How Vervaet gained control and clarity with Isah ERP

Service and craftsmanship at the core

Vervaet was founded in 1957 by two brothers who, as Humbert-Laprade explains, enjoyed tinkering with anything that had an engine, from mopeds to cars and tractors. Gradually, the company evolved into an agricultural machinery manufacturer, and in 1974, they began building self-propelled beet harvesters. At the end of the 1980s, a new machine for slurry injection was developed. Since then, both the company’s size and its market reach have expanded significantly. From England to Ukraine and from Italy to New Zealand, Vervaet’s 180 employees deliver high-quality agricultural machinery worldwide, with service and craftsmanship remaining core values.

Humbert-Laprade has been with Vervaet for more than 24 years and has witnessed the company’s steady development. “With our beet harvester, we have become a true niche player,” He explains. “In the field of slurry injection machines, we are the market leader in the Netherlands and Belgium. For us, growth is not an end in itself, but when opportunities arise, we’re not afraid to take them. Still, we always make careful, future-focused decisions. Selling machines is one thing, but maintaining our service quality is equally important. As a family business, we are committed to continuously investing in long-term relationships with our customers.”

Managing increased complexity through smart automation

As the business expanded, the need for more structured working methods and better automation became clear. Humbert-Laprade explains, “In the past, we used a homemade application to manage some logistical processes and a separate solution for finance. Because these systems operated independently, it was very difficult for us to analyze where things were going well and where improvements were needed. Overall, we achieved good results and knew we were financially healthy. However, due to the increasing complexity of the business, we lacked insight into how we could do even better. That was the moment we realized we needed a solid ERP solution.”

Isah’s integrated financial solution sealed the deal

After an initial market exploration, Vervaet started a more intensive selection process at the end of 2017. Initially, they engaged in discussions with several ERP vendors. However, after various meetings and reference visits, they were not fully convinced by the solutions offered. Fortunately, around that same time, Isah came into view. Humbert-Laprade shares, “Because we had been working with so many standalone applications, we knew for certain that we did not want to go down that road again. We were specifically looking for a solution where there would be no separation between logistics and finance. When Isah gave a demo and shared the roadmap for their software, we were immediately interested. Isah was actively developing and rolling out its own fully integrated financial module. That was exactly the kind of solution we were looking for, and it became the decisive factor in choosing our ERP provider.”

A real pleasure for the user

“We were also very impressed with the engineering integration and with Isah Shop Floor Control,” says Humbert-Laprade. “The look and feel of the Shop Floor Control application is clean and simple to use. My philosophy has always been that software should not be a celebration for the programmer, but a celebration for the user. Everyone should immediately understand it and be able to work with it. With Isah Shop Floor Control, we had that feeling right away. Our conclusion was: if this is representative of what Isah stands for, we are very excited!”

Implementation has reshaped all processes

Implementation of Isah began in 2018 and, according to Humbert-Laprade, it had quite an impact on the organization. “You always hear the horror stories about ERP implementations that drag on forever. Honestly, we did not know exactly what to expect. Most of our employees had never worked with a real ERP system before.”

Isah advised Vervaet to set up a project team with key users from each specialization within the company. “That was very helpful because it ensured that everyone was involved. Together, we were constantly — and positively — challenged to think critically about our processes, with the goal of establishing a better way of working for the entire organization. This sometimes meant that more steps had to be taken in certain parts of the company, but these extra steps would create efficiencies later in the process. Naturally, that led to some discussions, but we always kept the higher goal in mind: gaining more insight to enable informed decision-making.”

Implementing an ERP system alongside day-to-day work was quite demanding for Humbert-Laprade and his colleagues. “The days when we worked with an Isah consultant went very well; the support and explanations were excellent. However, it would have been smart to immediately practice and apply what we learned the next day, but you often get caught up in daily business tasks. My advice to other companies facing an ERP implementation would be to free up as much additional time as possible. Besides the scheduled days with consultants, there should be room to continue working on the implementation independently. In hindsight, we could have managed that part a little more tightly.”

Real-world experience is the best teacher

Ultimately, Vervaet decided to go live in phases. As soon as the core system was ready, they transitioned to Isah. “In that sense, it is just like driving after you get your license — real-world experience is the best teacher,” says Humbert-Laprade. And with continued use, the system delivers real results. He shares several examples:

At Vervaet, teams work on both new builds and machine overhauls. “In the past, our clocking system allowed employees to log time against a batch project of, for example, 25 or even 40 beet harvesters. There was no distinction between different models, so it was impossible to see how long people were actually working on a specific machine. Thanks to Shop Floor Control, we can now perform much more accurate post-calculations, which gives us direct insight into which machines contribute most to our business results.”

Another major advantage Vervaet is experiencing is the much greater overall visibility. “For example, when a purchase order is created now, there is immediate financial tracking. This makes the entire process easier to follow and ensures that data only needs to be entered once,” Humbert-Laprade explains. “In addition, we now have much better visibility into the delivery of parts, per item group and per supplier. We can easily retrieve all kinds of data from the system.”

Vervaet has also become far less dependent on individual knowledge. “Everyone can now find information directly in the ERP system, making employees much more self-sufficient. Previously, you had to ask around to get the information you needed, but now we work much more efficiently. This transition is incredibly valuable: we are increasingly relying on processes and data rather than on individuals. Isah is the perfect tool to support this shift.”

Looking ahead

In the years ahead, Vervaet plans to further expand its data- and process-driven approach. “We want to build on this as much as possible,” says Humbert-Laprade. “Right now, we’re working on a product configurator that will allow sales orders to automatically feed into production. We’re also developing software that collects data directly from our machines for service purposes. Everything is aimed at delivering even better customer service and improving efficiency. But in the short term, our first priority is to strengthen the heart of Isah internally. We have already scheduled additional consultancy support from Isah to help with that.”

High praise for Isah’s consultants

Lastly, Humbert-Laprade wants to highlight the consultants’ contribution. “It’s a big commitment to become so dependent on one or two consultants during an ERP rollout. These people are your main support, and how they guide you will determine how well you’re set up for the future. I have to say, the professionalism and quality of the Isah consultants have been outstanding. They quickly understood our business and adapted to how we preferred to work. Their role went far beyond just explaining the software. They helped shape the blueprint for our processes and translated that into the most effective way to use Isah. That worked incredibly well for us. Hats off to the Isah consultants!”