Royal IHC increases flexibility, transparency and uniformity within the organization with ‘one IHC’, the worldwide roll-out of IFS applications™

When IHC Merwede was awarded the honorary title ‘Royal’ by King Willem-Alexander in June 2014, and changed its name to Royal IHC, it was the crowning achievement for the company that  has been in operation since the seventeenth century. Until four years ago, Royal IHC worked with 17 different ERP systems for its various operational business units. The disadvantage of this  was that all these systems made cooperation and integration within the business units more difficult. In addition, the 17 systems required a lot of maintenance time and costs. In 2013, the company decided to consolidate its international processes using IFS Applications as an umbrella ERP system that would replace the large number of separate IT systems.

The plans were put into operation in 2013 with the first roll-out phase of IFS Applications. Two and a half years later IFS Applications contributes to integrated cooperation at international level and  the solution has already produced a significant reduction in IT costs.

One IHC: one platform for all departments

From the very beginning, Dave Vander Heyde, CEO of Royal IHC, knew what the IFS Applications implementation project, called ‘One IHC’ within Royal IHC, had to achieve. “The main reason  for the implementation of the company-wide One IHC program was to realize a cost reduction by bringing our 17 separate ERP-level departments under one roof,” he says. Phase one of the  project consisted of building the platform and testing it at one location. This phase was finalized at the end of 2014, followed by the roll-out and further expansion of the solution for all Royal IHC business units. The introduction of the One IHC program with IFS Applications would eliminate the various ERP platforms and increase the flexibility, transparency and clarity of information within Royal IHC.  The harmonization of processes within Royal IHC has already led to less IT maintenance and lower cost as only one platform needs to be maintained and there are fewer failure costs.

Selecting IFS

“The flexibility that IFS has shown with regard to the entire process reassured and satisfied us,” says Vander Heyde. Vander Heyde saw this flexibility not only in the ERP system, but also in the  services provided by IFS itself. Feedback from IHC employees confirmed it was quite apparent that, among the suppliers Royal IHC had considered, IFS had the best knowledge of the maritime  sector in general, and of engineered-to-order companies like Royal IHC in particular. “IFS had a very good grasp of the integration with the different qualities and core functions of our  organization very well,” says Vander Heyde. This is how IFS clearly understood that integration of CAD (computer-aided design) and PDM (product data management) was necessary to let the  ERP software do what it was supposed to do and that it is a very important part of the entire system. In addition, IFS operates worldwide, just like Royal IHC, and is therefore able to support Royal IHC anytime,  anywhere. This gave Royal IHC the confidence to make the transition to a single ERP system without any doubts.

Benefits

• One reliable ERP backbone that supports the most important business processes within Royal IHC
• Modular software solutions that help Royal IHC worldwide manage the entire lifecycles of contracts, projects, assets and services
• The flexibility to adapt to different business models 
• Business-critical solutions for managing projects and cost 
• Cost reduction in IT