Into the limelight: A manufacturer's journey to IFS Cloud with Baker Tilly

A century-old chemical manufacturer with operations across the United States faced a digital crossroads. This industry leader produces essential lime-based products that keep water treatment facilities running and food manufacturing safe. Their production facility processes hundreds of rail cars and truck shipments daily, serving customers who depend on the highest purity standards. Despite their operational excellence, the company’s technology foundation had not kept pace with their growth ambitions. The manufacturer successfully completed an IFS Cloud implementation, transitioning from a 25-year-old legacy system. The project was executed alongside Baker Tilly’s IFS Solutions team over multiple phases.  

In a recent conference, Baker Tilly’s Brian Wilson, Director and the manufacturer’s Business Lead for the implementation, discussed the rewarding IFS Cloud implementation, demonstrating how detailed planning, strategic use of customizations and change management can deliver transformational results in complex industrial environments.

Implementation approach 

The IFS Cloud implementation rollouts followed a deliberate six-stage phased approach over eight months, designed to minimize risk and allow for progressive learning. The rollout began with the first manufacturing site and corporate support services, progressed through smaller proximity sites with enhanced functionality and culminated with the largest facility featuring complex operations across 15+ loading locations. The manufacturer successfully ran legacy and IFS systems concurrently for approximately eight months during the progressive transition to IFS Cloud which allowed the team to work through issues and enhancements to the solution to reduce risk, gain buy-in and build self-sufficiency.

Results and benefits 

The implementation delivered notable operational improvements, including elimination of duplicate data entry across multiple screens, standardized operations across all facilities, real-time visibility for decision-making and reduction of manual processes by introducing integrated workflows. The manufacturer scaled from 30 shipments per day at the first site to 300 shipments per day at the final site, maintaining 24/7 operations throughout implementation phases and managing multi-modal shipping operations. The manufacturer now benefits from: 

• Streamlined user interfaces and mobile capabilities 
• Accelerated transaction processing 
• Enhanced planning and reporting tools 
• Consistent and optimized operations 
• Sustainable end-user training and documentation 

Success factors 

This transformation displays value for organizations with high-volume shipping operations, multi-modal transportation requirements and complex supply chain networks. The project’s success stemmed from critical elements, including a phased rollout approach that allowed for risk mitigation, dedicated business resources supporting key personnel, strategic timing with buffer periods between rollouts for issue resolution and strong collaboration between the company and Baker Tilly with consistent on-site support throughout rollout phases.  

How we can help 

Baker Tilly’s client-centric approach focuses on true transformation rather than simple system migration. With IFS and Baker Tilly, you have a strategic partnership that offers unparalleled breadth and depth of industry experience, allowing you to accelerate your output and dynamically enhance your business while making no compromises to the way that you go to market.  

Ready to bring clarity and control to your operations?