Case Study: Boortmalt

Boortmalt is one of the largest producers of Malt worldwide, having a wide range of white, coloured and speciality malts.

With a 3 million tonne production capacity, Boortmalt supplies the needs of any brewer or distiller delivering their products in quantity, all year-round, anywhere in the world.

The group is present on 5 continents with 27 malting plants. Boortmalt’s expertise is widely acknowledged by brewers and distillers who rely on the supply of top-quality barley malt.

The Boortmalt Group is a fully owned subsidiary of the agricultural and agribusiness cooperative Axereal.

Project

Boortmalt having grown in business size had a need for a global standardised Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS). The goal was to have MACS supporting with an upgrade of the IBM Maximo standard solution implemented and rolled out across the Boortmalt IT landscape, ensuring all sites operated in the same way.

The first 10 sites in Europe went live with Maximo 7.5 in 2016 using a blueprint on implementation, data loading templates, user training and processes. To improve the data quality and user capabilities, a new program was implemented, in line with Boortmalt standards. This allowed regular data extracts, followed up by meetings to ensure all users were following the defined processes as well as the data basis for reporting. 

An upgrade of existing sites to IBM Maximo 7.6.1 took place in 2020, followed by the rollout of the original blueprint to additional sites in Europe, North and South America as well as APAC (ongoing).

To improve the data quality and user capabilities, the MACS Pyramid Program was implemented after the go live date for each site. Based on the KPI’s taken from the database, users are guided into a continuous improvement process. Along with regular follow up meetings ensure all users are following the defined processes, as well as optimising the data for benchmarking. 

MACS Challenge

• New sites without any CMMS system
• New sites to be migrated from an existing CMMS system
• Asset and Maintenance data not in a comparable format
• No global uniform maintenance processes

MACS Solution 

• Engage a central project team for IBM Maximo implementation
• Standard implementation process for all sites globally, which will result in a quick roll out for new sites
• Definition of standardised processes, user roles and training for these
• Creation of standard data loading templates, and possibility of data transfer from any existing system

So how was this achieved for Boortmalt? 

MACS were able to implement and define a standardised implementation process for Boortmalt, as well as applying the blueprint across all sites within the planned project timeline.

Due to Covid-19 pandemic MACS had to be adaptive, all workshops, testing and training sessions starting 2020 had to be carried out remotely, using virtual meeting rooms. Even given this obstacle, all users felt comfortable with their roles and responsibilities within the system, following all their tailored training sessions.

Boortmalt feedback

“I come from another service Industry where we had a system in place which I loved using, I was delighted when Boortmalt selected IBM Maximo as it has improved my visibility not only on a day to day basis but at a higher level. Scheduling my Technicians, planning projects and utilising the more advanced modules of Maximo has given me a bigger and fuller picture of the site’s day to day operations.”

“I did use another system before IBM Maximo on site and it wasn’t used fully as the need for people to use it became difficult as it was hard to use, since we’ve had IBM Maximo everyone is more engaged and can see the benefits of using the system, they can view the Asset information, all the history and what parts are available online, this helps drive efficiencies and ensures the energy to continue to use and record data within the system is high.”

A system for the future

As Boortmalt continues to see the benefits of utilising Maximo on a day to day basis, user acceptance and data quality will be monitored, allowing for future configurations and customisations. As they look to the future, they will be looking at other tools to better integrate Maximo into the existing IT structure, LDAP integration has been enabled to start this process. Next steps are further integrating with the Boortmalt ERP system.