One system for six countries: Engels Group chooses NetSuite

Engels is a producer and supplier of logistics and waste management solutions made from plastic and metal: from delivery boxes and flight cases to defence cases, and from custom pallets to underground waste containers. Engels operates in Portugal, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. In addition to supplying “plastic crates”, the company supports customers with custom solutions, service and logistics automation. Cadran implemented NetSuite for Engels, enabling the logistics service provider to move forward with confidence and an up-to-date ERP system.

“Jan Engels started his one-man business in the proverbial garage in 1955,” says Nelly Zegveld, HR Manager and member of the management team at Engels. “We have now grown into a company with more than 160 employees in six countries.” But that growth also brought challenges. For twenty years, Engels had been running on Agresso Wholesale, an on-premise wholesale package that was not really designed for an internationally operating company. In the United Kingdom, a separate local system was also used: Winman ERP. Two different ERP systems for six countries. That meant double maintenance, no central financial overview and processes that differed from one branch to another.

Two systems, six countries, no overview

In daily practice, the company constantly ran into these limitations. Production planning was done in Excel. Credit checks were carried out manually using Chamber of Commerce data. Orders worth thousands of euros were sent out without an approval flow. Shipments were not automatically registered with carriers, and customer communication, including accounts receivable management, was handled through separate tools instead of one central system. Intercompany trade between the six countries had become an administrative puzzle that grew more complex with every new country.

The biggest bottlenecks were on the finance side. The outdated package did not align with the company’s international activities. There was no way to consolidate the full Engels Group financially in one system, intercompany settlements were difficult, especially with euros and pounds being used side by side, and there was no full localisation per country. In practice, this meant that financial processes had to be adjusted manually.

On top of that, Engels constantly needed new items in the ERP system, as custom solutions are at the heart of the business. But quickly creating new items was a difficult process in the old system. After an initial attempt with SAP also came to a halt, the conclusion was clear: things had to change fundamentally. “After working with an on-premise package for 20 years, it was time for a modern system,” says Nelly. “We are very happy that we chose NetSuite, with Cadran as our implementation partner.”

The first impression of Cadran was positive straight away. “When they came by for a demo, we were immediately enthusiastic,” says Nelly. Engels had mapped out its wishes and challenges thoroughly in advance and had already thought through possible solutions. The start was cautious, but before long, one step led naturally to the next.

Exciting, but above all enjoyable

The go-live was a moment Engels had been looking forward to for a long time. “Exciting, but above all enjoyable,” says Nelly. “I didn’t lose any sleep over it. Around 70 percent of our processes are standard, so I knew we would simply be able to keep delivering.” Shortly after the Netherlands, the other countries also went live, including Portugal and France, where the system was rolled out remotely. “Only a few people work with it there, so that could be done well remotely,” says Nelly. The training sessions were partly delivered online, making the international rollout practical and efficient.

Overall, Engels experienced the collaboration with Cadran very positively. “They have really smart people,” says Nelly. “And that is crucial: they think along with you and come up with solutions.” Within Engels’ own organisation, there was no lack of knowledge, but the specific possibilities of the system were less familiar. That is exactly where Cadran made the difference.

An 8 for Cadran

There was also a good personal connection. That helped, especially given the complexity of the organisation. “We do a lot: production, trade, service, outsourcing, rental and leasing, and all of that internationally and with intercompany structures. That simply makes it a complex whole.” According to Nelly, Cadran guided the project well. “Cadran became a bit stricter towards the end, but that was also necessary. The go-live is simply the ultimate deadline.” In that final phase, a conscious decision was made to only implement essential changes. Looking back, Nelly is clear about the final result. “If I had to give Cadran a score, also compared with previous experiences, it would be an 8.”

Finance: full localisation

The project delivered clear improvements in several areas. The biggest step was made in finance. Where Engels previously worked with an outdated wholesale package that did not properly support international activities, full localisation is now available for each country. “In Germany, for example, tax control is quite complex. We could not properly support that before,” says Nelly.

More control over capacity, people and resources

Operations have also become much more professional. Production planning, which was previously done in Excel, is now fully integrated into the system. This provides more control over capacity, people and resources. In the warehouse, steps have also been taken with scanning and automatic inventory processing through a WMS module, significantly reducing manual work.

One way of working

Finally, there is now more standardisation across the organisation. International branches, including the United Kingdom, now also work on the same platform. “That creates much more unity in the way we work,” says Nelly. At the same time, not everything is perfect yet. “For example, we configured locations differently, which sometimes still causes some delays in the warehouse. Theory and practice do not yet fully align everywhere.” According to Nelly, that is also logical at this stage. “It is actually still too early to really measure it. People still need to get used to it.”

After the go-live, the project moved into the next phase. The approach now is to first run stably for six months, while collecting and prioritising wishes. “Based on that, we want to take the next step, depending on what is needed.” There is also already some cautious thinking ahead. “It may well be that there will be a phase 3.”

Support from Cadran

Support has also been set up differently now. “We now work with five key users who can submit calls through Cadran’s NetSuite portal,” Nelly explains. “You log in there and create a ticket.” This first line is handled by the support team. “Cadran first looks at what is going on and tries to resolve it. We have now created around forty calls, and most of them have already been resolved.” Sometimes an issue is moved forward. “Then Cadran says: this is not a bug, but something for phase 2. That also helps us maintain focus.”

For the coming period, the focus is on further development and optimisation. “We would really like to move towards automatically importing PDF purchase orders, which should further reduce the pressure on sales,” says Nelly. “That will save us a lot of manual work.”

Engels is also looking at further digitalisation on the data and reporting side. The company needs better insight into performance and management information. “We have not done much with that yet, but we really want to pick it up this year,” says Nelly. Engels is still exploring which solution is the best fit, with cost and ease of use as important factors.

The coming months will mainly focus on stabilising and making better use of the system in practice. Nelly: “Step by step, we will continue to make better use of the system.”