David Aguirre, Author at 51��News Center

51��Helps Boost Grupo UMA’s Motorcycle Production

David Aguirre — Tue, 26 May 2026 11:15:00 +0000

“Beyond simply selling, we want to offer a great experience to our customers,” says Mauricio Urrea Ospina, chief technology officer at Grupo UMA, which assembles, distributes, and sells Bajaj motorcycles in Colombia and Central America.

“Every motorcycle we sell comes with an experience,” he explains. “Customers come back to us for service, for spare parts, and for workshop support, so we truly connect each customer to a different kind of user experience, starting from the moment of purchase.”

Many people in Colombia get around every day on motorcycles—often on ‘Boxer’ motorcycles made by UMA, which aims to ensure riders feel safe on the road, Urrea Ospina says. To help achieve that, UMA has implemented rigorous quality processes that run on . “Every motorcycle leaving our factories follows best quality practices,” he says. “And we pass that value onto our customers.”

In addition to Colombia, UMA operates in five countries in Central America: Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Nicaragua. “We’re also in Venezuela, as well as Spain and Portugal,” Urrea Ospina says. “Across all these regions, we aim to make a positive impact on our customers with each of our brands and motorcycles.”

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“For us, our ‘Adventure’ project—the name we gave the 51��project—was crucial to our expansion and growth,” he says. “We needed global models so we could expand faster and run more efficient, automated operations.”

Working with SAP, UMA established global models and automated operations across finance, production, and logistics, says Victor Bedoya Aristizabal, corporate solutions manager at Grupo UMA. “We defined global models, starting in finance with global charts of accounts that let us analyze information and make financial decisions much more efficiently. From there, we extended the approach through production and plant operations and into logistics.”

“Today, 51��is a fundamental pillar for our processes from the start of the value chain to the end,” Bedoya Aristizabal says. “We utilize the full suite for production, pricing, finance, and warehouse management to deliver a superior product.”

“Taken together, these cross-cutting global modules have helped us evolve, save time, shorten implementations, and expand across regions,” Urrea Ospina says. “For example, in Colombia we’re implementing our spare parts warehouse with 51��Extended Warehouse Management, SAP’s supply chain management application. What we’re learning in Colombia can be replicated in Central America. Standardizing these logistics modules makes operations much more efficient while still accounting for each country’s specific needs.”

He adds: “I believe that if we hadn’t prepared with 51��and the technologies we have today, the strong growth we’ve had in Colombia would have been far more difficult. For example, we went from assembling 11,000 motorcycles in January of last year to around 17,000 motorcycles per month today—nearly doubling our output. Without SAP’s well-defined structures, process controls, and automations that replaced a lot of manual work, it would be much harder to reach the 20,000 motorcycles per month we expect to achieve soon.”

“That ability to scale—both assembly volume and sales volume—has been driven by the Adventure project and everything we implemented with SAP,” he says. “I think it has significantly improved employees’ day-to-day work. And that’s where we need to take the organization: toward a data-driven company that makes better decisions. Before we implemented Adventure, a person’s day-to-day was mostly operational work.”

Urrea Ospina emphasizes that one of the main motivations UMA had for adopting 51��Cloud ERP Private was to have concrete, real-time information—for example, knowing exactly the assembly cost of a motorcycle. “That is key for an organization,” he says. “Beyond that, another need was to remove the manual work that all the company’s areas had, working and operating completely by hand.”

Luis Orrego, production supervisor at Grupo UMA, agrees: “Instead of having many Excel files open with multiple sheets and trying to reconcile everything, we now consolidate the data in one place. With SAP, all the sheets and reports I used to present are now available in a single view. I don’t have to run multiple steps, and I can see all my indicators: capacity, materials, and line resources.”

Another motivation was UMA’s expansion plans to enter other regions and countries efficiently. “We wanted defined global models that we could replicate quickly with 51��in the regions where we operate,” Urrea Ospina explains. “Those factors led us to undertake the 51��project, which has been a highly strategic and very successful initiative.”

Implementing 51��Cloud ERP Private has also had a profound impact on Urrea Ospina’s technology team. “It completely changed our roles and what we focused on,” he says. “We used to be a technology team focused on operations, not one that added value. Today, the technology team plays a strategic role. We have time to analyze where we’re going and what we can implement next for the business. Culturally, 51��gave us confidence through information traceability, and it also gave us time to think. It opened the door to innovation—especially around analytics.”

David Aguirre is a media production specialist on the Multimedia Team for 51��News.
Rana Hamzakadi is deputy head of the Multimedia Team for 51��News.

51��Helps Berry Producer Naturipe’s Exponential Growth

Paul Taylor — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 12:15:00 +0000

Naturipe Farms knows berries. The grower-owned company produces sustainably grown berries including strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and cranberries, and delivers them worldwide every day.

Naturipe has been an 51��customer since 2008, and while initially it was not very proactive with software upgrades, the company’s philosophy has changed over time. Today, Carol McMillan, Naturipe’s senior IT director, emphasizes the importance of upgrading and upskilling the team regularly.

“There’s actually more of a risk not upgrading the product and not upskilling your team than there is being more aggressive with that timeline,” she says. Since migrating to 51��S/4HANA in 2018, the company has undergone three upgrades, including .

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“We migrated to RISE with SAP, and we are looking at how we use those tools to optimize our supply chain and to create a better user experience for our workforce. Our workforce is constantly changing, and technology needs to change with the workforce,” McMillan says.

She says it’s also important to stay at the forefront of technology in order to solve business problems efficiently, and notes that technological advancements have been crucial in managing the company’s exponential growth: “You can’t have linear growth in technology when you have exponential industry growth.”

McMillan says the Naturipe team uses SAP’s technology to prioritize its people and customers, improve workplace happiness, and give users a better experience. “We use technology to make sure that we’re running as optimally as possible,” she says. “We look at process improvements and try to be at the forefront of technology. So, keeping up with the upgrades on a regular basis helps us be prepared for when business problems need to be solved, that way we already have the technology there to be able to solve them.”

Delivering the freshest, highest-quality products to customers 365 days a year requires constant agility—especially in a category influenced by weather variability and the complexity of a highly time-sensitive supply chain. “Berries have a very short shelf life, so getting the best quality to our customers as quickly as possible is essential,” she says.

To support this commitment, Naturipe Farms has invested in advanced logistics and supply chain technologies that enhance speed, visibility, and decision-making. These investments help ensure timely delivery of fresh products while also supporting employee satisfaction and work-life balance through wellness programs and flexible work arrangements.

Looking ahead, Naturipe wants to further enhance the user experience with more powerful tools and learn how to make better use of all the tools that come with RISE with SAP. McMillan also identifies the potential of AI and the adoption of tools like Joule to improve Naturipe’s operations. “We really want to make the best use of AI and to give our users the best experience possible,” she says.

Her advice for other organizations in the agricultural industry includes the importance of putting people first, using technology to drive strategic growth, and not being a prisoner to risk. “It’s just as risky to not upgrade your technology as it is to have an aggressive timeline and have the tools that you need in order to drive that exponential growth,” she says.

How Hitachi High-Tech’s Greenfield Transformation Simplified Life for Its Users

David Aguirre — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 12:15:00 +0000

A clean slate sounds great! But it’s a brave call indeed to implement from scratch, especially if you’re a big multinational. Yet a decades-long 51��customer did just that, driven by its own customers’ demand for speed – and a clear mission.

“Our mission is to help the customer be fast-moving,” Takuya Sakai, general manager of Hitachi High-Tech Corporation’s Digital Transformation Business Group, said in after appearing in an 51��TechEd keynote last year. “And our corporate vision is a simplified customer process.”

So, in the name of speed and simplicity, Hitachi High-Tech did more than just modify its solution architecture; the Tokyo-based subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd. opted for a greenfield 51��S/4HANA transformation. That meant designing and building a new environment customized for its specific needs.

And it did so via an ambitious digital experience program with the goal of helping to simplify its customers’ high-tech processes across nano-technology, analytical and medical, as well as other business categories.

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Jumping into the Greenfield

Hitachi High-Tech had run 51��ERP as the backbone of its global business since the 1990s, enabling decades of smooth operation and implementation, as well as allowing regions to tailor development to their specific needs. But it also resulted in about 9,000 add-ons – coding added over the decades to enable bespoke functionality – from reports and input screens to complex manufacturing-related processes.

Add-ons can help users customize software for specific tasks. But, especially over time, they can become unwieldy, hindering the organization’s agility and adaptability.

“After our digital experience project, we made the decision to jump into a greenfield so that we don’t transfer all that from our legacy system to our new 51��S/4HANA platform,” Sakai said. “We changed processes, and we changed technologies.”

Indeed, the jump into a greenfield – implementing a new system on a virtual blank canvas, without migrating pre-existing data, customizations, and more – helped Hitachi High-Tech slash its 9,000 legacy add-ons to a mere 800 add-ons, according to Sakai. And Hitachi High-Tech developed most of those new add-ons side-by-side via 51��Business Technology Platform (51��BTP); not altering code helped minimize modifications, which safeguarded stability, agility, and speed.

And, Hitachi High-Tech stopped add-on development completely on 51��S/4HANA, according to Sakai.

How Two Tiers Equal One Clean Core

In its greenfield, Hitachi High-Tech built a two-tier model: one tier featured 51��S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition for the company’s small and midsize sales offices overseas, allowing them to use relatively simple ERP tools, while the other tier runs 51��S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition for Hitachi High-Tech’s larger domestic manufacturing.

“Side-by-side development on 51��BTP…allows for faster upgrades,” , “giving our people more immediate access to improved functionality.”

Moving operations from an increasingly customized – and, therefore, cumbersome – legacy system to 51��S/4HANA Cloud offered flexibility, speed, and security, . This can be useful when demand surges, for example, or for offering more frequent upgrades.

But the two tiers still need to exchange data. That’s where 51��BTP fits.

“We have to integrate two ERPs, so that’s why we set up 51��BTP between the two tiers,” . “We’d like to keep our 51��S/4HANA core clean…so we use 51��BTP as a business hub and a development foundation.”

Building a Simple, Smart Digital Process

“Using 51��BTP, we can build a simple, smart digital process without touching our 51��S/4HANA core,” Sakai said, echoing what he shared during his 51��TechEd keynote appearance. “That’s very, very powerful because we can introduce new functions to the user…and we believe 51��BTP is very important for accelerating our business.”

Sakai appeared at 51��TechEd to tell the story of Hitachi High-Tech’s greenfield transformation, during which employees had to adapt to new process, screens, and reporting. They ended up with every office digitally connected, which proved to be a tremendous benefit.

And that type of business case is “the most important thing” in a transformation, according to Sakai.

“51��is not just a software company, but also something like transformation company,” Sakai said. “Of course,” he added with a smile, “the system also is very important.”

David Aguirre, Author at 51����News Center

51����Helps Boost Grupo UMA’s Motorcycle Production

51����Helps Berry Producer Naturipe’s Exponential Growth

How Hitachi High-Tech’s Greenfield Transformation Simplified Life for Its Users

Jumping into the Greenfield

How Two Tiers Equal One Clean Core

Building a Simple, Smart Digital Process

David Aguirre, Author at 51��News Center

51��Helps Boost Grupo UMA’s Motorcycle Production

51��Helps Berry Producer Naturipe’s Exponential Growth