Case Study
Angling for growth
SAP® S/4HANA helps Thai Union expand in North America and Europe with standardized business processes.
Challenge
In an increasingly dynamic consumer packaged goods (CPG) landscape, fast and agile operations are where the battle for growth will be lost or won. And for modern CPG companies, that requires fast and agile technology that fosters innovation and quick decision-making. Bangkok-headquartered Thai Union (TU), a global leader in seafood products, is collaborating with Accenture to become a connected enterprise with a modern IT platform.
Strategy and solution
The SAP S/4HANA enterprise cloud solution is helping TU dramatically improve the efficiency of critical enterprise functions, from logistics and customer service to marketing and finance. Accenture helped create common business processes and a simplified, standardized master data structure in a global template that takes into account regulations and statutory reporting across 13 countries. Accenture resources from the relevant markets were on hand to provide local market expertise. The template builds in enough flexibility that TU can continue to scale the business across Europe and North America.
The implementation standardizes and streamlines business processes in finance, sales, logistics, supply chain and procurement to give a consolidated view of business performance across all the markets TU serves.
2115
Users will have the solution rolled out to them in France, Ghana, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mauritius, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Seychelles, Thailand and the United Kingdom.
Transformation
TU is running the business in real time and has the ability to transact, analyze, and predict instantly and proactively in a constantly evolving world. Data-driven insights are at employees’ fingertips when they need them, helping them quickly assess information on the hoof. The new platform will also help TU:
- Gain quick insights on business performance at individual companies or at the corporate level.
- Drive responsive decision-making with fast access to real-time data.
- Improve warehouse operations with automated stock and inventory tracking, more accurate inventory levels, flexible warehouse process modeling, lower labor costs and better customer service.
- Reduce service and support costs with automated maintenance, repair, and service order handling between tenants, planners, and technicians.
- Create capacity for new acquisitions.
- Speed up post-merger integrations to more quickly realize the synergies that drove the rationale for the deals.
- Increase operational savings.
- Create a solid IT foundation to add mobile applications and more advanced analytics.
TU is operating even more efficiently as a truly global organization as it expands westward. With integrated processes and systems in place, TU can operate at scale as a modern, agile enterprise to increase channels, customer reach and speed to market.
"The M&A programs have strengthened Thai Union’s position in the global seafood businesses as we strive to create and provide world-class quality and innovative cuisine for our customers. As part of our global expansion, it is imperative that we build a truly integrated, digital platform to achieve business process efficiency, operational transparency and real-time insight. We chose Accenture to support us with this mission due to its global reach and its technology and industry expertise across the various regions in which we operate."
– JOERG AYRLE, Chief Financial Officer – Thai Union
Go west!
As part of its growth strategy, TU expanded business operations through merger and acquisition (M&A) programs in North America and Europe to grow new markets and product categories. The company focused on building supply chain capabilities and distribution networks for popular brands such as Chicken of the Sea, John West, King Oscar, Mareblu, Rügen Fisch and others. This growth presented a new set of priorities and complexities, and leaders wanted to quickly understand the overall business dynamic, new cost structures and operating models across the entire organization to maximize business performance.
However, the combined systems and processes gave very little visibility into activities across the business and could not keep up with the demands of a fast-growing company. TU teamed with Accenture to support its global expansion with a new cloud-based enterprise resource planning system based on SAP® S/4HANA.
Thai Union needed its operations to run swimmingly in order to achieve its ambition goals:
Grow revenues
Expand into innovative product categories and new markets
Integrate acquisition targets
View All
Subscription Center
Stay in the Know with Our Newsletter
Stay in the Know with Our Newsletter