Ocean Network Express (“ONE”) was announced as Highly Commended Winner of the Adam Smith Awards Asia 2018 (Harnessing the Power of Technology category) at the prestigious Gala Presentation Lunch, held at Four Seasons hotel in Singapore on Thursday, 15th November 2018. In receiving this prestigious award, ONE was recognised for its excellence and outstanding achievements in using the latest technology to centralize the treasury operations by establishing efficient cash management globally with its banking partner HSBC and implementing a global integrated system with its technology partner SAP. This helped ONE to speed up the integration and adoption of a single corporate process and culture in just less than a year, when such merger would typically take longer than that to result in full integration of the businesses and treasuries.
The Challenge
Ocean Network Express (ONE) was formed in 2017 and is the result of a merger between the three largest Japanese shipping lines: Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (“K” Line), Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) and Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK). At the time of the merger, all three had different systems, bank accounts, workflows, cultures and operating models, resulting in the need to transform the individual treasuries into one structure that would:
- Ensure operational efficiency
- Centralize payment to vendors
- Optimise turnaround time for receivables
The challenge, then, was to action a programme that would deliver a new structure to integrate the differing workflows, operating models and cultures of the previously three separate entities.
The Solution
The right solution to deliver the objectives would require best in class technology together with the robust & unified banking network. Working with appointed banking partner, HSBC, ONE’s Treasury team implemented a Global Cash Management System (GCMS) with host-to host enabled enterprise resource planning system linked to an in-memory, column oriented relational database management system, enabling support for close to 250 accounts in 44 countries.
Best Practice and Innovation
A centralized account and treasury structure were created to merge three distinct, highly decentralised treasuries into just one across regulated and deregulated markets; payments jurisdictions and restricted and non-restricted currency types. The consolidation minimized manual handling of payments and collections, enhanced operational efficiency with automated processes and ease of recognising cash balance/transactions through single bank platform.
“First of all, I would like to appreciate the assiduous support by our banking partner, HSBC and all ONE’s staff globally to set up our GCMS and winning the Adam Smith Awards Asia. It is a great moment and a significant accolade and milestone for ONE to demonstrate our capacity not just to invent a new system but also to unite all the affiliates in the single principle of GCMS. Meanwhile, this award is not an end goal for our GCMS. We will never stop our continuous efforts for the further enhancement of GCMS to realise more efficient cash management collaborating with all parties in and outside of ONE. I sincerely appreciate the continuous support and commitments of all related parties for ONE’s GCMS enhancement.”
