Customer Reference__________

USPR transitions to SAP S/4HANA with sweet success.

Customer

United Sugar Producers
and Refiners

Industry

Process, FMCG, Agriculture, Wholesale

Key technologies

Go-live

01/2025

Country

United States
of America

United Sugar Producers and Refiners (USPR), one of North America’s leading sugar suppliers, delivers a third of the US sugar supply while upholding a strong commitment to quality, sustainability, and farming communities. To enhance efficiency and prepare for future growth, USPR partnered with Westernacher to execute a full digital supply chain transformation and migrate from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA. Backed by Westernacher’s decades of expertise in digital transformation, the migration was completed on time, on budget, and without disruption – delivering a seamless go-live, immediate financial close, and a solid foundation for continued innovation.

Based in Minneapolis, United States, United Sugar Producers and Refiners (USPR) is a customer-focused supplier of sugar to industrial and retail buyers nationwide. USPR delivers exactly what customers need – granulated, brown, powdered, and more – on time, in spec, and wherever it’s needed.

As one of North America’s leading sugar providers, USPR is deeply committed to sustainability, supporting farmers, and strengthening farming communities. From the fields to the factories to the final delivery, every step of USPR’s process is designed to ensure customers receive the right sugar, at the right time, every time.

Chris Moore, Vice President, IT at United Sugar Producers and Refiners, says:

We provide one-third of the US’s sugar supply across about 800,000 acres. They farm the beets and the cane. They process them at the factories. They get to the bin. And our job is to sell it to the customers, get it there and ensure the highest service quality we can.

To deliver sugar to customers as efficiently as possible and ensure the highest level of service, USPR partnered with Westernacher to execute an end-to-end digital supply chain transformation. Building on the previous successful implementation of SAP Transportation Management (TM), Westernacher this time supported USPR in migrating from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA.

Ram Vaidyanathan, COO and Senior Partner at Westernacher Consulting, explains:

Given we’re in this business over 55 years, we’ve completed over 300 warehousing implementations, and 175 transportation implementations. We’re uniquely positioned to share the end-to-end story and bring the best processes to our customers. And that’s exactly what we’ve done for United Sugar.

The right partner, the right approach.
A seamless path to SAP S/4HANA.

USPR was seeking an approach that would minimize disruption to its existing business while finding the easiest and fastest way to migrate to SAP S/4HANA – and adopt innovations at its own pace. “All of this required specialized functional expertise and partnerships brought together under one roof,” explained Abhishek Vasudevan, Director, SAP S/4HANA Practice at Westernacher.

“They were really looking for a partner who would listen, understand their concerns, pain points, and constraints, and then provide a path forward that allowed them to move with little to no disruption,” added added Abhishek.

According to Denise Eide, Director of Applications, Business Systems at United Sugar Producers and Refiners, a key factor in the success of their SAP S/4HANA migration was having Westernacher as the responsible implementation partner.

More than a migration. A long-term partnership.

“Given it was a technical migration, they were able to partner with those we needed to make this a success. They managed the relationships with SAP, SNP Group and smartShift, kept them accountable, kept things on time and deliverables where they needed to be. And they took a lot of responsibilities away from us so that we could focus on things we needed to focus on to make our S/4 go-live a success,” said Eide.

Moore added: “We completed the carve-out upgrade and shifted to SAP S/4HANA on time, on budget with no unplanned outages. We were able to financially close right after that. We really haven’t had any issues. It’s a huge market success.”

Today, many players in the market offer support for companies transitioning to SAP S/4HANA. “What’s so important is a partner who understands their customers’ needs, adaptability, and ability to manage the other partners within the organization including SAP in order to deliver what we can,” said Vaidyanathan.

Throughout USPR’s SAP S/4HANA migration journey, Westernacher was a trusted partner at every step.

Denise Eide, Director of Applications, Business Systems at United Sugar Producers and Refiners, explains:

Westernacher was able to listen and understand what we needed, what our timeline was. I would encourage anybody to talk to Westernacher because they will listen, they will respond, and they will be honest with you on what they can do to help you succeed in moving from SAP ECC to S/4HANA.

Let's work together.

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