Case Study: Turning 70 Warehouses into a Global Model: A Digital MRO Transformation
About the Client
The client is a global enterprise with core competencies in life sciences. With over 100,000 employees worldwide, the company is committed to driving innovation that improves lives, from pharmaceuticals and consumer health products to advanced solutions in agriculture. Its manufacturing sites are held to the highest standards of reliability, safety, and efficiency—making maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) a strategic priority.
The Strategic Challenge
In 2020, the client made a strategic decision to rethink its maintenance organisation globally—starting with one of its largest pharmaceutical sites in Europe. This facility, acquired from a legacy organisation, operated with a highly decentralised and partially non-digitalised spare parts setup. It consisted of around 70 disjointed warehouses and numerous hidden data sources—ranging from Excel sheets on local drives to outdated inventory systems.
Key challenges included:
- Non-standardised part descriptions across departments
- Lack of centralisation or visibility—many parts had no names, photos, or metadata
- Inability to share stock even for identical parts
- Multiple inherited manual processes
- Ongoing integration of new production facilities
- A high volume of duplicate or obsolete parts
Earlier attempts to address these issues internally and with temporary support proved insufficient. The organisation needed a future-proof solution to prepare maintenance for the next decade.
Why They Chose SPARROW
Following an RFP process, the client selected SPARROW for its strong domain expertise in software engineering, AI, MRO, and product data. While other providers offered similar cataloguing features, SPARROW stood out for its willingness to build a true partnership and grow with the customer. The team adapted quickly, took feedback seriously, and demonstrated a deep understanding of operational realities.
“Your work is truly outstanding—fast, high quality, and consistently well acknowledged. It really stands out compared to competitors and even other IT partners we work with. Great job.”
The Implementation
SPARROW began by analysing the site’s existing situation and cleaning raw material data, including descriptions and images. This was followed by:
- Harmonising part descriptions across business units
- Structuring data in an SAP-compatible format
- Introducing standardised workflows and eliminating legacy manual steps
- Supporting change management and onboarding efforts to drive adoption
Importantly, SPARROW didn’t just implement a tool—they delivered a best-practice framework grounded in operational reality. The team worked side-by-side with shopfloor partners and integrated feedback loops to refine both tools and processes.
“If anybody in your organisation says there are no duplicates—bet €100 you’ll find some. At this site, we reduced materials from 70,000 to 55,000. That’s 20% duplication proven, not theoretical.”
Results & Impact
- Duplicate reduction: From 70,000 to 55,000 materials (a 20% cut)
- Warehouse consolidation: From 70 scattered warehouses to just 13
- Full SAP integration: Clean, harmonised data now used across departments
- Better emergency response: Unified data enables smoother collaboration
- User adoption: ~500 daily users across the organisation globally
- Scalability: The European pilot is now a global reference model
Lessons from the Field
This site was one of the first to embrace digital MRO transformation within the client organisation. While technical hurdles were expected, the real challenge lay in change management.
“Change is not about data or tech—it’s about people. Once they understand the ‘why’ and see their feedback implemented, everything else follows.”
SPARROW and the client jointly focused on clear communication, user involvement, and aligning technical change with strategic goals. As a result, new workflows became part of everyday operations—not just another system.
The Bigger Picture
SPARROW was founded in 2019 with the mission of solving spare parts challenges across all functions—operations, procurement, IT, and engineering. This project exemplifies that mission in action: delivering not just clean data, but harmonised collaboration across a complex global organisation.
“That moment came when we started seeing the impact not just on the system side but in everyday operations. People were actively using the tools, giving constructive feedback, and the new workflows started to become part of daily routines. That’s when we realised this is not a test anymore. It’s delivering real value.”
