SAP ACE Awards is SAP India’s industry benchmark that recognizes and honors India’s best-run businesses that demonstrate notable business impact through technology-led innovation with SAP solutions.

This year is the 14th year of SAP ACE Awards, and with the COVID-19 pandemic still at large—like so many other events—the ceremony was held virtually for the very first time.

One of the big winners of SAP ACE Awards 2020 is Hindustan Zinc Limited. The Udaipur-based zinc and lead producer’s ‘Evolve Project’ and ‘Project Confluence’ acquired the following awards:

• Customer Excellence – Sales, Marketing & Service for ‘Evolve Project’
• Sourcing Excellence – Large Enterprise for ‘Project Confluence’

Hindustan Zinc Limited’s CEO, Arun Misra, expressed the company’s increased ambition to further cultivate technology-led innovation in the organization. He said:

“Our digital platforms, Evolve and Confluence are both trendsetting innovations by the young minds at Hindustan Zinc and have made ease of business a reality for our customers and vendors. It is a reflection of our belief that smart operations enabled by cutting-edge technology is [sic] the key to sustainable business. The recognitions by SAP Ace Awards motivate us to further drive a culture of digital transformation.” 

Hindustan Zinc Limited’s Evolve Platform

Evolve is Hindustan Zinc Limited’s online buying platform for non-ferrous metals; the platform is the first of its kind in India and is powered by SAP Commerce Cloud (Hybris) and SAP’s Business technology Platform. The digital network connects communities and buyers on single platform and offers a hassle-free experience with a “three-click buying option for zinc, lead, silver, and acid.”

During the launch of the project, Misra explained how the new online platform aims to revolutionize non-ferrous metal buying experience for customers:

“Evolve stands for our vision to offer to our customers—especially MSMEs—a hassle-free experience of buying our product online with the convenience of smaller [sic] size of buy and dynamic pricing. In the sphere of online shopping experience, Evolve will enable us to contribute immensely to the ecosystem of Aatmanirbhar Bharat.”

Project Confluence

Project Confluence is Hindustan Zinc Limited’s SAP Ariba implementation project that began in 2018. The project is one of the first such initiatives in India covering the entire process on the SAP Ariba platform. 

Project Confluence covered the implementation of the following SAP Ariba solutions:

• Commerce Automation
• Supply Chain Automation
• Auction Platform
• Catalogue Management
• Contracts Management
• Pre-Purchase Order and Post-Purchase Order Collaboration
• B2B Integration
• Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI)

Since going live with SAP Ariba solutions, Hindustan Zinc Limited has successfully digitalized the entire Procure-to-Pay process of the company.

About Hindustan Zinc Limited

Hindustan Zinc Limited is one of the world’s largest and India’s only integrated producer of zinc-lead and silver. The company has its headquarters at Udaipur in the State of Rajasthan where it has its zinc-Lead mines and smelting complexes.

Hindustan Zinc is self-sufficient in power with captive thermal power plants and also has ventured into green energy by setting up wind power plants. The company is ranked 1st in Asia-Pacific and globally 8th in Dow Jones Sustainability Index in 2020 amongst Mining & Metal companies. Hindustan Zinc is also a certified Water Positive Company.

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SCCC Head of Group Procurement Benjamin Goodwin comments:

“Our recent renewal of SAP Ariba solutions is a result of the successful partnership cultivated over the years, which set us up to achieve process efficiencies and cost savings from automation, standardization and improved collaboration with suppliers. We look forward to continuing our journey with SAP.”

As part of the renewal, SCCC plans to implement the SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing Suite and the SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance solutions. According to SAP, these solutions will enable the cement company to take advantage of the latest SAP innovations and further improve its procurement operations.

Digital Transformation Journey with SAP

As an innovative supplier of cement products, services, and solutions, SCCC has been supporting Thailand’s development for more than 50 years. The company produces 12 million tons of cement annually, according to its deputy CFO, Pawinee Ariyamongkolchai.

SCC is also currently in the process of expanding its regional network operations to Cambodia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka.

In order to facilitate this expansion, serve customers better, and deliver its promise of providing quality products and services, SCCC needs to be quick to adapt and respond to emerging market trends and challenges. For SCCC, this means building a reliable and scalable foundation for the future.

SCCC’s partnership with SAP began in 2016 when it selected SAP Ariba solutions to streamline the following business processes:

• sourcing
• contracts management
• catalogs management
• supplier information management
• supplier collaboration

According to SCCC, following the two-phase procurement digital transformation program with SAP Ariba solutions, within two years the company has had over 80{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of its transactions digitalized. With SAP Ariba Sourcing, SCCC gained better transparency. The SAP solution allowed the company to accelerate the automation of its sourcing and contract management processes.

Now, with the newest SAP Ariba updates that include language localization to support Thai language, communicating and transacting over SAP Ariba Network will be even easier for SCCC buyers and suppliers—helping drive adoption and increasing value to buyers and suppliers alike.

Gareth Bowen, SAP Ariba and SAP Fieldglass Southeast Asia regional vice president, said:

“As the first procurement transformation enabled by SAP Ariba solutions in Thailand, Siam City Cement Co. has set a new benchmark for the region. Centralizing and standardizing procurement in the cloud has already helped the company achieve efficiencies not possible without digitalization. SCCC’s renewed investment in SAP Ariba solutions will extend the benefits to its growing network of suppliers, especially those who were asking for a localized user experience.”

SCCC also plans to implement the following process enhancements with the upgraded SAP Ariba solutions:

• digitalize post–purchase order processes including invoice automation and remittance visibility
• further automate its end-to-end source-to-pay process on one cloud-based platform for efficiency gains and improved customer and employee experience

In addition to SAP Ariba solutions, SCCC also utilizes SAP S/4HANA for Finance to help it understand customer data better and be able to keep up with customer demand, as well as drive significant cost savings.

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Leading Indian pharmaceutical company Alkem Laboratories has taken the big step, as part of its growth strategy, to digitalise its procurement process as well as increase its efficiencies through SAP Ariba Solutions.

Chief Operating Officer of SAP Ariba Asia Pacific Japan, Ben Redwine, has expressed the value of digitalising procurement in not only transforming supply chains but in supporting growth strategies as well. He said:

“Alkem’s unwavering commitment is to make a difference to patients’ lives around the world – a commendable goal we hope to support by accelerating its adoption of Intelligent Spend Management. Our SAP Ariba solutions will help Alkem reduce costs, improve efficiency, increase transparency and encourage supplier collaboration while integrating with existing systems including SAP S/4HANA – which will help the business run better and, in turn, improve more people’s lives.”

 Alkem, operating for almost 5 decades in more than 50 markets around the world, aims to improve efficiency and optimise costs across all processes promising a huge competitive advantage in a cost-conscious market. As India’s generic and specialty pharmaceutical forerunner, Alkem foresees a better procure-to-pay process that transforms the buying experience with intelligent insights, better supplier collaboration, increase transparency and sustainability through the implementation of SAP Ariba Solutions.

Specifically, the SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing portfolio and the SAP Ariba Snap Program are the selected solutions by Alkem for the following benefits and features:

• Breadth: End-to-end source-to-settle platform with native integration with SAP S/4HANA
• Depth: Best-price discovery with sourcing strategies and competitive bidding
• Reach: Reduced crisis management through better supplier collaboration and order transparency

SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing

The SAP Ariba Strategic Sourcing portfolio promises to optimise cost, manage risk, and ensure excellent savings. The portfolio offers streamlined solutions in managing Alkem’s sourcing, contracting and spend analysis processes across direct and indirect materials and services. The portfolio includes:

• SAP Ariba Spend Analysis
• SAP Ariba Sourcing Solutions 
• SAP Ariba Contracts 
• SAP Ariba Discovery for buyers
• SAP Ariba Savings Pipeline and Tracking

SAP Ariba Snap Program

SAP Ariba Snap Program enables midsize companies to take control of spending and enforce compliance. Alkem will be able to increase its spending control by utilising the program’s preconfigured spend categories, embedded procurement policies, business rules, and approval workflows.  Fast-growing midsize companies benefit from SAP Ariba Snap Program’s enterprise-class procurement offerings helping them move quickly to the cloud. 

As the leader in spend management, SAP Ariba, along with the world’s largest business-to-business network, Ariba Network, is, indeed the strongest go-to partner for digital transformation.

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SAP Ariba Solutions, industry-leading procurement solutions, will be implemented by Konica Minolta, Inc. to increase the company’s efficiencies in the procurement of indirect materials.

Since 2016, Konica Minolta, a global technology company leading in various fields such as office services, professional printing, healthcare and industrial, has been working to achieve greater efficiencies in its procurement and purchasing functions for indirect materials to the extent of forming a dedicated indirect materials procurement unit. Now, aside from optimizing external purchasing costs, the company aims to improve compliance through greater transparency in its expenditure processes starting with more assessable goods.

SAP Ariba is anticipated to bring the company closer to its goal of attaining strategic and highly efficient procurement. Leveraging SAP Ariba solutions, as a cloud-based procurement solution that allows suppliers and buyers to connect on a single platform, Konica Minolta will be able to consolidate data across its global operating sites at maximum capacity. At a time when the company is rapidly transforming within its home country Japan and overseas, having SAP Ariba in its ecosystem is the next natural strategy to support its business’ continual growth.

In 2018, Konica Minolta kicked-off a cross-organization change management project. By mid-2019, the company started running the full suite of SAP Ariba solutions digitalizing an end-to-end procurement and purchasing operations. It includes sourcing functions as a procurement solution, billing and payment notification functions as a purchasing solution and Ariba Network for managing relationships with the suppliers. Ariba Network is a dynamic, digital marketplace operating in over 190 countries.

The company plans to deploy SAP Ariba solutions in its overseas operations after its implementation in Konica Minolta’s Japan.

True to its vision of being an innovative global company that is robust and constantly evolving while remaining vital to society, Konica Minolta aims to become a digital company with insight into implicit challenges faced by its customers all over the world. In doing so, the company will be able to resolve issues alongside its customers and society.

Konica Minolta Legacy

Since 1873, Konica Minolta has been an industry leader exemplifying its corporate philosophy of “The Creation of New Value” shared by over 40,000 members worldwide.  Having a brand proposition of “Giving Shape to Ideas”, the innovative company continues to expand its business by pairing cutting-edge digital technologies to its core technologies in materials, optics, nanofabrication, and imaging.

Konica Minolta continues to explore new business opportunities while simultaneously diversifying its business lines from office services to healthcare products and industrial materials and equipment. To date, the tech giant conducts sales and services in approximately 150 countries across the globe contributing to about 80{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the company’s revenue.

The company has a total net sales of 1059.1 billion JPY with contributions coming from Europe (30{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), US (28{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), China, Asia and other (24{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), and Japan (19{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}).

Konica Minolta Named Industry Leader on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, for Two Consecutive Years

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