Aptean > Case Studies > Hammond Group: Reducing IT Costs And Increasing Productivity

Hammond Group: Reducing IT Costs And Increasing Productivity

Company Size

1,000+

Region

America

Country

United States

Product

Aptean Ross ERP
Pivotal CRM

Tech Stack

ERP Systems
CRM Systems

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Cost Savings
Customer Satisfaction
Productivity Improvements

Technology Category

Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)

Applicable Industries

Chemicals

Applicable Functions

Business Operation
Discrete Manufacturing
Sales & Marketing

Use Cases

Regulatory Compliance Monitoring
Supply Chain Visibility

Services

Software Design & Engineering Services
System Integration

About The Customer

Hammond Group, Inc. is a global specialty chemical company that serves the world’s battery industry and enables lead-acid chemistry for advanced energy storage. The company has over 88 years of experience and caters to automotive, industrial, and renewable energy storage battery manufacturers. Hammond Group is committed to delivering value to its customers through technology innovation, continuous improvement driven by quality systems, and responsive technical support. Their clientele includes Fortune 500 companies and many recognizable US brands. The company operates globally with plants in the US and abroad.

The Challenge

Hammond Group, a global specialty chemical company, was facing challenges with its existing ERP and CRM systems. The company was dealing with lengthy implementation times, growing overhead costs, and continuous battles with vendors. The company had initially turned to tier one suppliers of Ross ERP to handle their financial operations and a large CRM vendor to handle customer care. However, the long implementation time, growing overhead costs, and continuous battles with vendors led them to look for alternatives. They had two unsuccessful CRM system migrations and even had to sue for damages in one case.

The Solution

Hammond Group decided to replace their current suppliers with Aptean, a company that focuses on mid-sized process manufacturing companies with a global reach. They implemented Aptean’s Ross ERP and Pivotal CRM systems. Both solutions have portals that allow customers to manage some elements of their own accounts, including pulling certificates of analysis, something extremely important to its many customers in the chemical industry. The company has made many additional process improvements that make the 39% savings even more valuable. These include improvements in customer service, global management, product costing, product development, quality, regulatory compliance, sample requests, technical service, and tracking and tracing.

Operational Impact

The implementation of Ross ERP and Pivotal CRM has brought the company closer to the customers. The company can provide customers with extensive data on the products that they buy and keep track of their technical requests.
The company now has the capability of looking into who they buy materials from. They can guarantee landed costs, compare prices and transfer costs savings to their customers.
The company can now provide customers with paperwork and reports that customers ask for. Customers can pull their own certificates of analysis from the customer portal if that’s how they want to do business.
The company now has the ability to operate globally from Indiana, giving management a handle on what is happening worldwide.

Quantitative Benefit

ERP-related IT costs decreased by 39% in the first year of operation.
The implementation of the ERP System was completed in three months, two months ahead of the planned five months, and was under budget.
The Pivotal CRM solution was also installed in less time than was allotted and met budget.