SeAH Group Modernizes Critical MES System 3x Faster with OutSystems

Challenge

Modernizing the manufacturing execution system against a ticking clock

Built on a philosophy of making the world beautiful through steel, SeAH Group has been a force in the industry for over six decades. Their internal systems have been valuable assets, but decades of use had resulted in accumulated technical debt, making it difficult for the company to adapt to a rapidly changing market. With a massive shift to S/4 HANA for its core ERP, modernizing the manufacturing system was a critical component of their digital transformation. SeAH Group needed a solution that could keep their legacy systems stable and enable agile responses to business needs. And the deadline was tight.

An innovative solution was in order. “Modernizing hundreds of complex screens within an absolute time constraint of 7 months was impossible with traditional methods,” explained SeAH Group's DX Leader. The company needed an application development platform that could handle complex business logic and integrate with existing systems and make the deadline. OutSystems low-code offered the capabilities proven to solve their immediate crisis and drive future growth.

Solution

A phased approach to MES modernization

The core project for the OutSystems platform was to transform SeAH Group’s 15-year-old legacy MES into a modern, web-based system, capable of managing and monitoring work processes on a factory floor in real-time. Partner VNTG added extensive domain knowledge and played a crucial role in executing this strategy. The project team delivered well beyond the initial scope, successfully launching hundreds of complex screens.

The project leader emphasized the strategic approach: "The key to successfully completing the project within a tight schedule was 'selection and focus.' Among various tasks, meeting the deadline was mission-critical, and OutSystems was a platform that effectively supported this strategy."

He also added, "We had to minimize analysis and redesign time by maintaining as much of the 15 years of accumulated business logic as possible. OutSystems seamlessly integrated with our existing backend, allowing us to focus solely on frontend modernization." By also ensuring UI continuity to minimize user resistance, the transformation was fast and accepted by users. SeAH is now pursuing a group-wide expansion, using a phased approach to digital transformation rather than a high-risk "big bang" replacement.

Results

Time becomes a business asset

SeAH evaluated the success of the MES modernization project through the lens of their most critical constraint: time. The results proved that they could meet the seven-month deadline, but they also transformed developer time into a valuable business asset. The project leader noted, "Developer productivity improved by 3 times compared to before. Developers with diverse backgrounds were integrated into one team in just 2-3 weeks and deployed to the project." The time to add new features was cut by up to 70%, allowing SeAH to respond to market and field demands at an unprecedented pace.

With the new system, user bug reports have dropped by 90% and significantly increased maintenance efficiency. "With less time spent on incident response and stabilization, more 'future time' is available to invest in valuable innovation activities," said the DX Leader.

With the success of this project, OutSystems is now a central platform for SeAH’s future digital transformation initiatives, and the company plans to use this success model to modernize other core systems and build new digital services.

SeAH Group sees the OutSystems platform’s combination of AI and low code as a paradigm-shifting game-changer. The group plans to take advantage of low-code flexibility and speed combined with AI learning and knowledge to help build solutions for quality prediction, equipment, anomaly detection, and safety management.