Consolidation of company codes and plants at Charles Machine Works
Charles Machine WorksThe Challenge
Despite the technical complexity of the project, SNP went live three weeks ahead of schedule – with zero issues.
At a glance
The company recognized that for its size, its SAP system was complex. For example, Charles Machine Works (CMW) was using a table called RFDT which has complex cluster fields that contain 84 internal tables when unpacked. The table stored extra functionality used with financial variants and is not often used in other SAP systems.
Company codes existed for each Charles Machine Works business: Charles Machine Works, Anvil Land & Properties, Subsite LLC, and Earth Tool Company LLC. The company was advised that it could realize greater organizational flexibility, streamline processes, facilitate reporting and analysis, and reduce technical debt by consolidating to a single company code. Profit centers also had to be converted and renamed.
Because this effort was not in their budget, the project had to be delivered cost-effectively. In addition, due to high demand for their products, the project had to be short and minimally disruptive to operations and employees’ daily work.
Despite the technical complexity of the project, SNP went live three weeks ahead of schedule with zero issues. CMW’s RFDT table stored extra functionality used with financial variants. All of the internal tables within RFDT needed to be unpacked programmatically, changed (plants changed according to specified rules), and then placed back into the cluster fields.
- A six-month end-to-end project schedule including post-go-live support.
- Three test cycles: technical, functional & dry run
- The project team was located in Germany, Slovakia and the U.S.
- Automated solution covers all standard tables as well as client custom tables
- Fiscal year change occurred without issues
Key facts
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Project type
SAP merge
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Project duration
6 months – from the start of the project through to post-go-live support
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Downtime
Single technical downtime of less than 20 hours
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Countries involved
USA
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SNP products
CrystalBridge® – The Data Transformation Platform
About Charles Machine Works
Headquartered in Perry, Oklahoma, Charles Machine Works (CMW) designs, manufactures and sells a range of products to cover the full life cycle of underground pipe and cable, including horizontal directional drills, walk and ride trenchers, utility loaders, vacuum excavators, asset locators, pipe rehabilitation solutions and after-market tools. The company is known as “The Underground Authority” for their deep understanding of the structures and systems in those markets, and the most important needs of underground construction professionals. The company was acquired by The Toro Company in 2019.
