SAP steers Wilmar Zimbabwe digital transformation journey

from SAVIOUS KWINIKA in Johannesburg, South Africa
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – SURFACE Wilmar is on course to realise its targets to triple production, resume exports and produce raw materials in Zimbabwe by 2020 thanks to the adoption of modern technology.

Systems Applications Products (SAP), the multinational software corporation, has laid a solid foundation for the company’s digital transformation journey.

Wilmar, which is the largest manufacturer of soap, edible fats, ketchup,
margarine and baked beans among others, has transformed its business
operations by introducing new automated processes and a state of the art manufacturing plant.

The aim is to make products locally, including products that have a
near-80 percent market share in the country.

The second manufacturing plant is in progress and has been designed to
leverage Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure and be able to collect
and exchange data that can predict and prevent any manufacturing disasters before they occur.

Mohan Dass Sivanason, Regional Manager for Transformation at Wilmar Africa Operations, says commissioning of on-premise server hardware and application software takes longer and is more expensive.

“By leveraging SAP’s cloud infrastructure, we are able to get up-and-running quickly and expand when we need to,” says Sivanason.

He explains why they selected SAP in its digital transformation journey.

“We chose SAP S/4 HANA Private Cloud because we wanted a robust technology platform that embraces change and help standardise all business processes across our various manufacturing plants in Africa,” Sivanason adds.

The executive says the company needed an agile technology platform that will help it grow, remain relevant in the fast-paced environment and give them a quick on investment.

The SAP S/4 HANA Private Cloud is lauded for having powerful analytics and in-memory big data capabilities to help companies accelerate operations, remove the burden of managing multiple siloed data sets and give them the ability to consolidate information across countries and companies from a central location with an end-to-end view of all processes and distributions.

Tracy Bolton, Director of General Business at SAP Africa, says Wilmar’s
digital transformation journey presents further opportunities to establish
a centre of excellence to develop and grow a talent pipeline in line with
its growth vision to serve the entire operation across Africa.

“With the SAP Cloud offering already designed for such growth initiatives, Wilmar has the opportunity to create a manufacturing sector blueprint and make a positive contribution to digital skills development in Zimbabwe and the greater Africa region,” Bolton says.

Wilmar Zimbabwe is a joint venture between Wilmar International and the
Government of Zimbabwe through the Industrial Development Corporation.

– CAJ News