Microsoft Dynamics
Customer Solution Case Study
Paper Manufacturer Increases Productivity by
up to 50 Per Cent with Integrated Solution
Customer: WARAQ
Web Site: www.waraq.com
Number of Employees: 500
Country or Region: The Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia
Industry: Manufacturing—Pulp and paper
recycling
Partner: Right Experts
Customer Profile
Established in 1994, WARAQ is a paper
manufacturing company in Saudi Arabia. It
employs 500 people who produce raw
materials for the corrugated carton
industry.
Software and Services
 Microsoft Dynamics
− Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0
“We measured how quickly employees created,
approved, and submitted an order for materials. With
the workflow created in Microsoft Dynamics AX, we
found it had improved by 50 per cent.”
Ghassan Tayyem, Information Technology Director, WARAQ
WARAQ is a paper manufacturing company based in the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia. It wanted to provide employees with tools to
manage finance, stock inventories, production, sales, and
purchasing. In 2007, it deployed Microsoft Dynamics® AX business
management software. The solution has reduced manual tasks and
equipped employees with the tools to manage operations
successfully. Productivity has increased by up to 50 per cent since
the solution was introduced.
Business Needs
For more information about other Microsoft
customer successes, please visit:
www.microsoft.com/resources/casestudies
WARAQ was created in 1994 by a group of
investors who saw a new business
opportunity in the corrugated carton
industry. Mohammed Al-Hashim, Chief
Executive Officer at WARAQ, says: “There
were several corrugated carton plants in
Saudi Arabia, but 100 per cent of the raw
carton material they used was sourced from
other countries. We saw a demand for the
provision of high-quality eco-friendly
packaging products created from domestic
raw material.”
To establish its own raw source material,
WARAQ created wastepaper collection
centres in Dammam, Riyadh, and Jeddah. At
these centres, recyclable paper is gathered
and prepared for processing at the
company’s paper mills. The pioneering
system quickly established WARAQ as a
leader in the Saudi paper manufacturing
industry, and the business rapidly increased
in size and scope.
This growth and achievement presented
several challenges, including the ad-hoc
development of systems to support supply
chain functions for different business units.
Without a unified, standardised operations
system, managers found it difficult to gain
insight into sales and logistics issues,
including running costs, warehouse stock
quotas and output, while employees found it
hard to coordinate activities, such as the
pickup and delivery of shipments.
Ghassan Tayyem, Information Technology
Director at WARAQ, says: “We wanted to
automate more of the tasks our employees
carry out manually, while our managers
needed greater control over production,
overheads, and output, and required more
sophisticated data on finances, inventory,
purchasing, and sales operations.”
One of the company’s key objectives was to
reduce the manual processes employees
used for configuring paper-cutting machines,
managed by a third-party application. In 2005,
WARAQ evaluated business management
solutions, focusing on ease of integration and
availability of support.
Solution
WARAQ enlisted the help of a third-party
consultant based in Bahrain to evaluate
several leading business management
solutions from providers including Microsoft,
Oracle, Sage, SCALA, JD Edwards, QAD, and
SSA Global. And, after some research,
Microsoft Dynamics AX was chosen. “We
wanted enterprise-class features with the
scalability and flexibility to manage the unique
aspects of our business. But we wanted to
achieve this in the most cost-effective way.
Microsoft Dynamics AX satisfied our
requirements perfectly,” says Tayyem.
WARAQ chose Microsoft Gold Certified Partner
Right Experts to deploy Dynamics AX and to
customise modules to suit its business
requirements. Right Experts worked with the
WARAQ IT team to integrate Dynamics AX 4.0
modules for finance, inventory management,
sales, supply chain, and production
processes.
Microsoft Dynamics AX software looks and
works the same way as other familiar
Microsoft applications and is accessed by
clicking on a desktop icon. WARAQ
employees can use comprehensive tools to
manage all aspects of the supply chain,
generate detailed financial reports, and
track and monitor stock inventory and sales.
Right Experts added functionality to enhance
systems for purchasing, quality control and
other production processes.
Tarek Hazem, Project Manager, Right
Experts, says: “One of the major challenges
faced by WARAQ was the integration
between the sales module, and the
company’s third-party paper-cutting software
and production modules. But we showed
WARAQ how to develop and integrate these
modules and create new workflows using the
Microsoft Dynamics embedded development
tools.”
Right Experts followed Microsoft Dynamics
Sure Step implementation methodology to
add new functions, such as automatic forms
for requisitions and quality control. Hazem
says: “By following the Microsoft Dynamics
Sure Step methodology we didn’t encounter
any deployment problems.”
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Benefits
Tayyem says: “Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0
has transformed operations across the
company. Managers have access to
sophisticated data, which gives them greater
control over output, while employees can
easily comply with our business processes.”
Many of the production tasks previously
handled by employees are now automated,
supporting greater productivity and lowering
operating costs.
All rights reserved. This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS
SUMMARY.
Document published June 2009
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Data is timely and accurate. Data from all
business units is aggregated and
consolidated in a single repository in real
time, providing timely, accurate, and
relevant information to employees.
Managers have greater insight. Managers
can customise reports to include the data
needed to run their business units
successfully. For example, employees can
create reports contrasting production and
sales to evaluate the company’s financial
status.
Stock inventory is closely monitored.
Employees responsible for auditing the
stock inventory can easily trace
transactions and keep tight control of
output and purchasing.
Integration supports compliance. Business
rules are tightly integrated with workflow
tasks, helping employees comply with
standard production processes and work
more effectively.
Employees are more productive. The
solution has automated many manual
production processes, such as obtaining
approvals for requisitions. Tayyem says:
“We measured how quickly employees
created, approved, and submitted an
order for materials. With the workflow
created in Microsoft Dynamics AX, we
found it had improved by 50 per cent.”
Users adopt technology quickly. Supported
by the Right Experts training programme,
the familiar Microsoft interface, and userfriendly tools, employees were quick to
embrace the technology.
Technical support is readily available.
Right Experts is an experienced partner
and can assist WARAQ with technical
workflow support when needed. Also, by
following Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step
methodology, deployment proceeded
quickly and without problems.
Solution is simple to customise. The team
at WARAQ can easily integrate
applications with Microsoft Dynamics AX
to support new business requirements.