Complex can be easy: NORMA Group manages international supply chains with Dynamics 365

The challenge: Costly maintenance and disparate ERP systems made collaboration difficult

Every industry makes different demands of NORMA Group and the automotive industry, an area in which NORMA dominates, has a particularly complex set of supply chain requirements. For example, sealing clamps for original equipment manufacturers (OEM) have to be individually packaged, palletized, labeled, and delivered at specific times, depending on the segment, region, and the customer’s production processes. NORMA Group must adhere to these strict requirements to fulfill customer requirements – and to avoid costly delays.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management drive the international collaboration NORMA Group relies on by automating customized shipment requirements for every product, customer, industry, and region; an impossible task in a fragmented ERP landscape. “We’ve managed to secure steady growth over a long period by entering new regional markets and acquiring other companies,” explains Thomas Reitz, Executive Vice President of ICT & BPM/Group CIO at NORMA Group, “but we’ve ended up with an array of ERP solutions. First, we used AX 2009, then AX 2012. And then there are the various legacy ERP systems at the companies we’ve acquired.” These systems had merit: they were adapted to the respective markets and reflected customers’ specific requirements. But from a corporate perspective, this specialization resulted in a landscape of disconnected systems and differing levels of digital transformation at the various sites. It also made maintenance particularly complex. Each system had to be maintained individually, which created a lot of work for the sites themselves as well as for NORMA Group’s headquarters. In the case of older systems, it was clear that their providers would be withdrawing support—and in the long term, even higher maintenance costs and a review of security standards were on the horizon. Calls for more uniformity, to raise maintenance, updates, delivery security, and cyber resilience to the same international standard, grew louder. This required a solution capable of mapping the complexity of the market, different industries, and regions with just a few adjustments. Maik Schulz, Director of Application Management ICT was confident that the move to the cloud with Dynamics 365 was the answer to these calls. “There are very few vendors who can bring all of that together and have a compelling vision for the future. For us, Microsoft was the best fit." 

The solution: Dynamics 365 as a unified solution for coordinated, global processes

NORMA Group is committed to a high level of standardization, so it developed a standard template for the rollout of the Dynamics 365 solution. Within this template, all the specific requirements of the different industries and regions are mapped and, if necessary, adapted. Including, some specialized functions were added for the automotive sector.

But there’s more to a global transition. To put the design of the new processes and the necessary change management in one set of hands, the Business Process Management (BPM) team was created. “These are often Purchasing or Supply Chain experts who are in close communication with key users,” Schulz says. “They make sure employees are aware of the new processes, understand Dynamics 365, and that way implement the change.” If questions arise during the rollout, the Microsoft Customer Success Team is also there to lend a hand—for example by providing rapid technical guidance and identifying untapped value potential in Dynamics 365. After each rollout sprint, insights are gathered to apply to the next sprint, continually increasing efficiency. “This continuous review process is a huge help for us as we quickly connect sites to the solution and learn from mistakes,” Schulz says.

CIO Reitz sees the close collaboration with Microsoft, the support from FastTrack, and the BPM team as decisive success factors. “Thanks to them, we now have a solution that optimally maps our international ERP system requirements.” And the benefits are manifold. NORMA Group now has a single ERP solution that is always up to speed thanks to regular updates. This drastically reduces the workload for the company’s own IT department. “Today, a worldwide update of the entire landscape is applied significantly faster than in the past,” Schulz says. In addition, system discontinuities between global locations and processes have been eliminated, and roles within the new system are standardized worldwide creating transparency. This transparency and uniformity significantly increase delivery reliability for NORMA Group’s customers. 

Reitz sees the standardization of data as a driver for further success. “The insights from Dynamics 365 can generate a basis for more informed, better management decisions on a site, region, and corporate level. The data can possibly also highlight areas for development, which we can respond to with, strategic interventions or specific further training."

Meanwhile, the Dynamics 365 solution’s uniformly high global security standards also make NORMA Group significantly more resilient to cyber-attacks through regular updates and centralized control. The Group has built itself a solid foundation that will be implemented at every single NORMA site—for additional optimized processes, future-proof supply chains, and further continuous growth, to ensure that the production lines in its customers’ plants never stand still.

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