SAP S/4 HANA ERP platform can launch construction and engineering companies leap ahead of the competition through next-generation business practices. Here’s how:
Make the connected construction site a reality
Vital information is often lost as today’s construction projects move between key phases. Handover processes are inefficient. Plans aren’t shared consistently and project visibility is limited. The result? Poor collaboration, inevitable delays, wasted time and money, and a high risk of error.
Using S/4 HANA, companies can put themselves at the centre of a digitally connected network of stakeholders, facilitating effective collaboration that leverages consistent, accurate, up-to-date information as projects move from inception to completion. Sharing one plan with all key partners and stakeholders improves visibility, agility, and responsiveness, and provides better insights into future demand, procurement, and inventory. Digital connection helps companies align sales and project execution and deliver a superior customer experience that improves customer satisfaction overall.
Improve operational transparency in project execution
Today, construction companies and their suppliers and subcontractors work often have little to no real-time visibility into each other’s work. This, coupled with poor communication during project execution, leads to mistakes, rework, delays, and extra costs.
S/4 HANA’s cloud-based platform enables all project stakeholders—owners, contractors, subcontractors, engineers, architects, facility managers, and regulatory authorities—to collaborate effectively. Digital collaboration brings all required disciplines into a single open building information modelling approach: structure, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, engineering, logistics, project control, and more. Projects are run more efficiently with more transparency into the entire process.
Simplifying handover and commission processes
Several stakeholders are often involved in manage a structure’s design, execution, and operation—and each of them typically maintains their own drawings and data. This makes it difficult to align content and leads to data inconsistency. Tackling these misalignments and inconsistencies is complex and time-consuming, and often leaves some matters unresolved.
With S/4 HANA and its cloud-based platform of applications, construction companies can instead deploy a digital twin that ensures all parties have real-time access to consistent data about the building under construction. This enables companies to manage multiple trades much more effectively and bring new participants up to date quickly. And digitization makes project handovers a swift, seamless, and straightforward data exchange.
Create an on-time supply chain
Manual processes can reduce the timeliness of today’s supply chains. Delivery delays and quality issues can make it hard for construction companies to meet deadlines, and can lead to dissatisfied customers, contract penalties, and higher overall project costs. And with little visibility into materials’ production status and estimated delivery, construction managers can’t do anything about it.
Using the S/4 HANA platform to digitize the supply chain and transform it into a supply network can facilitate automated, real-time expediting processes, provide high visibility into delivery risks, and enable better control of material quality and delivery timelines.
Read Illumiti’s new white paper, Reach new heights with S/4 HANA, to learn more about how Illumiti and SAP can help your construction or engineering company become more innovative, responsive, agile, and successful. Questions? Contact us today.
