Mining and metals operations run on physical reality that ERP systems often struggle to represent. Ore grades vary batch to batch. Weighbridge readings do not always match dispatch documents. Plant maintenance schedules are driven by equipment hours that nobody was capturing systematically. An India-based metals and mining company decided their systems needed to catch up with their operations and engaged Accely for an AI-assisted SAP S/4HANA implementation.
What pushed the decision was the month-end. Closing the books took eleven days. Not because the finance team was slow, but because reconciling production data against dispatch records against inventory movements required manual intervention at four different points. The SAP S/4HANA implementation is designed to remove those reconciliation gaps by having the transactions flow properly the first time.
Accely’s team spent the early weeks in the plants rather than in the boardroom. Understanding how material actually moves, where the data capture points are, and which processes exist on paper versus in practice. Mining implementations fail when the design assumes the process documentation is accurate.
Grade management was the technical priority. Ore quality varies, pricing is grade-linked, and inventory valuation depends on getting that classification right in the system. Batch management in S/4HANA handles this, but the configuration has to reflect how this particular operation classifies and blends material.
Plant maintenance is the second workstream. Heavy equipment, long lead times on spares, and a maintenance function that had been operating largely on reactive schedules.
Phase one is underway across finance, materials management, and production. Maintenance follows.
Accely was selected partly for depth in SAP ERP solutions and partly for regional delivery capability. Having an experienced SAP implementation partner with people who could be on site in the plants during design was not negotiable for this client.
Accely’s news and media team delivers the latest company news, client milestones, and strategic insights driving digital transformation across global enterprises.