Allkem

The origins of Allkem

It is well known that new lithium-related projects are being developed around the world to increase international scale and product flexibility to address significant market growth, which is underpinned by a global transition to a net zero carbon future.

In this context, Allkem Ltd was formed in August 2021 from the merger of two Australian companies, Orocobre and Galaxy Resources, to provide:

● A top 5 lithium chemical company in the world

● A highly complementary portfolio of assets

● An industry-leading growth profile

● Synergies unique to this combination

● A highly experienced board of directors and management team

● Increased scale and financial strength.

From there, the company expanded into Argentina, Australia, Canada and Japan.

The global IT strategy and the first S/4 Hana Go Live on Rise: “Sal de Vida” project

Background

● My role in Orocobre as head of IT was extended to Allkem, and while the company based the corporate IT function in Buenos Aires, the team went on to have a presence in APAC, Argentina and Canada.

● The company had to, in the shortest possible time, integrate both companies under the same operating model, for which the standardization of processes and systems would be key.

● The design of the application strategy was based mainly on SAP products (S/4HANA, SFSF, Ariba, Concur, BTP, Signavio, etc.), considering that they were the most suitable to unify practices in the different countries, where SAP and non-SAP solutions coexisted.

Agility in deployment

● In addition to product selection, the choice of services and technologies would be critical for fast and appropriate delivery.

● Taking into account different criteria (Alignment with global strategy, Business fit and flexibility, Size, scalability and performance, Software change and maintenance, Operational risk, Long-term costs and transition risk) it was analyzed which combination of instances to use, as well as which would be the best ecosystem to support an agile deployment of the product.

● It was decided that S/4HANA operations would be run on Rise and hosted in Microsoft Azure as hyperscaler.

Sal de Vida, the first Go Live

● From the prioritization exercise that led to the application roadmap, it emerged that the first implementation of S/4HANA would be in Sal de Vida (SDV), a lithium carbonate production venture that is in the development stage. Is located in the Salar del Hombre Muerto at 4,000 meters above sea level, in Antofagasta de la Sierra, Catamarca province, Argentina.

● This implementation would be the corporate model that would then be deployed as a rollout in the group's other assets.

Lessons learned and perspectives:

● The project was completed on schedule and within budget.

● Strong senior management sponsorship was key to bringing us in line with the standard.

● Rise is still new to the entire SAP ecosystem, and there is a need to improve the support scheme to reduce response times.

● SAP Value Assurance professional services enabled us to resolve issues that would otherwise have affected the plan.

● However, the decision to grow in Rise was key for a quick implementation in Sal de Vida and for the agile development of the S/4HANA roadmap:

   ◦ Jul 22: Go Live Catamarca (implemented).

   ◦ Jun 23: Go Live Canada (deployed).

   ◦ Dec 23: Go Live Jujuy/Buenos Aires (in progress).

   ◦ Feb 24: Australia (ongoing).

● In addition, it was very helpful to accelerate delivery by defining a global template that would be replicated (with minor adjustments) in each deployment.

In conclusion, I would say that, to accompany the business in contexts of high growth and permanent change, it is essential for IT to design agile solutions that can be deployed and scaled quickly. With ups and downs, I am sure that this is the path we are following.