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Galloo is a Western European company headquartered in Belgium, founded in 1939 with the noble purpose of processing discarded consumer goods and factory scrap into useful raw materials. Every year, the company gives a second life to more than 1 million tonnes of steel and more than 60,000 tonnes of metals, ensuring an environmental impact as low as possible. Galloo is a business with a purpose.

The team at Galloo realized that driving recycling efficiency requires careful coordination of resources and timely synchronization of transport, logistics, and operations with available people and resources. It is a flow that requires precision and speed to optimize the processes in order to buy waste materials, manage recycling operations, and sell newly recycled metals with minimal waste and maximum efficiency.

Business with a mission

We often read tag lines from businesses wishing to help the environment. Galloo lives this; their entire existence is focused on just that. The Galloo mission is to ecologically recycle metals – converting waste metal materials into new raw materials in a way that benefits the environment, prevents depleting our scarce resources, and reduces and manages the whole process in a clean way.

Turning old and used into shiny and new with constant innovation

Procuring materials to be recycled is not like buying raw inventory materials of standard sizes, shapes, and configurations. The raw material supply is constantly changing, it requires careful testing in order to comply with ISO standards. Through a careful understanding of the people, processes, machines, and transport, Galloo is now able to optimize utilization and ensure that costs are managed so that the business can be sustainable itself and grow for years to come.

In order to drive a sustainable recycling business, processes require automation and constant management. Without integrated business flows and monitoring of KPIs expensive delays and costs can be incurred. To solve this problem Galloo needed solutions beyond the core SAP S/4HANA Cloud ERP and required extended capabilities and integrations enabled through the SAP Business Technology Platform. 

Galloo created extensions in a side-by-side fashion with the SAP S/4HANA Cloud ERP Core using the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP). This now enables both standard ERP as well as custom applications to be accessible to them via one single point of entry.  To simplify this, the BTP Portal uses the central launchpad architecture along with SAP Cloud Platform Integration (CPI) to integrate all third-party systems for production and planning.

Galloo now has constant visibility to business performance and flow with the help of the SAP Analytics Cloud to monitor their KPIs. The applications are managed for compatibility across versions and upgrades to ensure data integrity by using the SAP Cloud Application Lifecycle Management (ALM).

It takes a village

Recycling requires commitment across the supply chain to ensure a virtuous cycle of receiving materials to be recycled, processing, and selling of recycled metals. In the same way, it takes a commitment across the technology landscape to ensure constant innovation, integrity, and flexibility.

Galloo partnered with SAP and Flexso NV, an SAP-certified implementation partner with offices across Belgium, Luxembourg, and Austria. The Flexso depth of understanding of Galloo, SAP S/4HANA Cloud, and the SAP Business Technology platform provided the needed skills, reassurance, and confidence to make the implementation go smoothly and protect the future needs of Galloo.

Recycling operations must hum as complexities grow

The complexities of recycling grow as new raw material technologies are developed. Battery-powered vehicles, clean processing regulations, global energy costs, and new regulations place demands on recycling companies to be ever more sophisticated in their business operations, compliance, reporting, cost and labor management.

Galloo achieved its goal of digital automation with technology that can now manage processes quickly and securely. By investing in technology, Galloo has control of financial reporting, inventory management, and valuation, ensured regulatory compliance, optimized transport and operations, and used integration and automation to make processes hum.

Future proof sustainability

It is great to see that Galloo can now confidently meet their current and future needs.

For its accomplishments, Galloo has been named a finalist in the 2023 SAP Innovation Awards, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

To learn more about the Galloo Innovation Awards recycling innovations, check out their Innovation Awards pitch deck.

Digital Transformation

Posted on Posted in Digital transformation, General topics Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dimension Data is widely known for bold innovations and stalwart cloud solutions and services that enable enterprises to dramatically improve their businesses; now it is on mission to benefit the planet – and in the process, the communities it services and the economies it influences.

Whether it is using the Internet of Things (IoT) to help prevent poaching with its Connected Conversation initiative or using excess heat from its data center in Berlin to help heat the surrounding community, Dimension Data is well-known for innovation. Using cutting-edge technologies and its robust portfolio of multi-cloud solutions relied on by the world’s largest enterprises, the Johannesburg, South Africa-based company has a track record of taking on big challenges.

Now Dimension Data is in the midst of an aggressive effort to achieve net-zero emissions across all of its operations by 2030. It is an effort that is also intentionally focused on helping customers dramatically accelerate their own sustainability efforts, as well. And in keeping with its can-do history, Dimension Data’s efforts extend far beyond goals to only address the sustainability of IT operations.

Specifically, the company – part of the NTT Group – conducted an assessment to identify which of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals its people, operations and solutions can impact the most. Ultimately, it identified three themes and committed to achieving numerous goals to bring about positive change in each.

Alan Turnley-Jones, CEO, Dimension Data

Dimension Data

We recently connected with Alan Turnley-Jones, CEO of Dimension Data, to find out more about these efforts. We also took the opportunity learn what prompted Dimension Data to join the VMware Zero Carbon Committed Initiative, and what comes next.

“A year ago, we set out our sustainability ambitions which put us on the path to achieve operational and net zero emissions by 2030,” says Turnley-Jones. “Our approach, guided by the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals and scientific targets, focuses on connected planet, connected economy, and connected communities. And I am proud to say that we are already making an impact. Over the past 12 months, through commitment, determination, and our passion to make a difference, NTT and the technology we deploy helped to created better outcomes for our clients, partners and society.”

He notes that after providing employees with three extra days of leave they can use for volunteer efforts, more 1,500 members of the Dimension Data team have already used them to back up the company’s commitment to connected communities. And in its efforts for a connected planet, the company achieved 1 million kWh of renewable energy – putting it right on track achieve its target of using 100% renewable energy by 2030.

It is an effort that he stresses cannot be done alone.

“We have a long and wonderful relationship with VMware, and the Zero Carbon Committed initiative is a perfect example of how leading technology companies can bring about change,” he says. “As VMware has shown, it is imperative to reduce the carbon footprint of data centers, and in that way enable us to use the applications and technologies they make possible to make a real difference in the fight against climate change.”

Notably, Dimension Data launched two technology initiatives designed specifically to further sustainability efforts. Introduced last May, its Internet Of Things for Sustainability uses connected 5G devices and sensors to help enterprises better understand their carbon footprint and manage their energy consumption.

And the company’s Net Zero Climate Action solution, unveiled at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in 2022, is a full-stack Sustainability-as-a-Service offering that builds on those capabilities and features connected IoT devices, a private 5G network, digital twins and machine learning that lets organizations closely monitor, measure and report on their emissions at a very granular level. Bridgestone America is already using the solution to gain real-time visibility into its carbon footprint.

Notably, Turnley-Jones also stresses that sustainability at now at the heart of Dimension Data’s strategy. This strategy will be overseen by the company’s recently appointed Chief Risk and Sustainability Officer Zellah Fuphe.

“We are very proud of what we have achieved so far, but it is just the beginning,” adds Turnley-Jones. “We are committed to doing more and to having an even greater impact by connecting data, things and people in ways that transform business, society and the planet for the better.”

Immediate goals include reducing 200 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions across Dimension Data’s value chain. It is an effort that includes engaging partners to embed sustainability impact data into their purchasing decisions while also embracing circular IT strategies that optimize the use of existing hardware while minimizing waste. Employees will also play a very different role, regardless of what position they hold.

Among the many additional goals Dimension Data has committed to achieving are establishing a Sustainability Innovation Fund and mentorship program for climate technology and smart solutions, introducing solutions for biodiversity on every continent the company operates in by 2025, providing 5 million young people from underprivileged areas with digital access and educational opportunities, and doubling the diversity of Dimension Data’s executive leadership team by 2025.

“It was Ellen Johnson Sirleaf who said, ‘The future belongs to us, because we have taken charge of it. We have the commitment, we have the resourcefulness, and we have the strength of our people to share the dream across Africa,’” says Turnley-Jones. “I believe that at NTT and Dimension Data we are doing things today that will change all our collective futures for the better. Our best is yet to come. That is certainly the case in the fight against climate change.”

Learn more about Dimension Data and its partnership with VMware here.

Cloud Management, Green IT, IT Leadership

Posted on Posted in Digital transformation, General topics Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Sustainability is a major priority in business boardrooms already, and pressures from regulators, shareholders, board members and employees are likely to further drive this trend. 

Businesses need to do more than just track carbon output. They must reduce waste and increase efficiency. Going green makes good business sense.

While organizations know they need to mitigate environmental risks more effectively across the supply chain, often they struggle to translate that ambition into results. Due to the complexity and scale of the challenge, not all businesses have the resources to move toward net-zero at the necessary pace, and many are lagging.  

At the same time, companies are increasingly being held accountable for their environmental impact, with many countries legislating on emissions reductions. 

There is a clear company risk in not being sustainable, both to the planet and to the business. 

Today’s complex challenges require ambitious solutions that can scale and evolve over time.

NTT recognizes this and has launched the industry’s first full-stack Sustainability as a Service offering. This is designed to help manufacturing, transportation and other industries accelerate sustainability initiatives and make data-driven decisions to reduce their carbon footprint and become more efficient through the intelligent use of IoT connectivity. Rather than making huge investments in infrastructure to collect and process data, companies now have the option to get this as a secure, scalable, fully managed service that requires no large capital outlay.

The full-stack offering, which includes devices, network connectivity such as private 5G, edge computing, an analytics and insight platform, and systems integration, takes a human-centric approach to ensure that the right decision-makers receive relevant and timely information.  The technology stack is complemented by professional services from strategy through to execution to ensure that the data is actionable and that there is a clear ROI.

For example:

NTT is leveraging computer vision to reduce waste in a logistics warehouse. This solution recognizes items that are being picked and packed and provides verification that the quantity and products are correct. NTT is not only providing the technology but is also redesigning the pick-and-pack process and the pick stations to ensure the adoption and effectiveness of the technology.NTT provides a vast ecosystem of sensors that can be used to automate the collection of data on temperature/humidity, occupancy, soil moisture, air quality, water quality, etc. This data can then be combined to provide insights and information to lower energy usage and reduce impact on the environment – for example, by giving notifications of water leaks, chemical spills or exterior doors that are left open. Smart spaces can reduce energy use when unoccupied, while predictive/preventive maintenance can reduce wasteful downtime.As an ICT company with large assets such as undersea cables and data centers, NTT has made aggressive sustainability targets to become net-zero by 2030 and through their supply chain by 2040. NTT is sharing their experience with clients through Sustainability as a Service.

Although evolving, the process to calculate an enterprise’s carbon footprint is still highly manual. Data lives in silos across the IT and OT environment.

Collecting data across the supply chain for scope 2 and 3 emissions creates more complexity.

Organizations can find themselves questioning the accuracy and reliability of their data.

NTT works with clients to understand their data blind spots and leverages the right solution building blocks to collect the data and aggregate it with other complementary data, such as weather and location, to provide actionable insights.

“One of the biggest challenges of IoT is proving ROI,” says Devin Yaung, SVP, Group Enterprise IoT Products and Services at NTT. “You can solve any problem given enough budget. The challenge is to solve the problem in the most efficient way possible. We leverage the right building blocks for the use case and environment and offer these as a service so that clients can start small and grow their sustainability program.”  

He adds: “What is more important is that the data needs to be trusted and actionable rather than just noise. That’s why we also take a user-centric approach to understand who needs to receive the data, how much data they need and at what frequency.”

This becomes more important as the workforce evolves from digital immigrants to digital natives who are accustomed to receiving near real-time data and updates on every aspect of their lives. Sustainability as a Service is not just technology but also considers people, process and the regulatory environment.

Sustainability is a journey that all companies will have to embark upon. NTT’s Sustainability as a Service allows clients to travel this journey at their own pace.

Not only do these solutions help businesses meet sustainability goals, but they also help them benefit from energy cost savings, advanced operational excellence, enhanced risk management, and better work enablement across the organization.

Find out more about NTT’s commitment to sustainability.

Edge Computing