Aurubis is undertaking a major ERP renewal, with its Pori plant in Finland acting as the pilot site. Replacing an ageing system with a next-generation platform will keep day-to-day operations running smoothly and securely while boosting productivity and delivery reliability. The upgrade will also give Aurubis the agility to develop new, customer-driven services. The project is on schedule and the new system is slated to go live in October 2025.
“This is the core system that steers Aurubis’s business. It covers everything from order entry, production planning, procurement and metal calculation to finance and reporting processes, as well as product quality and delivery processes to a great extent,” explains Perttu Heinilä, the Strategic Project Manager heading the renewal project.
The legacy solution is being replaced by SAP S/4HANA, implemented in partnership with NTT Data, whose extensive metals-industry expertise includes developing specialised add-ons for metal processing.
Turning tacit knowledge into automated rules
Currently, some 20 other systems are connected to Aurubis’s ERP solution; the modernisation will cut that number in half.
“Many tasks can now be automated. For example, the tacit knowledge that currently exists only in a planner’s head when a new product is designed can be converted into rules that run automatically inside the system,” Heinilä says.
“Beyond streamlining office workflows, the change will flow through to the shop floor as more accurate, timely production data – ultimately improving product quality and on-time delivery.”
“During this project we have the chance to develop far more productive solutions, primarily for office‐based processes, but ideally these will also show up in production as higher-quality, better-timed input data.”
The benefits extend to customers as well. Whether they need specific product documentation or digital value-added services, Aurubis will soon be able to fulfil those requests quickly and seamlessly.
An “athletic” timetable – yet firmly on track
The Pori pilot kicked off in early 2024, with go-live set for October 2025. Once proven, the same blueprint will be rolled out to Aurubis’s Stolberg plant in Germany.
The timetable is tight – “athletic,” as Heinilä puts it – yet progress remains on track.
“That said, this isn’t a short sprint. In running terms it’s a marathon, and in orienteering terms it’s a long-distance event,” he laughs.
There are plenty of moving parts, for example building interfaces down to shop-floor systems is particularly demanding, but Heinilä trusts the combined expertise of his multidisciplinary team and NTT Data. With strong collaboration, even a complex project like this can cross the finish line smoothly.
