Data-driven ERP enables customer-focused business

Hamburg Süd implemented a new shipping ERP, enabling standardization of its offerings, consolidation of their processes and scaling with the market. As the key partner, Lufthansa Industry Solutions accompanied them throughout the whole life cycle of this business-critical application. 

The customer 

Hamburg Süd A/S & Co. KG, widely known as Hamburg Süd, is a tradition-rich container shipping company founded in 1871 in Hamburg. Today Hamburg Süd is a global container carrier and logistics provider and since 2017 is part of the Maersk group. 

Business challenges 

The maritime transport business is undergoing a massive upheaval: the days when a liner operator exclusively transported its own containers on its own ships are a thing of the past. In order to balance out fluctuating capacities and requests, mergers and partnerships increasingly supplement routes offered and additional transshipment options continuously expand the liner networks. 
Today, an operator has to be flexible and quick in offering customers products tailored to their needs. This usually results in more complex business processes and a multitude of applications. Operational handling with automated and smart services for customers is becoming an increasing challenge. On top, digitalization is continuously disrupting business models of shipping companies. 

The solution 

Hamburg Süd launched an enterprise wide program called GLOBE to transform all its processes, IT landscape and organization to meet exactly those demands. GLOBE (Global Logistics Organization Business Environment) is a flexible and scalable carrier system that reflects the business strategy of Hamburg Süd and supports their customers’ journey end-to-end: 

• Centralized, integrated and component-based IT system 
• Strategic standardization of business and IT processes supporting all relevant business areas 
• Business and organizational change driven by IT 

Over 50 different applications were initially used by more than 6000 users in the individual regions, many having overlapping purposes and high maintenance. Hamburg Süd standardized the product range on a global scale and consolidated processes that had previously greatly varied from region to region.

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LHIND successfully supported in creating an IT system that enabled us to centrally provide and process our highly flexible product range.

Michael Henkel
Programm Manager IT at Hamburg Süd

Our involvement and approach 

Being a full-service provider, Lufthansa Industry Solutions (LHIND) supported Hamburg Süd in all aspects of the solution, on-site and near-shore. As the key partner for the GLOBE program, our customer entrusted us with 

• Overall planning and managing the most vital projects in the program,
• Architectural design, development and test,
• Worldwide rollout,
• Orchestrating the production support,
• Updating the technology (into the cloud) in the course of the program life cycle.

We seamlessly integrated business processes: from the preparation of offers, to contract management and order handling, into a globally deployed system with central data storage.
Initially, Hamburg Süd’s prevalent development approach was that of “specify and build”. Our contribution: assisting in gradually maturing the attitude towards “inspect and adapt”, with iteratively deployable products, dedicated product groups and agile full stack teams supporting the complete life cycle services. Over the years, employees of Lufthansa Industry Solutions supported Hamburg Süd in this major project with architects, project managers, team leaders, scrum masters, requirement engineers, business analysts and agile development teams, as well as service teams, application managers and experts in the operational organization including 24/7 services. 

Customer benefit 

Together with the customer, we created a powerful ERP system that we refined and matured over time, constantly managing the balancing act between standardizing and customizing in context of digitalization. 
The continual introduction of the new IT system allowed for an early, operationally usable result for the first regions, successively followed by further regions.
In order to make the gradual changeover from decentralized to centralized IT as seamless as possible, a dedicated rollout team was established with region-specific support and temporary hypercare processes. This organizational setup enabled quick and efficient identification and resolution of critical issues as well as continuous adjustments and further developments in the ongoing introduction and rollout of the systems. In addition, state-of-the art technical quality assurance measures and automations (e. g. connection establishment, testing and monitoring) supported these rollouts. LHIND has significantly contributed to the overall success of GLOBE with

• Deep-dive shipping and technology experts
• Professional project management combined with pragmatic methodology implementation
• Being a reliable and sustainably professional long-term partner. 

Like any complex project it’s about the people and we are so lucky to have had a team of hard-working, dedicated and passionate people.

Tracey Rank
Program Manager Business at Hamburg Süd