Double delivery capacities through automated processes

Handling twice as many deliveries with the same team – that was the challenge facing HELM’s U.S. subsidiary in 2019 after acquiring another company. The goal: manage the additional order volume with the existing staff. Was it possible?

HELM AG, headquartered in Hamburg, has been family-owned for more than 120 years and proudly maintains its traditions. As a multifunctional distribution organization in chemicals (feedstocks and derivatives), crop protection, pharmaceuticals, and fertilizers, HELM is firmly established in the global market.

With operations in more than 30 countries, HELM is one of the largest international marketing companies in the chemical sector. Subsidiaries expand its scope – including one in the United States specializing in fertilizer trading and blending. With multiple branches across the U.S., it serves a broad customer base and leverages a global network, while also expanding its product line with specialty fertilizers.

The partnership between HELM and Yaveon goes back many years. What makes the collaboration so successful?

“The decision for Yaveon at the beginning of our partnership was based on the industry solution. Yaveon offered the batch management we needed. Over the years, we’ve implemented many custom developments with Yaveon. That creates a certain dependency, of course – but that’s not why we’ve worked so long and so well together,” explain Gerry Wallner, Head of IT Business Applications, and Andreas Lübbe, IT Business Applications at HELM.

“What really matters is the consulting: the Yaveon team knows HELM inside out – that’s incredibly valuable. And we appreciate their honest advice. Instead of blindly following instructions, they’ll tell us if they see a better way to reach the goal. That’s forward-thinking consulting. Yaveon thinks along with us and really wants to understand our requirements.”

When HELM acquired the fertilizer division of another company, the task was to handle around 60,000 deliveries per year – manually, this was not possible. HELM manages its supply chain with the ERP system Microsoft Dynamics NAV, without using direct warehouse management – only purchase and sales processes are in use. However, as the acquired company had already implemented a scale integration, it was only logical to implement the same for HELM’s own ERP system. The idea was to connect the scale and the ERP system via an interface. “It was important to us to be able to manage the order volume with the existing team. To achieve this, we needed a way to connect our NAV to the scale,” recalls Mr. Wallner.

The first project step was to integrate the new company into the system, giving users access to all the functions they needed. This was implemented easily by combining the existing functionalities from Yaveon software and HELM’s in-house developments. The weighing scale integration itself was then realized using a Yaveon app.

• Fully integrated into Microsoft NAV or Dynamics 365 Business Central
• Extends the ERP system with industry-relevant functions, such as batch management
• Can be assembled from different apps according to individual requirements
• Intuitive to use thanks to the familiar Microsoft design

• Fully integrated into Microsoft Dynamics NAV or 365 Business Central
• Automates cross-system data exchange
• Connects suppliers, partners, and customers
• Connects a scale directly to the ERP system

In practice, it works as follows: Although all users work in one system, not every terminal communicates with a scale, which makes it necessary to distinguish between them. Depending on the terminal from which goods are shipped – in other words, the warehouse location in NAV – the system checks whether communication with a scale is required. If so, the necessary information together with a so-called release number is sent to the scale and the corresponding terminal, where it is made available for pickup. When a truck arrives, the driver logs in at the terminal with the release numbers and thereby receives authorization to pick up the goods. Once the driver has loaded the goods, the truck is weighed to determine the delivery quantity. The weight of the loaded goods is then transmitted directly back to the ERP system along with the associated release number. NAV uses this information to post the corresponding delivery accurately, automatically, and immediately.

Another feature, known as “Automatic Blending,” enables the precise mixing of fertilizers directly on site. Once the blend has been prepared, it can be loaded directly onto the truck. The report detailing which quantities of which products were used is automatically posted in the ERP system – essentially creating a form of automated production.

Would it really work to connect the terminals – especially the external ones? From the very first moment, it was clear that this was not a standard project. “Building an interface is always more complicated than it seems at first. There are quirks in other systems that you simply can’t anticipate. Only experience shows what needs to be adapted,” explains Andreas Lübbe.

On top of that came a special constellation of four companies involved: Yaveon, the US-based HELM subsidiary, HELM AG, and the acquired company. Coordinating four parties across different time zones and with different mindsets was a challenge in itself. With targeted planning and careful organization, however, what began as a task became a joint project. “From the very first moment, everyone gave their all to get the system ready on time. Despite different time zones, cultures, and companies – we stuck exactly to plan,” says Andreas Lübbe.

After on-site meetings at the company headquarters in the US, the go-live was carried out completely online – and successfully.

Thanks to the interface between the scale and the ERP system, HELM’s US subsidiary experiences significant time savings, as results are fed back in real time. Day-to-day operations have also become easier: automated production postings eliminate the need to create and post production orders manually. Recipes are stored directly in the system, and consumption is posted based on these recipes.

Handling nearly twice as many orders as before with the same team sounds like a daunting task. “At first there were some doubts – the challenge was no small one. That made us all the happier when everything worked out. With Yaveon, we made it happen,” summarizes Gerry Wallner.