ERP integration helps Finlands leading concrete products producer to stay ahead

By implementing the ERP system Erpbos, Rudus Oy was able to replace several legacy systems with this single front-end system, especially developed to cover all business processes specific to the precast industry. Rudus Oy, a CRH company, is  one of Finland’s leading producers of concrete products and rock-based building materials. In 2020 they chose Progress Software Development GmbH, a company of the Progress Group, as their digitalization partner. The complete process chain from sales to planning, production, logistics and procurement up to invoicing is now perfectly integrated and centrally managed. The successful implementation marked the beginning of a long-term cooperation that continues to this day.

The core business of Rudus is concrete: concrete products, various aggregates, and recycling. The company is involved wherever durable buildings and structures are erected. Rudus’ products are used in homes, industrial buildings and infrastructure. The company has two legal entities, 17 plants and approximately 200 end-users that now all use the new ERP system.

With Erpbos as central, digital platform, the smooth vertical integration of all the business and production processes of Rudus across the different plants is guaranteed.

Rudus has six product groups, all with different business processes: facades, staircases, ELPO (HVAC) elements, infra products, pipes & manholes and landscape products. Thanks to highly specialized sales configurators, all six product groups are now used within Erpbos. For this reason, tens of different special features had to be taken into consideration.

As Erpbos has an open, customizable structure, it can be easily integrated with other systems. In Rudus’ case, the solution is interfaced to their transport supplier, reporting tools, web-shop, wholesale customers and back-office ERP. Rudus also works with the mobile application, allowing the users to communicate with Erpbos wherever and whenever they require.

“Thanks to Erpbos, we have been able to develop more transparent and aligned business processes inside the company and our plants have now integrated ways of working,” emphasises Product Group Director Antti Sirén.

Challenges during the software project

When implementing an ERP system, a lot of aspects must be taken into account and Rudus can relate to that. A well-defined project plan has to be followed. Business requirements and processes need to be clear to all parties involved, which is why a design phase must be carried out properly. Master data management can take a lot of time as the amount of data increases.

The biggest challenge however is to gather the right resources and form an efficient team. At its peak there were approximately 90 persons involved in the project, including Rudus` IT department, full-time project manager, business & support functions representatives and the team from Progress Software Development. The project was run almost completely in remote-mode due to the pandemic – highlighting the importance of proper communication.

“Of course, working in a large project team almost only through remote working tools is not always easy. However, the cooperation between Rudus and Progress was flexible. All project parties learned a lot during the project. Through good communication we tried to operate always as a team,” says Antti Sirén. He adds: “At the end of the day, it all comes down to organizational change management; if the end-users don’t use the system the way it has been designed for, you cannot succeed. You must have all the pieces of the puzzle in the right places.”

Cooperation is key

Rudus is committed to addressing the challenges of climate change, safeguarding biodiversity, and promoting the circular economy in a targeted and sustainable way. This aligns perfectly with the mission of Progress Group, which is “to create sustainably better living conditions for people”. Caring about the same values helps both industry partners to stay true to their missions and goals.

During the first year after the Go-Live, several small changes and fine tunings have been made. Support before, during and after the project has continued according to plan and Rudus is looking forward to continuing further system development together with Progress Software Development Erpbos is a constantly evolving software product and Rudus can build a digitalization roadmap on top of that. Rudus chose Progress Software Development as its digitalization partner because of its longstanding expertise in the precast business and for its specialized insight in the digitalization needs for the future.

The company looks back on the project with satisfaction and looks ahead to further cooperation with Progress to unleash the full power of the system.

“Progress has shown to be an open and flexible partner, which is the rock-solid foundation for the productive cooperation. We are very pleased with Progress and their Erpbos solution,” says Antti Sirén.