E.ON Sweden is part of the international E.ON energy group that employs 70,000 people in 15 different countries. The company has four plants and employs 2,100 people in Sweden, offering electricity, heating and smart energy solutions to a million private consumers and businesses.
In 2020, E.ON Sweden made the decision to streamline its fuel acquisitions, order management and fuel reserve management, starting with its plant in Örebro. With its 1 terawatt output, the plant is a major supplier of district heating across the country. Its production process is currently 95% biofuel-based and it will be fossil-free from 2025 onwards. E.ON Sweden holds the second largest market share in district heating in Sweden.
– What poses a challenge with biofuel is that it is needed in high volumes, it needs to be fresh and it is not very simple to store. Unpredictable weather also causes its own considerations. Therefore, we need to have clear data on the reserves we have and the reserves we need to have delivered to us, says E.ON’s Key Account Manager Mikael Norberg.
Our main objectives are to have a streamlined delivery process in place, have the right materials at hand when needed and follow the first-in, first-out procedure.
E.ON Sweden opted for the Once by Pinja solution, a SaaS service particularly aimed at managing material flows and having the right raw material in the right place at the right time. By replacing their current, largely manual system, E.ON Sweden will cut the time spent on fuel calculation down to half – and still get more detailed results.
– We decided on Once by Pinja for many reasons. One thing that convinced us was the high number of users that the solution already has in Finland, Sweden and elsewhere. It also had the functionalities specifically needed for biofuel supply chain management. Our main objectives are to have a streamlined delivery process in place, have the right materials at hand when needed and follow the first-in, first-out procedure. Price is also important, of course, but not the main thing, Norberg notes.
The development project has now proceeded to its practical implementation stage and will be carried out in trilateral collaboration between E.ON, Pinja and Triona, Pinja’s trusted local partner. A major part of Triona’s businesses lies within logistics and supply chains and they already work with many customers dealing with biofuel. In this case, Triona will provide its contribution in project management and customer support in Sweden.
As a result, E.ON will have an efficient tool for its fuel supply planning and fuel order management. Their storage and inventory management process will be automated, manual work and risk-proneness reduced and contract and order management made more efficient. The solution will also automate E.ON’s reporting and produce data for effective decision-making. What’s locally valuable in Sweden, the system will also interface with the unique national VIOL forest database.
Further steps in going global
Once by Pinja is one of Pinja’s 13 Software as a Service solutions for industrial customers and it currently has customer implementations in multiple countries across Europe. In Sweden, Once customers are using the solution in nearly 50 production sites today. For Pinja, collaboration with E.ON is another significant landmark of success in entering global SaaS markets.
– We are delighted that E.ON has chosen our software for their supply chain digitalization in Sweden and we are happy to partner up with Triona in the project. Our solutions are now used by customers in 30 countries around the world. We believe that our solutions can help industrial customers across the globe to expedite digitalization and improve productivity. We also provide business opportunities for local integration partners, says Pinja’s CEO Veli-Matti Nurminen.
Seasoned in innovative IT solutions in logistics and infrastructure, in particular, Triona brings highly valuable contribution to the overall project, especially in terms of effective customer support services and helpdesk functions in the local language.
– We are very happy to extend our customer base with E.ON and to provide effective complementary services in this project. We have deep knowledge and understanding of forest-related supply chains, including biofuel, forestry and sawmills. We work with VIOL in other assignments, too, and have a long history of collaborating with Pinja. We are also very familiar with the transportation of goods in other sectors and therefore feel well positioned to add knowledge and solutions across E.ON’s supply chain, comments Triona’s CEO Mats Bayard.
E.ON’s Once by Pinja solution is scheduled for deployment in late summer 2021, right in time before the next intensive heating period.
See also:
Blog: An Ecosystem of Energy and Circular Economy benefits all
