As an innovative company, Galfa strives to provide its customers with the best possible solutions. But to continue maintaining its high standards in the future, the company needed to switch to a professional ERP system. With the implementation of SAP Business All in One and Sycor's help, Galfa laid the foundation for more transparent and efficient processes and took an important step toward securing its future.
Since 1958, Galfa has been making a name for itself with high-quality coatings for small, mass and base frame parts made of metal, with a focus on fasteners, stampings and constructional elements. With over 50 years of tradition and experience, Galfa is a professional industry partner, serving well-known customers in the automotive, construction, fittings, and electrical industries, as well
as in metal construction and mechanical engineering. A 230-strong skilled workforce, innovative systems, and state-of-the-art technology guarantee outstanding quality and tailored solutions for coating requirements relating to all aspects of corrosion protection.
To maintain its competitive edge, Galfa is continually expanding and investing in modern technologies. This also includes high-performance enterprise software. However, the company’s existing IT system could no longer keep pace with its growth and the increased demands placed on modern business software. “Our previous ERP solution was simply too old,” says Frank Herdeg, partner at Galfa. “The complexity of our business had increased significantly and our ERP system was no longer capable of providing management with the information we needed for our ongoing development in a transparent and decision-oriented way. Besides this, our customers’ increasing requirements, especially in the automotive industry, meant we needed to have a professional ERP software solution with an integrated quality management component,” continues Herdeg. "The goal was to find a system that could professionalize and further develop our internal processes. It was also important for us to receive transparent data structures and action-oriented performance indicators to ensure cost efficiency and organic development.” For this reason, Galfa looked for a flexible and future-oriented software solution that would completely cover the demands of its production and service business. The company chose to implement Sycor.Surface based on SAP Business All in One. When it came to implementing and operating the ERP solution, Galfa looked to full-service IT provider Sycor as an industry partner who could cover all the procedural, technical and qualitative requirements related to surface technology. “Sycor acts as a competent partner on our side. We were extremely impressed by the company’s experience and best practices as well as their knowledge of our industry,” continues Herdeg.
Sycor started by defining the performance scope of the ERP software and the interfaces to external systems, such as EDI (Seeburger BIS), and a detailed planning tool (Dualis GANTTPLAN) for production. This was followed by the configuration of the SAP system and implementation of the solution including the process-oriented mobile data capture (Sycor.MobiDel) for production logistics. In-depth training for the key users as well as intensive support during the go-live rounded out Sycor’s range of services. “The process of implementing the software went quickly and involved a clearly defined effort. This will open up new ways of working more simply and flexibly for Galfa,” says Oliver Reichardt, Sycor Project Manager. The Sycor.Surface solution installed at Galfa is an extendable and future-proof system that provides optimal support for the day-to-day business of the company. The solution is based on a comprehensive SAP system with the latest version of an integrated quality management module, including predefined best practice processes for surface technology. “On a scale of 1 to 10, we would rate Sycor’s SAP project implementation an 8. Of the SAP implementations I have seen, this was the best so far,” says Galfa partner Axel von Bauer.
Along with the implementation of the new system, Galfa also carried out a process redesign of all its core business processes. This included order processing, production planning, production processes, controlling and the acquisition process in particular. “All of these processes naturally had to be mapped in the SAP system as well and meet the new requirements 100%,” continues Reichardt. Introducing standardized processes with the help of a professional ERP solution, such as SAP, was therefore a huge challenge for the Galfa organization as a whole, which is far from reaching its conclusion even though the implementation project has been completed. Next steps have already been planned out: Following the implementation of SAP HANA, a rollout of the system at the Kaniòw site in Poland will follow. “The SAP solution supports our future growth track and creates room for innovation. After initial challenges in the specification phase, Sycor truly impressed us with the quality of its services and increasingly high level of industry competence,” says Herdeg in conclusion.