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The Mälarenergi group consists of several companies with a variety of operations. What they have in common, however, is that they provide their customers with basic conveniences such as electricity, heating, cooling, water, sewage treatment, and access to rapid means of communications.
New Market Requirements
As the energy market in Sweden was deregulated, Mälarenergi realized it needed to streamline its operations. “This covered everything from sharpening the business-minds of us employees to putting in place a more efficient, agile business solution that was better adapted to the new situation,” recalls Anders Ericsson, vice president of Mälarenergi.
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“We realized early on that we were hampered by the fact that our subsidiaries had different system environments.” “One of the advantages of IFS Applications is that the software contains a wide array of functionality that we can add at a pace that suits us best,” concludes Anders Ericsson.
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System Diversity Caused Problems
One step toward greater efficiency was to tie all the companies in the group closer to each other in order to coordinate critical business processes —a task made extremely difficult by the existing IT environment. “We realized early on that we were hampered by the fact that our subsidiaries had different system environments,” says Anders Ericsson. It meant that crucial information was spread all over the group, and the only way to access it was to go into each individual system. As a result, not only was corporate coordination more difficult, but also the aggregated cost of operations, maintenance and licenses was much too high. To meet this challenge, Mälarenergi decided to implement a common IT solution that would make operations more efficient at corporate level. Mälarenergi Chose IFS Applications
The procurement process, completed in the summer of 2003, included an exhaustive evaluation of several “IFS Applications gives everyone involved a common overview of what issues need to be dealt with, the status of projects, and other important information.” Anders Ericsson, vice vd Mälarenergi business software vendors. After a pilot study in which the solution had to fulfill Mälarenergi’s specific functionality requirements, the company selected IFS Applications. The software was implemented first by a subsidiary, Mälarenergi Stadsnät, then by Mälarenergi Elnät, and finally by the parent company and the remaining subsidiaries. In each phase, Mälarenergi chose to implement a wide range of functionality, including maintenance scheduling, project management, financial management, purchasing, inventory, and quotation management. Maintenance Scheduling and Project Management are Critical
“Maintenance scheduling includes, among other things, the management of all our work orders, from fault reporting to completed service at our district heating plant in Västerås and at the smaller plants in the group,” says Anders Ericsson. “IFS Applications gives everyone involved a common overview of what issues need to be dealt with, the status of projects, and other important information.” Mälarenergi uses the project management tool to handle all its projects as efficiently as possible. This includes investments of more than SKr 250 million per annum in new facilities and the refurbishment of old plants. Major Savings with Better Purchasing Routines
Mälarenergi invests about SKr 700 million in competence development and raw materials every year. In doing so, it uses IFS Applications to get a complete picture of its requirements and thereby coordinate its purchasing procedures. “Considering the huge amounts we buy for, it’s easy to understand that greater efficiency has a major impact on our profitability,” says Anders Ericsson. Better Market Focus a Crucial Goal
Mälarenergi is investing heavily in creating a more market-driven organization than the one that existed when it had a monopoly position. “In a monopoly, suppliers can determine what level of quality they want to provide,” says Anders Ericsson. “Today, the customer decides. Our task is to ensure that we deliver the level of quality the customer wants within the framework of sound business practices. With IFS Applications, we can create the transparency required to provide decision makers with the rapid overview they need to make correct business decisions.” Future Plans
In the near future, Mälarenergi’s employees will continue to learn the system in order to benefit fully from its extensive functionality. Later on, further functionality may be implemented. “One of the advantages of IFS Applications is that the software contains a wide array of functionality that we can add at a pace that suits us best,” concludes Anders Ericsson. Facts
Housing and commercial premises account for 40 percent of Sweden’s total energy consumption. Of this, private residences consume 44 percent, apartment buildings 30 percent, and commercial premises 26 percent of the energy consumed. From an international perspective, a relatively large amount of Swedish energy is produced from a number of renewable sources of energy such as biological fuels, hydropower, and wind power.
Source: www.stem.se
(Swedish Energy Agency)
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