Holmatro

About Holmatro
Holmatro, founded in the Netherlands in 1967, is a leading privately owned global supplier of hydraulic rescue equipment and services. Its products include cutters, spreaders, rams, and combination tools used by fire departments and rescue squads to assist with the extraction of victims from severe traffic accidents. Its hydraulic technology is also utilized by the FBI and special forces for large-scale operations, such as breaching doors.

With over 380 employees, Holmatro has divisions located in the Netherlands, the United States, and China. Holmatro USA implemented Infor CloudSuite Industrial in the early 2000s with Decision Resources as its implementation partner. By 2019, Holmatro realized it was time to consider an upgrade, as it was using an older version and was not maximizing the benefits of its ERP system.

Struggling With a Silo Mentality
Following the initial implementation of CloudSuite Industrial, the Holmatro IT department took on the role of managing the ERP system. To set up and manage reporting, the IT manager relied heavily on Microsoft Access databases, a system she was extremely familiar with and had used frequently before implementing CloudSuite Industrial. Over time, as requests for reports increased, the number of Access databases grew to over 100.

Without permissions or access to these databases, regular users had to rely entirely on the IT manager to build reports, extract and analyze data, and make even minor system adjustments. In management meetings, all data and analyses came from the IT department rather than from individual department heads. Holmatro recognized it was operating under a silo mentality—one person controlled the system and data, regular users lacked access to the information they needed, and the company was not leveraging the ERP system to its full potential.

To eliminate this silo mentality and empower users, Holmatro brought in Decision Resources for consulting and made the decision to upgrade.

The Challenge of an Upgrade
The decision to upgrade was easy. Holmatro had executive buy-in, a motivated internal project management team, and the experts at Decision Resources to guide the way. With a commitment from the whole team, Holmatro decided on an aggressive timeline. The implementation began on June 11, 2019, with a target go-live date of October 14, 2019. That left only four months between the start date and going live.

Aside from the aggressive timeline, one of the challenges Holmatro faced was on the part of the end user. Despite running CloudSuite Industrial for nearly 20 years, Holmatro’s users’ understanding of CloudSuite functionality was minimal because the system had been controlled by IT. They would essentially be learning a new system from scratch.

Transforming Business by Transforming Mindsets
Thanks to their dedicated and organized project team and the support of Decision Resources, Holmatro was able to stay on schedule for its anticipated go-live date.

As the first round of testing approached, the project team realized it would also be a test for Holmatro’s key users. Would they adopt the system with enthusiasm or reluctance? Would they embrace change or fall back into old habits?

Not everyone was eager to jump right in. But as testing launched, users began to realize just how limited their knowledge of CloudSuite was. In testing, users saw how the system would benefit them personally. They could manage and analyze their own data, build their own reports, and create workflows that improved their productivity—all things they would have previously needed IT to handle. The users became empowered.

A Happy Holmatro
Holmatro successfully went live with CloudSuite Industrial version 10 on October 14, 2019. Employees fully embraced the new ERP system and remain eager to explore and test new capabilities. According to Jessica Beijaerts, this is the most significant benefit of the upgrade.

“I’m sure productivity has increased, and we’ve seen many other benefits,” Beijaerts said. “But, most importantly, our employees are happier as a result of our upgrade to CSI 10.”

What’s Next?
As their knowledge of CloudSuite Industrial continues to grow, the Holmatro USA team will keep testing new functionality and refining existing processes. With their newfound empowerment, users look forward to fully leveraging the system’s robust capabilities.

Due to the success of the U.S. upgrade, Holmatro is now considering implementing CloudSuite Industrial worldwide.

“A four-month implementation was difficult, but our project team was extremely focused and committed. If we fell behind schedule, Decision Resources was right there to get us back on track.”

Jessica Beijaerts, Plant Manager
Holmatro