Driving the FORWARD journey ahead, Ali Bin Ali (ABA) Logistics went live with the ERP system on Thursday, April 19, 2018. Operations in the two main sectors of ABA Logistics – financial and purchasing – will now be automated through the FORWARD system.
Considering ABA Logistics’ importance in the operation of most of our businesses, this Go Live has special significance for the Holding.
The added value that FORWARD will bring about in Logistics involves a shift from a manual process to more structured, accurate and centralized operations. After an intensive series of training sessions and data collection over the last one month, Logistics is ready to embark on this new journey.
In order to celebrate the successful launch of FORWARD in Logistics, a gathering was organized on Thursday at the ABA Logistics head office in the Industrial Area.
Apart from the Logistics team led by General Manager Jon Mayson, present at the event was FORWARD Project sponsor Mr. Mohamad A. Ebrik, ABA Group PMO Manager Mr. Youssef Farajallah Mahmoud and other members of the top management.
Opening the event and welcoming all, Mr. Mayson said: “Although the implementation of the FORWARD Project in Logistics has not directly involved the same number of staff as our recent Warehouse Management System (WMS) upgrade, it is still nonetheless a significant transformation project which will streamline our processes and bring improved efficiency to our transactions with internal and external customers. It has taken a lot of effort to get us to this point and a big thank you must go to the Finance Team who put in many hours to guarantee things went smoothly so far and at the same time ensured all their routine activities were completed as normal. I am proud that Logistics is once again taking the lead as one of the first Divisions to take on this transformation challenge. This is only the start however, no doubt there will be further difficult challenges before we complete our journey but I’m certain as a Team we can get there.”
Mr. Ebrik thanked the management of Logistics and said; “Even a month ago, we had debates and concerns about Logistics being the second division of the rollout. However, the project team and I gave our commitment that we should move forward because the scope is a lot smaller than previous other divisions. We succeeded in convincing them and the Logistics team that worked on the project proved that they were ready to Go Live on the Financial part. Once you start using the system, you might find some roadblocks, but I am sure that the FORWARD team along with your positive assistance will ensure the success of the project in Logistics.”
The event was also a perfect stage for handing over certificates of appreciation to the heroes at Logistics who went that extra mile to confirm the successful implementation of the system. Mosharraf H. Mridha, Suresh Nagarajah and Md. Mahmud Khan received the certificates from Mr. Mayson.
To add a fun element to the gathering, a small game was organized for the Logistics team working on the FORWARD Project. Mr. Mayson drove a forklift to bring in some cartons and the team had to organize and assemble these cartons to create the FORWARD and ABA Holding logo. It was a perfect initiation and enthusiastic flag-off for the Logistics new journey.