When it comes to the extraction and processing of sand and aggregates, it’s hard to find a bigger player than the Leonhart Group. Established in the industry for over a century, the Leonhart Group had enjoyed decades of rapid growth but quickly hit the inevitable roadblock of outdated information systems – more specifically, old software tools that make consolidating data more complex than it needs to be.
Enter Nagarro and their deft use of the public edition of SAP S/4HANA Cloud. In an attempt to modernize its processes and systems, the Leonhart Group selected Nagarro to implement an ERP solution, with a goal to benefit from business intelligence and new technologies.
With the Leonhart Group covering the entire value chain, starting from extraction and ending with delivery, whatever system introduced would have to handle a plethora of different data variables without bogging users down with overly complex systems.
Go forth and standardize
As the Leonhart Group underwent exponential growth over recent decades in part due to external growth operations, it became clear that a homogenous information system was necessary. The rapid growth across several external sources meant their legacy information system could coexist, but not connect across the company. The end goal was to have all processes relying on a single business platform.
Forcing old legacy systems to upgrade into a singular platform resulted in improved data quality and rapid access to said data, along with an increased level of security. The Leonhart Group identified specifications of its goals and quickly realized the extent of their needs. Cloud computing and SaaS would be essential for costs, rapid ROI and ease of guaranteeing the sustainability of the software solution.
Nagarro was identified as the partner of choice, having a record of consultant expertise, good financial health and adaptable global solution generation with custom development. The project then kicked off in February 2021.
Three’s the magic number
Taking into account the Leonhart Group’s dominance over the sand and aggregate extraction process, Nagarro concluded a unique platform was needed, built on three complementary elements.
Using the SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition platform, Nagarro created a module that had a far-flung functional scope, with abilities in extraction, trading, finance, management control, production, logistics and customer relations. All these aspects would be integrated into one system, making it easier to tap into business intelligence insight.
The next module was the Fit-to-Standard analysis, a set of workshops that validate SAP-defined solutions and best practices, and identifies any missing requirements. This particular platform consolidated a host of different aspects: data and analytics, artificial intelligence, application development and automation.
The final module was a unique creation based on SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) and covered a very specific need: the weight of trucks before and after they departed sand pits. Nagarro relied on harnessing IoT devices, visual recognition technology and their own innovations in automating weigh bridge data and connect it to SAP solutions.
A step into the future
After the success of Nagarro’s implementation of SAP S/4HANA Cloud public edition solutions into its systems, the Leonhart Group is ready to dive headfirst into Industry 4.0. On the ERP system implementation, Nicolas Battesti, CFO of Leonhart Group, said: “The weighing of vehicles, delivery note generation and invoicing processes are now fully automated. We now have a standardized, reliable and scalable ERP that aligns with our strategy to take the Leonhart Group into the era of Industry 4.0.”
Speaking on what future projects the Leonhart Group is looking forward to working towards, Battesti concluded: “With our ERP as the robust base for innovation, we have a new project with SAP and Nagarro: the development of a connected gravel pit. This is one of the next challenges that we are going to take up.”
