Transforming critical processes for Esken Renewables

THE CHALLENGE

Esken Renewables is the UK’s number one supplier of biomass fuel. They have long-term contracts to supply 1.7 million tonnes of fuel to biomass plants, generating renewable energy equivalent to the annual domestic electricity needs of 2% of the UK population.

In 2018 they partnered with a start-up technology company to develop a bespoke ERP system to sit across eight existing systems. However, there were multiple challenges with implementation, amplified by the coronavirus pandemic, and 60-70% of the ERP system did not get delivered. As the business changed significantly and technology advanced, Esken Renewables decided to replace the ERP with a system that would fit the company they are today.

However, there was one process that prevented them from doing this; the site operations team used the ERP to log the movement of their vehicles. To comply with Environment Agency regulations, each vehicle must be weighed when leaving the Esken Renewables depot, once again after collecting waste wood for the biomass fuel, and after they have tipped their load at a biomass plant. The Environment Agency uses this information to regulate permits for the industry.

The company approached Climber to help them replace this vital site operations process by implementing a new ERP using the Microsoft Power Platform. They chose the Power Platform because it would enable them to create low-code apps and workflows while reducing costs and development time.

THE APPROACH

We held two discovery workshops with Esken Renewables to understand their end-to-end process and to support the design of a comprehensive solution using the Power Platform. We allocated two developers who worked closely with the team.

“It was genuinely a hand-holding exercise throughout and to work with a team of people who all come to the table like that for you is rare.”

Lacey Jevans, Head of Improvement

A Power App would be used daily by the site operations team, who have varying degrees of technical knowledge, as well as the finance team at the head office and environmental staff. Power Automate would be used to integrate both Business Central and the Power App with the Weightron Weighbridges that their lorries are weighed on.

“The App has to be used by tech savvy people, as well as those who don’t own a smartphone. But even with this complex scenario, where there are lots of calculations going in the background, the Power App looks really simple.”

Lacey Jevans, Head of Improvement

THE RESULT

We delivered the first version of the app within four months and focused on ensuring that it was user friendly and intuitive to suit everyone. The new Power App is being used across the company’s five sites and we have issued a further release to ensure it adapts to the intricacies of their specific ways of working.

“The process was incredibly agile and we had a great working relationship. Whenever we asked a question because we didn’t necessarily have the internal knowledge, they always helped us. And when we asked to resolve an issue ourselves, when there was a bug, they helped us to do that.”

Lacey Jevans, Head of Improvement

Following the success of this project we are now working with the Esken Renewables team to replace their health and safety system with a Power App.