Borg Automotive Group is in the process of gearing up its successful circular business for higher growth. CIO Niels Bering Larsen has a sharp focus on automation, streamlining processes, and scalability.
Bredana Axcite is with all the way as a steadfast consulting firm.
Borg Automotive Group is in the process of gearing up its successful circular business for higher growth. CIO Niels Bering Larsen has a sharp focus on automation, streamlining processes, and scalability.
Bredana Axcite is with all the way as a steadfast consulting firm.
Borg Automotive Group
Industry: Sales, production, and distribution
Size: Large
Solutions:
IT is geared for renewed growth in a circular success business
For four decades, Borg Automotive Group, headquartered in Silkeborg, has been collecting used car parts and refurbishing them. Through organic growth and acquisitions, the company has become Europe's largest independent manufacturer of spare parts for the automotive industry with more than 2,100 employees.
Just over a year ago, Niels Bering Larsen joined Borg Automotive Group as CIO. His task was to gear up the IT to support the continued growth. Bredana Axcite is assisting in solving some of the tasks in a close and trusting collaboration.
"We are in the process of building an international IT function that provides digitization for the entire organization," says Niels Bering Larsen.
"We are preparing for an even higher degree of automation and even more streamlined processes. Our overall solution must be scalable so that we also achieve economies of scale through acquisitions. It should be easy to connect new companies and quickly achieve transparency."
"We have a very trusting collaboration with Bredana Axcite," says CIO of Borg Automotive Group, Niels Bering Larsen - here together with CCO of Bredana Axcite, Mona Trapp."
Borg Automotive Group is owned by the publicly traded Schouw & Co., and the goal is to double the company every five years.
This places significant demands on the organization of the entire IT area.
Functions that were previously under other departments are now consolidated under IT, which has seen a 25 percent increase in staff over the past year, including experts in various applications.
"There is a significant element of change management and cultural uplift in what we are working on because we are moving from a certain degree of autonomy in individual companies, including within IT, to solutions that cover the entire group," says Niels Bering Larsen.
Close collaboration between consultants and internal staff
Bredana Axcite has been tackling tasks for Borg Automotive Group since the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.
In the past year, the dedicated consultant and development team from Bredana Axcite has, among other things, built a new "engine" for the Depos solution, which manages the extensive and complex collection and return of starters, generators, brake calipers, and more after refurbishment.
"We have a very trusting collaboration with Bredana Axcite. The consultants have a deep understanding of our business and engage in close collaboration with our own employees," says Niels Bering Larsen.
"When Bredana Axcite presents proposals, we know they are well-thought-out and aligned with Depos and our supply chain in general. We don't need to spend time specifying solutions to the smallest detail but can instead focus on discussing the direction we should take," says Niels Bering Larsen.
"It requires insight and understanding, and Bredana Axcite possesses that, also taking responsibility for the final solutions delivered by our Polish partner."
Bredana Axcite also ensures the integration between the customer portal and the ERP system.
"We are focused on delivering an even sharper value proposition to our customers, and the customer portal is an important tool here. Through automation, we can offer better and faster service," says Niels Bering Larsen."
A generator is like new when Borg Automotive Group has refurbished it. In the other hand, Niels Bering Larsen holds a similar generator that has just arrived at the factory.
Expertise in a complex supply chain and international business
Bredana Axcite was chosen as a consulting firm 12 years ago due to its proposals for solving and organizing the task. At the same time, Bredana Axcite could meet the requirement that Borg Automotive Group become a significant customer with a specialized supplier rather than a small fish in the pond with a very large supplier.
In the ongoing collaboration, Borg Automotive Group has been able to draw on Bredana Axcite's core competencies in supply chain management and the implementation of Dynamics AX – now Dynamics 365.
"Bredana Axcite has extensive knowledge and insight into our business. We have a good dialogue. It works in everyday operations," says Niels Bering Larsen."
When Bredana Axcite presents proposals, we know they are well-thought-out and aligned with Depos and our supply chain in general. We don't need to spend time specifying solutions to the smallest detail but can instead focus on discussing the direction we should take.
Niels Bering Larsen, CIO of Borg Automotive Group.
Refurbishing two million parts per year
For over 40 years, Borg Automotive Group has been working to deliver the best refurbished OE-matching auto parts and has grown into a family of attractive brands - DRI, Elstock, TMI, and Lucas.
Annually, more than two million parts are refurbished. Borg Automotive Group is thus part of the green transition, which also makes it easier to recruit new employees who want to work in an environmentally friendly company.
Borg Automotive Group is the only one in the industry that can deliver eight different product groups. Currently: Starters, generators, turbochargers, brake calipers, AC compressors, EGR valves, steering racks, and power steering pumps. There are 13,700 part numbers to choose from.
In 2014, Borg Automotive Group opened Northern Europe's largest warehouse of its kind with space for more than one million parts. With production facilities in England, Poland, and Spain, and warehouses in several European countries, the company is close to its customers.
"We are proud to grow on a circular business model that reduces energy consumption and the use of raw materials, and saves CO2 emissions," says Niels Bering Larsen.
More than two million parts are refurbished annually. Borg Automotive Group is thus a part of the green transition.
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