Halcor: Forging Metals’ Future with Supply Chain Solutions
In an era of increasing supply chain difficulties and heightened demand for sustainable materials, industries face the challenge of adapting their operations to address pressure from both ends. Halcor, however, has navigated these challenges with resilience. Halcor specialises in producing, processing and marketing copper and copper alloy products.
This all-in-one approach has helped it become the leading copper tubes producer in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
As the division of ElvalHalcor SA, Halcor serves as a trusted business partner to equipment and parts manufacturers and wholesalers, distributing products to meet global demands. Despite the scope of its operations, Halcor has remained resilient in the face of supply chain disruption by implementing new solutions to innovate its operations.
A legacy of excellence
For over eight decades, Halcor has been at the forefront of developing value-added solutions that address evolving client demands. Its products serve crucial sectors including plumbing, HVAC&R, renewable energy, architecture, engineering, and industrial manufacturing.
"We operate with a customer-centric approach, aiming to increase our market share, penetrate new segments, and focus on international markets while investing in new and environmentally friendly products," states Anastasia Toupali, Supply Chain Director at Halcor.
This ethos of keeping a happy client is one of the reasons Anastasia occupies her position today. She joined Halcor around four years ago as Supply Chain Director, bringing with her more than 20 years’ supply chain experience gained in manufacturing companies.
It was this experience she drew heavily upon as she set about rebuilding Halcor’s supply chain strategy.
Upon joining, Anastasia faced the challenge of creating a cohesive supply chain function from previously standalone departments. "When I joined Halcor, the supply chain role as we know now didn't exist," she recalls.
Anastasia, therefore, had the task of building the supply chain function at Halcor by integrating the related departments under one umbrella.
Today, the company has an end-to-end supply chain mentality.
Technology for the new times
Halcor has implemented several strategic measures to not only address the challenges supply chains face, but to better optimise its operations.
One big challenge with supply chains is when an issue occurs at the source. Think back to Covid and access to PPE as an example, or the very recent Red Sea crisis.
With the potential for catastrophic disruption in mind, Halcor has gone to great lengths to diversify its supplier base for critical components, avoiding bottlenecks.
“Ensuring supply chain resilience in such an environment involves several strategic measures, such as a diversification of suppliers for critical components, so as to avoid the dependency on a single source,” Anastasia explains. “We foster strong relationships with our key suppliers to improve collaboration and communication. We also try to source from suppliers closer to our home market, or even locally if there is availability of what we are requesting.”
Alongside relationship building, which is a part of any successful business, Halcor has implemented specific technological solutions to improve stability and agility in the supply of its materials.
“We use a software solution to gain real-time visibility of the transportation of our raw materials, a solution that we plan to expand to all inbound and outbound shipments,” Anastasia explains. “We conduct regular risk assessments to identify vulnerabilities, not only in the supply chain, but all over the company and we develop contingency plans for various disruption scenarios,”
To do this, the company utilises SAP's ERP system, Asprova as an advanced production scheduling system to optimise production planning and execution, alongside SAP's Transportation Management System which is currently under implementation to enhance logistics operations.
This optimisation is reflected right down the line, with Halcor also working on cloud solutions for efficient fleet management of its vehicles and automations in warehouse operations and loadings as well as manufacturing.
“We now have a supply chain function which consists of procurement, planning, logistics, and order management,” Anastasia says. “We have also created a pillar dedicated to Value Stream Mapping in order to drive optimisations through the lean principles.”
Equally, Halcor has prioritised Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and AI in its supply chain and manufacturing processes.
“One of our most recent applications in this area is automation through SAP BTP, where we use AI to automatically allocate purchase requisitions of uncoded materials and services to the responsible buyers,” Anastasia says. “We are exploiting all possibilities to improve our efficiency and productivity – enhancing transparency, visibility and decision-making.”
Forging a future with tech
Despite already having systems in place, Halcor and its Director of Supply Chain, Anastasia, are far from complacent. “I don't believe that one can ever say that a technology plan is fully realised,” she asserts. “With every step forward, new requirements emerge, and new ideas are generated.”
Halcor recognises that continuous digital transformation is crucial for enhancing competitiveness and driving sustainable growth in the international landscape. This commitment is reflected in their ambitious future plans for technology integration.
“Digitalisation is fundamentally changing manufacturing,” Anastasia explains. “At the heart of this transformation is the integration of digital technologies into supply chain management, leading to significant benefits in efficiency, transparency, and operational effectiveness.”
To support this vision, Halcor has established a dedicated role focused on digital transformation within the supply chain.
Digital transformations can be notoriously challenging, with consultancy McKinsey research suggesting that 70% fail to meet stated goals.
Rather than relying on an external consultant for an as-you-go style of transformation, Halcor embedded the process into its organisational DNA.
This proactive approach positions Halcor at the forefront of addressing industry challenges and sets a benchmark for sustainability. “The principles of sustainable development are embedded in our company strategy and culture,” Anastasia says.
The company’s products are also linked to green energy. It prioritises purchasing and using recycling metal in products, and has partnered with the EcoVadis platform, business sustainability ratings and compliance solution, to evaluate the sustainability criteria of its suppliers.
Initiatives like this, paired with its proclivity for local sourcing, is how the company promotes both sustainability and local businesses.
“People are a top priority, as Halcor is our People,” says Anastasia. “This is why we develop and implement trainings for our people and for our partners, and why we run improvement programmes.”
Reskilling and upskilling are vital at a time of labour shortages, and Halcor’s efforts in this area have been pivotal to its success.
“I think everything is linked together. So in order to ensure that the products are delivered to our customers on time, that they meet high quality standards and they are produced efficiently, it's absolutely critical to have the right people properly trained, the right processes, systems and tools and last but not least, a customer-centric culture.” says Anastasia.
“This holistic approach not only enhances customer satisfaction, but also drives the skill level and processes optimisation within Halcor and contributes to long-term business success,” she continues.
Partnerships pushing Halcor higher
It’s not just internally that Halcor is pushing the envelope. Being an industry leader, it also takes a customer-centric approach to its partnerships.
“We consider both suppliers and customers to be our partners,” she says. “We work with our customers on product and solution design, and with our suppliers on how to produce these in the most efficient way.”
Halcor works with partners who bring external solutions to bear in a supply chain setting to fulfil its vision. One notable partnership is with PwC, which began with a supply chain diagnostic three years ago. “This was the beginning of a strong relationship,” Anastasia explains. “PwC helped us define key initiatives and then supported us with knowledge and expertise in more follow-up projects, helping us accelerate our way to transform our end-to-end value chain.”
This helped open up new sectors for the company and helped it deliver on its customer-centric ethos.
“PwC was our partner in the first major Value-Stream Mapping project,” she says. “They supported the creation of our order-management department, in order to boost Halcor’s extrovert culture and ensure better customer service.”
They have been working together for the last 3 years, in a longstanding partnership Anastasia describes as being based on trust and mutual benefit.
On the technological side, Halcor maintains close cooperation with SAP, and with TEKA Systems, a Viohalco company that is recognised as one of the leading business solutions providers in IT, for business solutions and for their insights on the agile deployment of them.
With RPAs and AI being the technology showing so much promise for supply chain processes and Halcor in their current implementation, Anastasia explains how she is keeping her eyes wide open for future opportunities for further partnerships and expansion of agreements in that area.
Halcor heading into the future
As Halcor is evolving beyond copper, Anastasia envisions a supply chain that is agile, resilient, and sustainable. She sees the company continuing to leverage advanced technologies and strategic partnerships to optimise performance and enhance customer satisfaction.
“It's everyone's opinion that our world is much more complex and volatile than ever before and that the business disruptions have become the new normal.” asserts Anastasia.
“Therefore, businesses need resilient and agile supply chains —not only to forecast risks but mainly to react quickly to whatever challenges may arise."
Halcor’s Supply Chain ongoing transformation projects, particularly in order management, logistics, and implementing automations, aim to provide the necessary agility for the new reality.
"I believe with every step we take on this journey, we will witness a significant transformation – not only in the supply chain but all over the business, as we enhance efficiency, visibility and responsiveness," Anastasia concludes.
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