From service provider to strategic partner: This is why construction machinery manufacturer SANY relies on MHP’s HR expertise
Make-or-buy? Companies are no longer asking themselves this question only when it comes to physical means of production. Faced with a chronic shortage of skilled workers, scarce internal resources, and constantly increasing cost pressure, companies must carefully consider the extent to which business processes that have been internalized up to now can be undertaken more efficiently by external service providers. In this context, the spotlight traditionally falls on internal support functions from areas such as accounting, IT or HR.
The construction machinery manufacturer SANY has also recognized the advantages of this approach, known as business process outsourcing – and has found a strong partner in MHP.
Business process outsourcing (BPO) refers to the outsourcing of business processes that are not part of the company’s core area of expertise to external service providers. This enables the company to focus more strongly on its core business and opens up new potential for reducing costs and increasing efficiency.
Machinery manufacturer SANY
Founded in China in 1989, SANY is now one of the world’s leading companies in its sector.
Its product range extends from small compact excavators to large cranes that are used in ports and on construction sites all over the world.
The company is also represented in Germany: In all, 100 employees work at SANY Europe’s headquarters near Cologne.
Too Important to Fail: Active Support for Core HR Processes
As in every business area, there are also business processes in HR where failure is simply not an option. The best example of this is payroll accounting. After all, omissions and delays can have serious consequences for companies, in the worst case scenario risking contravening labor laws. Nevertheless, core processes such as these are dependent on specific individuals in many companies. A lack of internal resources means there are no internal backups in many places.
This is the exact scenario that HR managers at SANY were confronted with – so they brought in a team of MHP experts as a backup solution to process payroll accounting. A decision that soon paid off. When the person responsible for this function at SANY had to take a long-term leave shortly afterwards, our team was able to step in immediately and seamlessly compensate for the absence.
“Our approach of outsourcing certain HR functions gives us the flexibility to focus on developing and growing our core competencies. This is crucial for us to be able to react effectively to dynamic market changes.”
SANY
From Backup to Strategic Partner
What began as a “fire-fighting operation” has developed into a strategic partnership. Payroll accounting is now handled in tandem by MHP experts and SANY managers, which enables an optimal exchange of knowledge and experience. Our experts are also constantly on the lookout for ways to further refine the process. Checklists and process documentation ensure greater transparency in the process as a first step and thus reduce the dependency on individual people.
The successful partnership in payroll accounting serves as a blueprint for other sub-processes along the H2R process chain. The close relationship of trust that already exists between SANY and MHP paves the way for a seamless expansion of the collaboration at any time. After all, almost every standard HR process offers potential for automation and optimization – for example through targeted use of AI.
AI & HR: The Dream Team for More Efficiency
Whether it’s with SANY or any of our other customers: When it comes to optimizing standard HR processes, there is no way artificial intelligence can be avoided. Working together with our customers, our teams analyze with precision which processes promise the greatest increases in efficiency and develop appropriate business cases. This includes, for example, the complete automation of simple processes using RPA (robotic process automation) and setting up chatbots to handle purely administrative and organizational questions from employees.
We firmly believe that AI can eliminate around 15% of all routine HR workload. On top of this, the manual effort involved in the remaining HR workload can be reduced by a further 15%. HR managers can dedicate the time freed up as a result to strategic tasks, such as promoting their own employer brand or personnel development.
“We aim to consistently drive forward the automation of our HR processes with MHP and fully exploit our potential for optimization. We want our specialists to spend their precious time on strategic issues instead of routine standard tasks. This will help us to remain competitive as an attractive employer in the construction machinery industry.”
SANY
More Freedom for Strategic Tasks – Despite Limited Staffing Levels
SANY benefits in three ways by outsourcing HR business processes to MHP:
- The smooth running of business-critical processes such as payroll accounting is no longer dependent on individual people and is 100% assured.
- Optimizing and automating existing HR processes results in tangible efficiency and cost benefits.
- Optimizing and outsourcing standard processes gives SANY HR new scope for value-adding, strategic projects. For example, SANY is using the personnel resources freed up to develop new management training courses.
"Our business services approach is based on the premise of enabling cost efficiency and sustainably refocusing on the core business. Exploiting economies of scale, process innovations and process automation is the answer to the shortage of skilled workers, cost pressure, and increasing complexity."
Andreas Richter
MHP | Partner
