IFF's Hangzhou facility recently became the first IFF facility in the Asia Pacific region, as well as the first non-English speaking site, to successfully implement the SAP Enterprise Resource Planning system.

IFF Hangzhou is located in the town of Xi'nanjiang, four hours southwest of Shanghai on the banks of the beautiful Xi'nan River. With a staff of 180, it manufactures over 2,000 tons of fragrance ingredients annually and is one of five sites that comprise IFF's global aroma chemical business. Ninety percent of its production is exported to affiliates and customers all over the world, with the rest going to customers within China.

The smooth transition to the new system was almost anti-climactic. “I never realized how boring a good implementation can be,” said Adrie Verboord, who managed the implementation. “You sit and wait, and keep waiting for some problem to arise so that you can do something.” It took 36 hours into commissioning to get his wish: a minor problem surfaced, but was quickly resolved and the first shipment rolled off-site without incident.

The implementation was also unique because it involved IFFers from six different countries. From the beginning, it was an interesting learning experience for everyone involved—not only from a functional and professional perspective, but also because of the diversity of backgrounds and cultures that were in the mix. “The cultural differences were always cited as an additional challenge in the Hangzhou implementation. However, I was certain that the aspects that make a good team—dealing openly with each other and treating everyone with respect—are common across all cultures, and the success of this implementation is proof of that,” Verboord said.

Steve Huang, Vice President, Aroma Chemical and Ingredient Manufacturing, who has been actively promoting global teams in the aroma chemicals organization, said, “It is not very efficient to drag people from different sites into one room for a meeting that will last a day or two at best. But now (with SAP), they spend a week or more together and get into great detail on their specific areas of operation. Not only is this a natural setting for best practice exchange; it also helps create strong interpersonal working relationships that they will use in the future.”

As General Manager Tony Wu said, “This is not the end of a project, but a new beginning for IFF Hangzhou. Besides providing a powerful tool to increase site productivity, SAP will help us to respond to our customers' needs better.”