Slovarm is the first company in Slovakia to implement the SAP ERPS/4 Hana cloud solution. On this occasion, Slovarm's project management took part in the SAP Manufacturing Day discussion, where questions regarding the implementation of the internal management system were answered by Ing. Martin Stöhr, Member of the EG Board, Milan Krcho, MBA and Ing. Viera Janigová-Čuvalová. 

The decision to implement the new internal management system was justified at the discussion by Ing. Martin Stöhr as a necessary investment in the company, in which approximately 220 people are currently interconnected with the need to fully communicate with each other. He also said that the transition to the new system is the logical conclusion of Slovarm's transformation process into a modern and progressive company.

People as a fundamental asset
The first major challenge identified by Slovarm's project management was to create a team of capable people from within the company's own ranks. People capable of accepting and then actively promoting change. Slovarm had the same requirements for the future ERP system: they expected the new system to be able to grow with the business and respond to current requirements. After defining these parameters and consulting with the implementation company Deloitte, Deloitte and Slovarm jointly came to the conclusion that the cloud would be the most suitable solution for Slovarm. 

SAP S/4 Hana
The final decision fell on the SAP S/4 Hana Essential Cloud solution. Slovarm thus found itself in the role of a pioneer, as it became the first Slovak company that decided to implement "Hana". This led to a number of other challenges, as there was no one to ask about "best practices" in the region. However, the system itself gradually became convincing with its ability to evolve agilely, to change its capabilities, to react flexibly to the demanding details of engineering production and the art of self-improvement.

The entire implementation project was divided into six main phases. In terms of verification, the fourth phase – "Realize" – is considered important, in which future key users (in this case, Slovarm employees) perform detailed tests of the system setup, testing it in their area and across all Slovarm segments.

Implementation in practice
Once the implementation is complete, "Hana" at Slovarm will manage the areas of finance, sales, purchasing, production, maintenance, logistics and R&D. For each area, an experienced manager is present in the implementation team to work with the key users in their area. In total, about 20 people are working on the implementation project at Slovarm with a huge commitment and will soon reach the Go Live phase, after which the project management expects a successful launch and smooth operation of the cloud. "However, the launch of the system itself is only the beginning," pointed out Slovarm's Sales Director – Ing. Viera Janigová-Čuvalová in the discussion, "as we have already mentioned, it is connected with other projects, such as automation."

Great expectations
After the launch of the new SAP S/4 Hana cloud solution at Slovarm, other engineering companies in the Energy Group – HKS Forge and Prematlak – are also waiting for its implementation in 2022.