Company Profile
CF Industries is the second largest nitrogen producer in the world, and a global leader in fertilizer manufacturing and distribution. Founded 68 years ago, the company went public in 2005 and acquired Terra Industries Inc. in 2010 to expand their manufacturing capabilities. In 2012 CF Industries was listed as the top fortune 500 company according to the annual Barron’s 500: Top Corporate Performers Survey.
Summary
Following a successful first project of working with Globonix to implement SAP, Globonix continues to provide CF Industries (CF) with Data Integration, Business Intelligence, and Logistics solutions as they move toward upgrading their logistics and supply chain software.
Customer Need
CF Industries needed deep expertise with logistics and supply chain to support their current legacy system while their entire system of ledgers, receivables and more were migrated over to SAP. They needed to overhaul their logistics and supply chain systems (Bourque) to the latest version along with implementing new modules to make it integrate with SAP. The project included a legacy system update for the trucking portion of their shipping processes, custom code written to make the legacy system integrate with SAP, and consistency verification of systems and functionality across both CF Industries as well as Terra Industries, Inc., CF’s recent acquisition. All the work undertaken was all to be achieved under immense time constraint to coincide with the impending SAP ‘big bang’ go-live time line for both firms. Previously, the customer struggled to find the talent that not only had the data integration experience required but also had the needed familiarity with the supply chain technology, significant time had been invested to find the right people with the right skills.
Solution
Globonix provided CF with the solution to execute on these multiple concurrent system integration requiredments by delivering trustworthy experts with depth in supply chain and logistics experience. Globonix brought in its talent to lead the technical team to create interfaces to specialized supply chain systems. Globonix also provided the architecture and technical leadership for the legacy system’s subsequent retirement. This speaks volumes of Globonix’s ability to deliver people who are seasoned and experienced with strong communication skills solve customer problems and work with varied business groups. The Globonix team leaders brought experience specifically in logistics, shipping and rail systems, and supply chain planning software, which proved critical in successfully completing CF’s upgrades, integrations, and custom code creation requirement.
Results!
CF Industries saved millions of dollars by having an effective working system in place on time when they needed it, furthermore by using a firm that focused its expertise on this type of technology, CF was able to leverage emerging best practices to efficiently use software to cut waste. This direct collaboration enabled design and development enhancements to be tested and implemented quickly with high quality. Positive feedback ensured systems worked how they were supposed to and data populated correctly from legacy to target repositories much sooner than expected. Since an individual Globonix consultant’s domain of expertise included technical and functional scope, end users experienced the immediate solutions Globonix provided often through direct collaboration without the middle layers of a business or functional analyst. Customers experienced these improvements by gaining better visibility into reports of histories of customer order forms and shipping documentation.. Globonix continues to work with CF Industries on their various initiatives including the automation of even more manual business processes into an integrated logistics ecosystem for greater efficiency and cost savings.