BMI Group: Simplifying operations and driving growth with SAP Cloud ERP Private
Consolidating 44 systems into one cloud ERP solution
BMI Group, a leading roofing and waterproofing solutions provider, is consolidating 44 disparate ERP systems into a global template, with a single SAP Cloud ERP Private solution at the core. This effort is delivering the scalable, secure, and flexible cloud foundation the company needed to simplify processes, improve operational efficiency, and support profitable growth.
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Mill products | Reading, United Kingdom | 8,200 employees |
less time spent on system upgrades and maintenance.
faster invoice processing cycles.
more time to focus on new development and innovation.
Chief Information Officer, BMI Group
Consolidating complexity to unlock operational efficiency
BMI Group is an operating company of Standard Industries, a privately held global industrial company with businesses spanning building solutions and specialty chemicals and annual revenues of approximately $11 billion. Across its platform, Standard Industries has over 20,000 employees in approximately 50 countries.
On its rise to becoming a leader in flat and pitched roofing and waterproofing solutions, BMI Group has brought together some of the most iconic brands in the industry, including Icopal, Braas, and Monier. Decades of growth and acquisition gave the company a powerful portfolio, but it also created a landscape of different ERP systems with their own data, workflows, and processes.
With so many systems in play, gaining a clear and consistent view of the business became challenging. Understanding production costs, freight, and rebates—especially when products moved across borders—required effort, interpretation, and time. Leaders couldn’t always access the unified insight necessary to determine prices, assess plant performance, or respond to shifting market dynamics.
Evolving regulatory and sustainability expectations across Europe added another layer of complexity. While not impossible, providing accurate, traceable data demanded hours of manual work and coordination across multiple platforms and teams.
Customer-facing teams felt the impact as well. Since each market operated on its own ERP system, they did not have real-time visibility into orders, stock levels, or delivery timelines. The lack of a shared digital backbone limited the ability to be as proactive as they wanted to be, no matter how diligently teams worked together to serve customers.
At the same time, broader market pressures from inflation, rising energy costs, and slower building activity made efficiency more important than ever. Managing dozens of systems created operational overhead and required continual reconciliation and corrections just to close the books with confidence each month.
BMI recognized that the next stage of its growth required more than incremental adjustments. To achieve its ambition of becoming the world’s most innovative premium roofing company, it needed an integrated, data-driven digital landscape with harmonized processes and new levels of automation, insight, and agility.
Chief Information Officer, BMI Group
Implementing a unified cloud foundation with comprehensive integration
BMI needed a digital foundation that could enable its collection of strong local companies to act as one truly connected global enterprise. An SAP Cloud ERP Private solution offered that balance by offering the security, control, and flexibility required for a multicountry operation while still delivering the benefits of a managed cloud environment and a steady stream of innovation.
By implementing the solution through a greenfield approach, BMI gained a fresh opportunity to redesign its processes in a cleaner, more standardized way. Leveraging SAP Services and Support offerings, the company was able to complete a lift-and-shift migration to SAP Cloud ERP Private. This move preserved operational continuity while strengthening the long-term foundation of its landscape and preparing BMI for innovation, growth, and a business-wide rollout in the future.
A dedicated enterprise architect for the RISE with SAP journey connected BMI directly with SAP experts around the world. This partnership enabled the team to navigate day-to-day decisions, uncover best practices, and steer the transformation.
BMI is also extending its SAP software infrastructure through SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) to enable integration that follows a clean core strategy. SAP Build Work Zone, which is part of the platform, supports a modern user experience, while additional solutions across analytics, supply chain, and customer engagement further unify and expand capabilities.
Security and compliance were equally key factors in choosing SAP Cloud ERP Private. Built-in controls, regulated processes, and an audit-ready environment help ensure operations run smoothly across markets with evolving sustainability and data protection requirements.
Chief Information Officer, BMI Group
Achieving standardization and paving the way for growth
Since consolidating multiple ERP systems into a global template with a single SAP Cloud ERP Private solution at the core, BMI has made major strides in simplifying operations and standardizing core processes across the business. The unified environment now gives teams accurate, timely, and consistent insights into sales, inventory, and operational performance in every market already live on the solution.
With SAP managing patches, upgrades, and system performance, BMI now spends 60% less time on system upgrades and maintenance. This shift has given the organization 30% more time to focus on new development and innovation, allowing teams to reinvest their energy into projects that move the company forward.
As part of its remediation and process-optimization efforts, BMI has realized significant operational improvements. Purchase-order creation-to-output cycle time has improved by 66%, dropping from 2.77 days to 1.22 days. Invoice processing times were cut nearly in half, decreasing from 14.56 days to just 6 days. These gains reflect the impact of standardized processes, cleaner data structures, and a more reliable digital core.
The transformation has also enabled more-tax-efficient supply chain operations, allowing BMI to optimize global sourcing and manufacturing while maintaining compliance across diverse European jurisdictions. Enhanced transparency—particularly for cross-border flows—supports stronger profitability analysis and more-informed decision-making.
Equally important are the early benefits realized from using a clean core approach. The latest upgrade of SAP Cloud ERP Private highlighted areas where custom code could be realigned or relocated to SAP BTP. When those changes were implemented, upgrade readiness and system stability improved and laid the groundwork for smoother enhancements and future innovation.
Chief Information Officer, BMI Group
Advancing business intelligence, insights, and global consistency
BMI is now focused on expanding its digital capabilities to support the next wave of growth. A key priority is preparing the organization to deploy SAP Cloud ERP Private across its remaining facilities in Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. This rollout will unify BMI’s biggest commercial markets on one ERP solution and enable a more consistent, insight-driven way of operating across the business.
To support this expansion, BMI plans to refine the financial and operational structures within its cloud environment, including enhancements to profitability analysis, forecasting accuracy, and master data alignment. The company will continue advancing its clean core approach by moving custom logic to SAP BTP, helping ensure future upgrades run smoothly and new innovations can be adopted with minimal disruption.
Strengthening BMI’s data and analytics foundation is another major focus. The organization intends to deepen its use of the SAP Business Data Cloud solution, specifically the SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Datasphere solutions, and other related components of SAP BTP to unlock faster reporting, richer scenario planning, and more actionable insights across sales and supply chain functions. These improvements will allow teams to respond more effectively to changing demand patterns and market conditions.
AI will also play an increasingly strategic role as BMI’s use of SAP Cloud ERP Private expands. After initial experimentation in areas such as finance and customer service, the company plans to broaden its use of SAP Business AI to support predictive insights, automated workflows, and more proactive decision-making. Over time, the goal is to shift from reactive operations to a model where issues, trends, and opportunities can be identified before they surface.
Together, these plans position BMI to build a more intelligent, scalable, and resilient digital ecosystem—one designed to further support its people, strengthen its customer relationships, and power its evolution toward more innovative roofing solutions.