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TRUSTED SINCE 1985
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END-TO-END SOLUTION
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ANZ NATIONAL SERVICE
THE CHALLENGE

With 72 warehouses, manufacturing, and processing facilities throughout ANZ, including 1,500 staff, Vulcan Steel required a solid and comprehensive ICT strategy.

THE SOLUTION

Embrace a digital transformation journey to replace and uplift IT infrastructure.

THE BENEFITS

Technology innovation projects that harness workforce modernisation will continue to shape the company for many years to come.

Operating at the forefront of the steel industry requires vision, strength, and resilience, along with a solid and comprehensive ICT strategy. That’s why Vulcan Steel, considered one of Australasia’s highest performing metals distributor, formed a partnership with ASI Solutions to embrace digital disruption and technological innovation. This move aims to transform business operations, deliver sustained growth, provide superior service, and support its enterprising growth strategy.

As a business, we’ve embarked on some expansion, having recently acquired Ullrich Aluminium, which adds to the network reach and scale of Vulcan, supports our growth strategy, and delivers fantastic synergies for us as a group.

Bob Kombora, Head of IT Operations, Vulcan Steel

Established 60 years ago, Ullrich is an integrated aluminium distributor with extrusion facilities.

Blending and mixing IT

Acquisitions are a pivotal way for organisations to blend and become stronger, and integrating IT systems after an acquisition involves many moving pieces.

In Vulcan’s case, Kombora mentioned the need for a tech refresh that not only updated key elements of the IT infrastructure to maximise system performance but also catered to the geographically dispersed needs of all staff. A strong partner was needed to achieve these goals.
“We recognised we needed support from a service provider like ASI to ramp up technology adoption and help fit our essential IT elements together.”

Working with ASI, the Vulcan IT team successfully migrated and integrated 44 sites, along with 700 employees, in less than 10 months across two countries: Australia and New Zealand.

“The integration was very aggressive and remarkable. It was a pretty impressive feat, considering the multitude of challenges we faced from logistics and supply chain issues across Australasia and around the world, to the many difficulties associated with integrating geographically dispersed locations,” he said. Like Kombora, ASI procurement manager NZ Monique Phua noted the grand scale of the integration project and its logistical complexities, requiring the expertise of a Trans-Tasman partner like ASI, which aligned well with the ethos of Vulcan.

Given the complexity, and foot in two countries, Vulcan needed to deal with one integrator across New Zealand and Australia for all of its hardware procurement needs to deliver outcome-based solutions to the business.

Bob Kombora, Head of IT Operations, Vulcan Steel

Power of ‘workplace modernisation’

With its support partner, Kombora aimed to modernise and transform through a combination of technologies to optimise the employee experience, increase collaboration and productivity, while also balancing security requirements.

Managing and minimising work disruptions was the ultimate goal. It was so important to be able to reach all those sites quickly and enable people to work with minimal disruption so they could continue to work and achieve business goals and outcomes.”

Before initiating change, ASI Solutions and Vulcan needed to critically assess their existing technology. Kombora highlighted the importance of this comprehensive review as the initial phase. This led to a structured modernisation strategy, where over 400 devices were deployed, Kombora said.

“One of the main challenges we faced, and worked so hard to resolve, was dealing with aged technology and older infrastructure.” he said.
That’s where the ASI Solutions team stepped up, helping Vulcan through the integration processes by fostering a culture of innovation, prioritising change management. “We needed to roll out the technology that would let us have the ease of use for our users and supplied our team with modern devices.”

Transition training

As part of the refresh, ASI Solutions facilitated a smooth transition for staff, Kombora said, by providing the team with access to the right technological toolkit and comprehensive training to perform their jobs effectively.
The fit-for-purpose Microsoft Surface rollout included a wide range of devices and multiple variants across the fleet, catering to all use cases and business requirements, including the needs of mobile users, as well as workers requiring more power and capability with CAD drawing functionality.

“We cater to a diverse range of users across our business with multiple divisions. This meant we required a partner capable of assisting us in achieving our goals, especially in Australia, where rapid nationwide implementation was essential for efficiency and speed. “Training and support provided by ASI Solutions was so important to grow the knowledge base and improve skill sets right across the board. Education on accessibility features, how to use text to speech, how to use OneNote, how to use OneDrive, how to set up a hotspot, as well as training on a host of productivity features was essential, Kombora said.

“Given the differences in the landscape and what our incumbent users were used to, we needed a partner that could do the training with The Aluminium Team and help them unlock the benefits of Surface devices . What are the key features? How can these devices make your life easier? How can they make you more efficient? How can you get the best out of the technology to make you better at your job”

But like every technology integration program, resistance is inevitable. Often, the process of change tends to be the hardest part, and often less scary than the actual technology adoption itself. Kombora admitted that the cultural aspect of change management needed to be carefully considered.

“We need to be mindful that we’re dealing with individuals facing a wave of change. This involves adapting to new practices, assimilating into varied cultural landscapes, and implementing different systems. It’s a complex transition that demands both patience and adaptability.”

IT a ‘strategic enabler’

Founded in 1995 by Peter Wells, who had a vision to become the most customer-focused and efficient metals distributor in Australasia, Vulcan initially distributed carbon steel, gradually expanding its portfolio to include plate processing, coil processing, stainless steel, and engineering steels.
“To ensure ongoing success, we will maintain our focus on crucial aspects such as inventory, quality, people, and service. We have the management team, the motivated workforce, the infrastructure, and the ambition to keep at the forefront of the steel industry for the next 25 years and beyond.”

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