Story highlights
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At a glance
- Industry - Manufacturing
- Region - United Kingdom
- Company Size - 900+ employees
- Project - Sustainable Precious Metals (SPM), a world-first e-waste recovery initiative
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Products & Services
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management
- Power Platform
- Microsoft Azure
- Data and AI platforms
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Results Snapshot
- 90 tonnes of UK-sourced e-waste to be processed every week
- 15 weeks to deliver the Minimum Viable Product
- World-first sustainable precious metals programme
The Customer
The Royal Mint, established over a thousand years ago, is one of the world’s leading authorities in producing coins and metals. Located in the United Kingdom, it has a rich history and is responsible for minting the country’s official currency, the British pound sterling. With state-of-the-art facilities and expertise in precision minting, The Royal Mint produces high-quality coins and commemorative medals that are cherished by collectors and used in everyday transactions.
The institution’s commitment to innovation and security ensures the integrity and trustworthiness of the currency it produces, making The Royal Mint a symbol of excellence in the field of numismatics.
The Challenge
Like all forward-thinking manufacturing organisations, The Royal Mint has come to recognise the undeniable importance of sustainability and is factoring sustainable practices into its everyday operations. It is opening a plant to recover precious metals from electronic waste, and once up and running, the precious-metals recovery site is expected to process 90 tonnes of UK-sourced e-waste every week.
Embarking on its world-first Sustainable Precious Metals (SPM) programme, The Royal Mint recognised the need for a seamlessly established new ERP system to assist the entire manufacturing process, from the moment e-waste is sourced all the way through to products reaching the consumer. That includes tracking e-waste as soon as it comes in, managing the removal of component parts, identifying them, and then moving them into the business. Building an effective ERP system was therefore critical, but it also represented a huge opportunity.
The Solution
Hitachi Solutions worked closely with The Royal Mint to deliver a people and business-led engagement, which initially focused on understanding the organisation’s needs and goals, then worked out what enabling technology was required within the Microsoft technology stack to turn those needs into real-world outcomes. The team went on to implement a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management solution to support this ground-breaking journey, with a Minimum Viable Product delivered within 15 weeks of inception and a second phase of change following close behind.
From a technology perspective, this involves the full suite of Dynamics 365 Business Applications, the Power Platform, Azure and the Data and AI platforms. From a people perspective, it’s centred around change management and digital innovation.
The Royal Mint also transitioned its on-premises organisation to the cloud, allowing for greater technological flexibility, fast and effective integrations, and the ability to scale up elastically during busier periods. Moving to the cloud has also enabled The Royal Mint to enhance its data management and cybersecurity, both of which lie at the heart of its technology strategy, with a self-serving data management function created to surface information to the business in an organised, controlled and secure way.
Why Hitachi Solutions
The Royal Mint valued a partner that felt like an extension of its own organisation rather than an outside supplier. Hitachi Solutions brought a project team that stayed for the full duration of the engagement and integrated closely with The Royal Mint’s people, combining full Microsoft-stack expertise with a clear focus on change management and digital innovation.
Hitachi Solutions brought in a great project team who we kept for the full duration. They engaged with The Royal Mint side of things very effectively. It really felt like they were part of our own team.
The Benefits
- A new cloud ERP supporting the entire SPM manufacturing process, end to end
- The ability to track e-waste from arrival, through component recovery, into the business
- A move from on-premises to the cloud for greater flexibility and elastic scaling in busy periods
- Fast, effective integrations across the technology estate
- Enhanced data management and cybersecurity, central to The Royal Mint’s strategy
- A self-serving, organised and secure data function surfacing information to the business
What’s Next?
As Hitachi Solutions and The Royal Mint continue to work as a collective team, the project will open up significant opportunities for innovation, with a focus on adding new functionality through Microsoft Power Platform, robotic process automation, and emerging technologies such as AI and machine learning. All of these are expected to deliver significant long-term benefits, with the hope that other mints around the world will look to take on similar approaches.
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