Domtar JD Edwards Implementation

About the Client

Originally known as Burt, Boulton Holdings, Ltd., Domtar, Ltd. was founded in England by Henry Potter Burt in 1848. The company specialized in treating lumber from decay as the booming demand for railway ties and wharf pilings grew in North America and Europe. Today, Domtar has grown into a leading manufacturer of fiber-based products in more than 50 countries, with 13 pulp and paper mills in North America, 10 converting sites, as well as 6 personal care facilities in North America and Europe. It is committed to turning sustainable wood fiber into useful products such as papers, market pulp, and absorbent hygiene products. After combining its business with the fine paper operations of Weyerhaeuser in 2007, Domtar became the largest North American manufacturer of uncoated communication paper. With Headquarters in Fort Mill, South Carolina, Domtar employs approximately 10,000 people and has revenues of $5.3B. It is traded on the New York (NYSE) and Toronto (TSX) Stock Exchanges.

Challenges the Client Faced

Domtar faced many challenges as it looked to upgrade to the latest release of JD Edwards. Domtar’s original JD Edwards EnterpriseOne implementation from 8 years earlier included numerous customizations, which prevented Domtar from being code current with Oracle. Second, the system had stability issues, requiring frequent reboots to the server. In addition, the users disliked the system, there was no disaster recovery plan, and EDI orders were taking longer to process than manual orders. Lastly, Domtar’s business model has evolved over the years and now required an agile system to support its customers across a significant distribution network in the US and Canada. The current implementation was not set up to meet these challenges. 

GSI's Solution

Domtar chose GSI to perform a hybrid business transformational upgrade to their JD Edwards EnterpriseOne system for several reasons. GSI’s executive team was extensively involved in the due diligence process. GSI also mitigated risks by providing a 100% guarantee. They had an in-depth understanding of Domtar’s issues and how to address them, providing KPIs to back up their estimates. GSI also had more mature delivery processes and had the most technical depth of any company they spoke to during their evaluation. After the upgrade was complete, Domtar knew they had made the right decision with GSI. “JD Edwards EnterpriseOne now provides the foundation and agility needed to meet the demands of Domtar’s customers across its significant distribution network.”, said Sei Fujikawa, Director COE Supply Chain Operations. “After upgrading to the latest release of JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, which included the elimination of numerous customizations, Domtar is now able to remain code current and is now covered under Oracle support. Domtar also worked with GSI and their GENISYS Performance Optimizer tool to ensure the system will handle future load requirements to migrate the entire paper business orders onto JDE.” In addition, Domtar now has a disaster recovery plan in place that will have them back up in 24 hours. The system is now stable after eliminating the old customizations. The usability and efficiency of the EDI order process have improved tremendously. Today, 50% of EDI orders are now processing without manual intervention, and they are working to improve it even more.