Their challenge

H.B. Fuller is a $3 billion manufacturer providing adhesives, sealants, and other specialty chemical products to customers around the world.   

With around 26,000 orders active at any given time, the company ships tens of thousands of products per month. However, they had no visibility into potential delays and no way to proactively alert customers about late orders. As a result, customer satisfaction rates fell and H.B. Fuller risked losing business.  

They knew they needed to find a way to alert customers about delayed orders and improve customer satisfaction. Unable to find a quick solution in their SAP environment, the company began exploring Microsoft Power Platform. Familiar with our manufacturing and Power Platform expertise, Microsoft introduced MCA Connect to H.B. Fuller.  

Our solution

By surrounding and modernizing SAP with Power Platform, we’re paving the way for future investments in Microsoft technology.

We began with a Power Hack-a-thon showcasing Power App security models and creating flows and connectors with Microsoft Power Automate. After seeing the possibilities specific to their business, H.B. Fuller decided to expand their investment in MCA Connect and Microsoft Power Platform (750 enterprise licenses).  

Proactively addressing risks and improving communication

To help H.B. Fuller proactively address fulfillment risks and improve customer communication, we created a Power App that tracks the status of customer orders. We surfaced these insights in Power BI with color-coded dashboards, so employees can easily see if an order is on track, in jeopardy, or delayed. They can then take appropriate steps to notify affected customers or shift around materials for quicker fulfillment. This provided a significantly more affordable alternative to the nearly half-a-million-dollar bid they received for a specialized third-party application. 

Phase one of the low-code order visibility solution went live with positive results. In phase two, we’ll enhance the app to surface orders that were supposed to ship but didn’t. Phase three will involve direct integration into SAP, while phase four will provide detailed order tracking from shipping dock door to customer door.  

What’s next?

Over time, H.B. Fuller plans to roll out the Power App to other locations throughout the company. The low-code order visibility solution is the first step in the company’s mission to create an order management control tower and move to exception-based management.  

Expected results

With the new low-code order visibility solution, H.B. Fuller:  

• Improved on-time fulfillment and reduced expedites
• Gained better visibility to track orders more easily
• Boosted customer satisfaction rates by offering a better customer experience

Microsoft impact to date:  

• 750 Power App licenses
• BizApps Pre-Sales funding to support pilot, demo, and hack-a-thon
• SAP surround win