Hungrana, a major corn processing company in Europe, was recently presented with a Digital Pioneer distinction at the SAP Quality Awards for its successful SAP implementations.
In addition to being a “house event” for the German enterprise software giant, the SAP Quality Awards for the countries across Central and Eastern Europe serve as a standard for clients utilizing SAP systems to make informed decisions about their future developments. Since 2005, SAP celebrates customers across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa who have implemented their SAP software and solutions with particular excellence in compliance with the company’s 10 quality principles.
SAP implementations at Hungrana Ltd. — a significant contributor to the Hungarian food sector as one the largest corn processing enterprises in Europe — have been honored in the Digital Pioneer category of the prestigious awards ceremony. The award highlights numerous digitalization business development projects from across 16 countries and recognizes the Hungrana team’s achievements in helping their customers to realize the benefits of digital transformation.
Using a wide variety of cutting-edge technology and renewable energies, the Szabadegyháza-headquartered company intends to produce all of its products without generating any waste. Hungrana’s primary objective is to maximize the satisfaction of its customers by meeting or exceeding their expectations in every way, while also responding to shifting market conditions and delivering excellent services.
The SAP core systems and customized modules have formed the backbone of the company’s operations for many years. The strategic agreement that was formed between Hungrana and SAP in 2021 as well as the launch of an SAP Lab at its headquarters, which is exclusively dedicated to development workshops, are both examples of the strong relationship that exists between the two companies.
Detailing more about the SAP transformation project, Hungrana Managing Director Tamás J. Farkas explained:
“While we have little control over the cost of raw materials and the energy and manpower required to process them, we can make significant savings by rationalizing the expenditure required to maintain the technical standard of our asset base.”
Farkas went on to say that the business intends to make annual savings of at least EUR 300,000 to 400,000 as a result of the improvements and that this will be accomplished not only by more accurately managing stocks of components and materials but also by organizing the work schedules of the employees of its suppliers. The upkeep of the plant’s various components is routinely attended to by close to 300 people, including staff from within the facility and outside suppliers.
Enabling Digitization with Successful SAP Implementations
Hungrana’s management made the decision to upgrade the SAP Plant Maintenance module and install the relevant SAP Service and Asset Manager solution within the scope of its strategic agreement with the German tech giant. According to the company, the maintenance procedures were going to be brought up to date and digitalized with the end goal of achieving considerable cost savings.
Sharing his thoughts about Hungrana’s receipt of an SAP Quality Award for its successful SAP implementations, SAP Hungary Managing Director Szabolcs Pintér said:
“Hungrana was the first company in the region to introduce SAP Service and Asset Manager with such a high level of integration, and rightly deserved the recognition of the jury of our international competition for the most complex business transformation projects.”
Moreover, Hungrana has also updated the entirety of its digital inventory, redefined the parameters of its master data, and eliminated paper-based records and worksheets in order to make it possible to digitize and optimize processes and to ensure that workers in the 21st century have access to tools that can assist them. S&T Consulting Hungary Kft. was the partner that was responsible for the implementation of the SAP solutions.
Leveraging SAP Environment, Health, and Safety Management (SAP EHS)
As an organization that places a premium on worker and environmental safety, Farkas said that Hungrana can attest to the growing importance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG)reporting in the areas of sustainability, human resources, workplace safety, and health, and corporate governance. An ISG Provider Lens SAP Ecosystem report released this year revealed that the expansion of IoT to support ESG objectives is perceived to be the next big innovation that would increase demand for SAP solutions.
Hungrana’s Health, Safety, and Environment Ask Force were able to persuade the company’s management to implement further modules based on the SAP foundations by citing the partial outcomes that were achieved after 800 days of the project. With the SAP EHS Incident Management module, near-accidents, process mishaps, and employee injuries may all be reported, investigated, and recorded digitally.
Finally, the Emissions Management and Regulatory and Permit Compliance sub-modules of the specialized SAP EHS Management solution also create environmental reports, sustainability reports, and compliance certifications, all of which are crucial to EHS.
“For us, it is our explicit goal that our SAP-based EHS management and reporting systems should serve as a guideline and an example of alignment at industry level,” Farkas concluded.
