Huhtamaki

Mr. Udit Pahwa, Head of Information Technology for Huhtamaki India, explained, “We had a mission of moving to a single ERP by 2020. However, the pandemic played spoilsport, so we had to extend our plans by one year. But, by mid-2020, we decided that it was time to take the next step of digitization.” He continued, “From 16 different setups of finance and accounts processes across our manufacturing plants, we decided to centralize everything and set up a shared services center for those processes starting off with India as a first country of roll out, with the capability that this may be later expanded to many other regions across globe.”

Powering intelligent automation with OpenText

The team at Huhtamaki needed a solution to help standardize and digitize these business processes and eliminate manual and inefficient tasks. OpenText was a last-minute addition to the list of candidates, with several solutions already short-listed. Mr. Pahwa described the features that led to the final decision to go with OpenText: “The first thing that impressed me with the OpenText AppWorks platform was the ability for a user to easily create their own processes and orchestrate the functions that they want.” He added, “The biggest advantage was also that we saw a live demo of the integration between the ERP that we use and the OpenText platform. That was one of the key factors that gave OpenText an edge over the competition.”

OpenText AppWorks is a low-code development platform for building easy-to-deploy process automation and dynamic case management applications. With less IT involvement required, AppWorks automates business processes, enables better decisionmaking, and delivers seamless digital experiences, while improving operational efficiency. As part of its digital initiatives, Huhtamaki also chose the OpenText™ Content Server solution for enterprise content management capabilities and OpenText Capture Center’s document and character recognition capabilities to turn documents into machine-readable information.

To build and deploy the solution, Huhtamaki leveraged the expertise of trusted OpenText partner Muraai Information Technologies. A global technology partner, Muraai specializes in OpenText solutions including AppWorks and Content Server. However, deploying the solution proved more challenging than usual as the entire project was conceived and executed during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Adapting quickly to the challenge, the teams at Huhtamaki and Muraai successfully performed a fully remote deployment.

With the solution now launched, the company already has 90 employees using the OpenText AppWorks solution, primarily from its finance and accounting groups, but also the purchasing department. “We are primarily looking at all the finance and accounting processes right now—the payable and receivable functions, asset accounting, general ledger accounting, tax, and compliance. Currently, we have selected 18 distinct process workflows from the finance and accounts domain for digitization using OpenText AppWorks. It’s still early days for us, but exciting times are ahead,” said Mr. Pahwa.

Newfound efficiency with paperless processes and transaction visibility

Huhtamaki has eliminated the manual, email, and paper-based processes that were being done outside the ERPs, as OpenText AppWorks allowed the company to define, optimize, and automate repeatable business processes, and incorporate rules within processes to standardize operational decisions and ensure consistent execution. Mr. Pahwa noted, “The design of our processes had been done with the objective of reducing manual effort. The 18 workflows that we identified for digitization will yield us the benefit of that reduced effort.”

The platform also gives users operational status information and business insights for digital business automation. Reports, dashboards, and data exploration capabilities have enabled smarter automation and faster decision-making. “The entire finance and accounts team is excited to have the OpenText AppWorks solution. The immediate advantage is that we are getting complete insight into the transactions being handled by these teams. In the dashboard, I can see all the transactions in the queue, how many are processed, how many are pending approval, how many are unprocessed, and which team is processing how many transactions,” explained Mr. Pahwa.

Increased flexibility for remote working

As working remotely has been necessary during the pandemic, Huhtamaki has benefitted from the flexibility of the OpenText AppWorks platform, which offers a system that allows both business and IT to make changes quickly in response to a dynamic environment. “With the need for remote work, OpenText AppWorks has added to our flexibility because we now have a platform that will enable us to seamlessly orchestrate our business processes and meet the changing demands from business. It allows us to keep modifying with ease and keep adapting to business needs,” noted Mr. Pahwa.

Looking ahead to the future, Huhtamaki sees OpenText AppWorks as a critical tool for additional application development in other functions including the Research & Development and Innovation groups. The low-code platform enables users to quickly design, build, manage and deploy applications to support the company’s digital transformation. “The design of our processes had been done with the objective of reducing manual effort. The 18 workflows that we identified for digitization will yield us the benefit of that reduced effort.”

Mr. Pahwa observed, “We were looking for a platform that would help us build applications, business processes, and domain-specific requirements with ease, and deploy them more quickly than traditional development. OpenText AppWorks may be the go-to platform for any kind of development required to support business processes. The long-term vision is to use the platform to touch nearly every function in the organization.” He added, “It’s been an exciting journey, and the more we get to know OpenText, the more excited we are.”

“Huhtamaki’s digitalization initiative of a Shared Services Center to centralize, automate, and streamline the finance and accounts process across their different manufacturing plants provided us the opportunity to showcase our solution capabilities built on the leading OpenText AppWorks platform, which grew into this partnership,” said Mr. Manish Dangwal., Country Manager - India Sales at OpenText. “It was exciting to witness the close collaboration between our teams during challenging pandemic restrictions to ensure smooth deployment in a remote way.

We are proud to be a part of Huhtamaki’s digitalization journey and look forward to the increased adoption of our platform for building applications and automating business processes across other functions in the company,” concluded Mr. Manish Dangwal.

About Muraai Information Technologies

Muraai is an Opentext SolEx partner for Supplier Invoice Management System (SIMS). Headquartered in Bangalore, India, Muraai was founded to simplify processes in a complex business environment. Muraai believes that true innovation enables enterprises to become more productive, efficient, and profitable growth.

Muraai provides total solutions across various industry segments specializing in manufacturing, retail, FMCG, BFSI, etc. In addition, it focuses on delivering enterprise-wide solutions, specialized in Supply Chain and Demand Chain management. Muraai is helping customers to build reliable Supply Chain Networks in the world.