-making.
  • The previous ERP system no longer accommodate Enesis Group business growth.

Solution

Implementing SAP S/4HANA as an ERP system to support the intelligence enterprise.

Benefit:

  • Easily integrate data from the entire department in Enesis Group
  • More accurate external to internal data integration.
  • Human resources efficiency.
  • Easy to obtain real-time data and process it to support decision-making.