When Bernd Niessen, Operations Director at Habufa Meubelen, began evaluating ERP alternatives four years ago, he faced a dilemma familiar to many manufacturing leaders: How do you modernize a system that’s been the backbone of your operations for 25 years without risking business continuity?
For Habufa, a 400-employee Dutch furniture manufacturer with operations across Europe, the stakes were particularly high. As a family-owned business founded in 1968, they couldn’t afford the luxury of a “big bang” implementation that might disrupt their carefully orchestrated supply chain and customer relationships.
“We could never work in a big bang situation,” explains Niessen. “We couldn’t spend two or three years working on a new ERP system and then one day pull the plug and say ‘starting tomorrow, this is the new system.’ We always envisioned a step-by-step transition.”
The Make-or-Buy Philosophy That Guided Their Decision
Habufa’s approach to technology has always been guided by a fundamental question: make or buy? For 25 years, they had chosen to “make” – building and maintaining their own ERP infrastructure with internal IT resources.
“Habufa believes in keeping IT capabilities as much as possible in-house,” says Niessen. “But we don’t close our eyes to the possibilities that external partners could offer.”
This philosophy led to an annual evaluation process where Niessen would assess whether external solutions could deliver improvements that their internal team couldn’t achieve. By 2020, the answer was becoming increasingly clear: certain capabilities they wanted to implement would be difficult to realize with their existing infrastructure and resources.
Why They Chose NetSuite Over the “Usual Suspects”
When Habufa began their vendor evaluation, they started with a comprehensive requirements document and looked at the typical enterprise players – Microsoft Dynamics, SAP, and other established ERP providers.
“A large portion fell away in the preliminary analysis because they couldn’t connect to the minimum functional requirements we had,” Niessen recalls.
NetSuite, presented through their partnership with Rsult, stood out for several reasons:
- Integration capabilities: Superior openness for communication with customers, suppliers, and third parties through APIs
- Proven track record: The recommendation came through John Schrijvers from Rsult, whom they knew from his previous role at their accounting firm Witlox Van den Bomen
- Honest assessment: “John was very realistic in his story – he said we didn’t have to go with them, we didn’t have to go with NetSuite. We would look together to see if NetSuite was a solution.”
However, NetSuite wasn’t perfect. Two critical functionalities were missing: purchase planning capabilities and configuration tools for complex, multi-component products like their customizable furniture sets. Rather than being deterred, Habufa and Rsult developed a roadmap to address these gaps over time.
The Step-by-Step Implementation Strategy
Phase 1: Finance and Warehouse Management
Instead of attempting to replace their entire system at once, Habufa began with two critical but contained modules:
- Financial management: Streamlining accounting processes and improving debtor management
- Warehouse management: Optimizing inventory control and logistics
“We started with these modules and allocated a specific timeframe,” explains Niessen. “We mapped out the entire process together and stayed in close contact throughout.”
The Power of Iterative Problem-Solving
When challenges arose during implementation, both teams employed what Niessen calls “mini-sprints” to address issues quickly:
“When we encountered a problem together, we picked it up immediately. We brought in the right players from both Rsult and Habufa and then pushed the project in the right direction again. It’s a very pleasant way of working – you don’t have to wait a month and then find out things are going wrong.”
Critical Success Factor: The Right Project Leadership
One of Niessen’s key learnings was the importance of matching project leadership to the phase of implementation:
“We should have switched to the second project manager sooner,” he reflects. “The first project manager led us through the standard setup, but the second project manager started with us to optimize processes, adapt them, looking at the possibilities within NetSuite and our wishes. That second project manager was really a bullseye.”
Measurable Results: Quality Above Quantity
The implementation delivered significant improvements in operational efficiency:
Enhanced Debtor Management
“The processes we had in debtor management, we were able to make more efficient through NetSuite,” says Niessen. “Our debtor managers had much more time to focus on details and were able to significantly lower outstanding debtor balances.”
Eliminated Manual Interventions
“For up to 30% of our customers, we work with EDI modules that are seamlessly connected to NetSuite. The same applies to our B2C operations – we’ve achieved seamless integration with PostNL and our logistics service provider JCL through NetSuite APIs.”
The result? “No manual work is involved anymore in order confirmations, delivery confirmations, delivery schedules. No human hand touches these processes.”
Resource Reallocation for Growth
Perhaps most importantly, the efficiency gains freed up high-skilled resources for strategic initiatives:
“We can deploy the capabilities of highly qualified people for new projects instead of needing them to manually intervene in certain processes. We can use them to integrate NetSuite into other parts of the business.”
Building Trust Through Incremental Success
One of the most significant challenges in any ERP migration is user adoption, especially when replacing a system that teams have used for decades.
“When you’ve worked with your own software, your own possibilities, your own programmers for 25 years, you always wonder how outsiders with other solutions will be received,” acknowledges Niessen.
The step-by-step approach proved crucial for building internal confidence:
“We had a pretty high level that Result had to match. Gradually throughout the process, we saw that we could rise above that level, certainly in terms of functionality. The users were positive about that. It spreads like an oil slick – trust develops, and other users in other departments become enthusiastic about starting with the same possibilities and software.”
Enhanced Customer Relationships
The professional improvements extended beyond internal operations to customer relationships:
“A much more professional impression of Habufa has emerged for our customers,” says Niessen. “The impression that they really know what they’re doing at Habufa. That impression was already there, but it has increased considerably.”
The integration eliminated the “gray areas” that previously required manual intervention and customer discussions:
“Through the integration and use of NetSuite and documenting all steps, that gray area is gone. Our debtor managers rarely have to discuss these kinds of topics with customers anymore. The customer now knows that what Habufa writes and the documents behind it are sound and completely consistent.”
The Five-Year Roadmap: Complete Transformation
With the success of the initial phases, Habufa has developed a comprehensive five-year plan to fully transition from their legacy system:
- Logistics module: Streamlining supply chain operations
- Sales and inside sales module: Enhancing customer service capabilities
- Purchasing module: Optimizing procurement processes
- Marketing and communication module: Integrating customer communications
“We’re going to continue for the next five years, step by step, until the old software is completely phased out,” explains Niessen. “Then we’ll have everything running on NetSuite Oracle in combination with the customizations we’ve been able to add through SuiteScripts.”
Key Success Factors for Manufacturing ERP Migrations
Based on Habufa’s experience, several critical factors emerge for successful ERP transformations:
1. Start with High-Impact, Lower-Risk Modules
Beginning with finance and warehouse management allowed Habufa to achieve significant benefits while learning the system without disrupting core production processes.
2. Maintain Operational Continuity
The step-by-step approach ensured that business operations never stopped while transformation occurred incrementally.
3. Invest in Integration Capabilities
API-first architecture proved essential for connecting with customers, suppliers, and logistics partners without manual intervention.
4. Match Project Leadership to Implementation Phase
Different phases require different skill sets – technical setup versus process optimization and change management.
5. Build Trust Through Early Wins
Small successes create momentum and buy-in for larger transformations across the organization.
6. Plan for Long-Term Vision
Having a clear multi-year roadmap helps ensure each phase builds toward the ultimate goal while maintaining focus on immediate deliverables.
The Competitive Advantage of Seamless Operations
Today, Habufa operates with greater efficiency, reduced manual intervention, and enhanced customer relationships. But perhaps most importantly, they’ve freed up their most valuable resource – skilled people – to focus on growth initiatives rather than operational maintenance.
“We can now deploy high-level people for new projects,” emphasizes Niessen. “We’re working on automating our entire purchase order and goods flow within NetSuite. We’re busy with rebranding our French collection, which will be fully integrated into NetSuite. These are fundamental processes that are now being changed.”
For manufacturing leaders facing similar decisions, Habufa’s story demonstrates that it’s possible to achieve comprehensive ERP transformation without the risks associated with big-bang implementations. The key lies in careful planning, strong partnerships, and the discipline to execute a step-by-step strategy that prioritizes business continuity alongside technological advancement.
As Niessen concludes: “We can look back with Rsult on a very good result together.”
