Alexander is the responsible and leading IAS team member for the entire VAS® roll out project for the Heidelberg Sand and Gravel works in Germany.
Together with the senior HC staff member in charge, the entire roll out team put together a unique project.
Especially in times of COVID 19, such an important go live of such a powerful and centralized logistics solution meant a well thought out and planned execution of the project.
The initial logistics portal created specifically for HeidelbergCement AG went live back in 2015. The project team at that time had created an unprecedented online tool that revolutionized the entire ordering process in the bulk materials industry.
It was not only a relief for HC. It also offered several advantages for the customers.
With the further development of the portal and the new challenges the project team had to face in 2020, they outperformed their former performance many times over.
The team had to deal with three areas in particular:
- Optimization of automation processes especially for sand and gravel for shorter gate to gate times
- Development and implementation of a special "All IN ONE" mask for faster manual handling of trucks
- Development and implementation of a wheel loader application for the online and offline case.
One of the top priorities in that project was to integrate the three challenges mentioned above into the software solution in the best possible way. And above that the harmonious integration, successful synchronization and synergy utilization of the two divisions, cement and aggregates.
This was achieved by means of a VAS ® template.
Due to the highly restricted handling in 2020, the project team had to deal thoroughly with the following challenge:
How can we take all sand and gravel plants into operation without being on site but guaranting that everything runs well at the end?
As part of the further consistent digitization and optimization of HeidelbergCement AG, an integrated material flow management system will be introduced to achieve significant savings in logistics costs throughout the group. Based on this already existing development process, HeidebergCement AG was able to provide a very performant remote access, which enabled a smooth go live of all plants.
Various plants worldwide in the cement, aggregates (sand & gravel) and cement business areas are currently being equipped with the VAS® solution from Axians Industrial Applications & Services GmbH.
Axians IAS GmbH was selected by HeidlbergCement AG as a suitable partner and preferred supplier due to its international experience as a hardware-independent IT specialist in an industrial environment and its flexibility in connecting to SAP.
Today, HeidelbergCement AG not only offers its customers a portal to cover the cement processes. It also has a completely dedicated solution for the entire sand and gravel plants.
