Phase two of Anglo American Platinum Corporation's (Amplats) R65-million SAP R/3 roll-out on built-to-order Dell hardware has been completed on schedule in what seasoned SAP consultants hail as one of the more successful deployments of its sort world-wide.
The ambitious three-year project by the world's leading platinum producer is the first SAP implementation in the SA mining industry and the largest R/3 installation on Windows NT in the southern hemisphere.
Supported by some 50 Dell PowerEdge servers, 700 OptiPlex desktops and 50 Latitude notebooks, together with a further planned 800 devices, the Amplats' environment potentially is the second largest SAP site in SA.
The R17-billion mining house, listed on the Johannesburg and London and Brussels stock exchanges, expects to save some R200-million over the next ten years as a result of embracing the fully customised and integrated SAP R/3 Business Support System.
"SAP will continue to position Amplats as one of the lowest cost platinum producers in the world," says Ken Jarvis, Amplats' General Manager, Information Services and head of the SAP project, codenamed Gateway. "This will be the result of improved decision making and streamlined processes across the organisation, translating into more efficient use of resources and enhanced quality of products and services.
"The new system will replace previously disparate systems with a common business framework. Many manual activities will be automated, yielding improved efficiency, pinpoint accuracy and reduced paperwork. Data will be entered once and then be available instantly and conveniently to authorised users at the mines, refineries and smelting works in the group."
During stage one of SAP deployment, completed in just six months, Dell rolled out 12 PowerEdge enterprise application and database servers, 60 OptiPlex desktops and 15 Latitude CP notebook computers at Amplats' head office in Gauteng.
Servers range from dual to quad processors configured with Intel Pentium II processors, up to 4GB RAM with integrated ECC technology and up to 108-GB hot swappable RAID arrays. Industrial-strength availability features include standard redundant cooling fans, Intel LANdesk server management software and hot pluggable redundant power supplies, to name a few.
Each unit was custom built in Dell's ISO 9002-compliant factory near Limerick, Ireland, and shipped to SA within 15 working days. Under DellPlus, Dell's unparalleled custom integration service, hardware and software specified by Amplats such as the operating system, applications, network adapters, server management cards and uninterruptible power supplies were configured in the factory by qualified Dell engineers.
Extensive testing and validation in the UK and South Africa prior to implementation by on-site consultants from Dell Computer and SAP consultancy iXOS Software AG, Dell's partner in this project, ensured zero 'dead-on-arrival' rate.
"We are very happy with the consistency of Dell's delivery," Jarvis notes. "Reliability and quality of the products, coupled to Dell's professional approach were key to meeting the phase one target date."
MG Systems, one of the SAP consultants for the project, agrees with this view. "With demanding deadlines to meet, Dell is rising to the occasion magnificently," says Wilhelm Oosthuizen, SAP Technical Project Manager at MG Systems. "Their unfailing ability to deliver correctly configured, reliable hardware makes this one of the smoothest SAP roll-outs to date.
Gareth Martin, managing director of Dell Computer in South Africa, comments: "The Amplats group, accounting for over half of SA's nearly 70% contribution to world-wide platinum supply, is in the vanguard of the local mining industry's drive towards lower cost and higher efficiency as means to become more competitive globally.
"Dell is extremely proud to be chosen from the leading tier-one PC vendors to partner Amplats in this exciting and immensely prestigious implementation. Far from popping champagne corks, we are redoubling our efforts to ensure the next phases of Project Gateway are completed on time and within budget, thereby underlining the superiority of Dell's direct business model.
"We see this implementation as a resounding endorsement of Dell's leading edge server technology, which meets the rigorous demands of the enterprise through industry leading performance, dependability and scalability.
"World-wide Dell's enterprise systems business, which includes servers and workstation products, is growing by some 250% a year. In fiscal 1997/8 revenues from this arena topped $1-billion, making Dell the No 4 server supplier in the world.
"With successful local server roll-outs such as Amplats and many others, Dell is fast becoming the server supplier of choice to corporate South Africa."
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