SAMSON AGRO: From three to one

SAMSON AGRO

SAMSON AGRO is a Danish machine manufacture, who was established in 1948. Since the start, the company has produced agricultural machinery such as slurry tanks, front fill systems, and drip hose booms, to all over the world. Even though they produce agricultural machinery, SAMSON AGRO’s vision has always been to give both, their customers, and nature the best experience as possible. Put in other words, sustainability means much to the international business, who invests in intelligent and sustainable solutions for their agricultural machines. There are about 225 employees in the organization, and it is increasing. In 2019, SAMSON AGRO bought two other large organizations in France and Poland and are now the largest manufacturer of slurry tanks in Europe.  

3 organisations, 3 systems 

When an organisation acquisitions two new organisations, it is important that these three all end up being aligned. Here, the ERP-integration must be the same in all the departments. At SAMSON AGRO they used Microsoft Dynamics AX2009 and wanted to implement this in the other two new departments as well. Here one of the largest concerns was that the acquisitioned organisations used completely other systems than the Danish one. Therefore, the main issue for SAMSON AGRO was to integrate the newly acquisitioned organisations in the same Microsoft Dynamics AX2009 system.  

Microsoft AX2009 as a unified system

The first thing which was done was to analyse which options fitted the fusion the best. Here it was important to have the different countries’ legislation in mind when adapting the system into the new countries and departments. The overall solution was to integrate the two new acquisitioned organisations into Microsoft AX2009. Moreover, the employees in these departments needed to be trained and guided as well.                      

“Be-Terna is a great advisor, who understands how to work together to achieve a common goal. They have an understanding and insight in the establishment of IT-solutions in other countries” Karl Tholstrup, Concern CFO, SAMSON AGRO.

When integrating the new organisations into the old ERP-system, one avoids having to upgrade the whole system in such an overwhelming situation, as an acquisition can be. At SAMSON AGRO, they chose to make a unified application where their Microsoft AX2009 now is running on. Furthermore, it is here possible to develop unified solutions for all three departments and technical solutions, specifically for the individual country.   

Besides the integration of the systems, there was also made an inventory app. This was done by integrating the Microsoft AX2009 to the cloud through the Power Platform. Moreover, then the application is designed in Power Apps. The idea of the inventory app is that it streamlines SAMSON AGRO’s stocking.  

The impact of the fusion 

The solution at SAMSON AGRO has made synergy between the three countries and departments. This has also meant that there is a focus within the different departments, about sharing ideas within the system. However, the largest difference is to be found in the fact that the fusion has given SAMSON AGRO an economy of scale. 

“We get useful recommendations, which makes us able to take important decisions on an early stage. With the help from BE-terna, we have found the right technical solution we want to use, and knows in which order they should come”. Karl Tholstrup, Concern CFO, SAMSON AGRO.  

Besides this, SAMSON AGRO also ended 2020 with their highest turnover ever. This is the result of the integration of the new countries' departments and their unified work together in the organisation.