Over the last two years, the SAAM Towage team has been working on the Tripanko project. Helm and NSE software implementation is critical to the initiative, which aims to transform the division’s operations, maintenance and purchasing processes.

With rollouts in Panama, Mexico, Uruguay and Canada, NSE implementation has reached 65% completion at the global level. Meanwhile, Helm is 78% complete and has already gone live in Panama, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Peru and Brazil.

User training has been critical to going live in those countries. More than 750 people have received training on one or both software, even with the pandemic-related scheduling changes.

Liliana Ojeda, the Project Manager at SAAM Towage responsible for Helm implementation, commented, “Tripanko faced an additional challenge: addressing the pandemic and safely maintaining operations. I would especially like to highlight the effort put into the training strategy, the change management plan and communication.”

Looking toward 2022, we expect to continue making progress until we complete the rollout in all the countries where training has occurred. Alan Smith, Tripanko Project Manager for NSE noted that the challenges would be, “Rolling out in all the countries, which we expect to complete in the first half of the year; second, closing gaps with respect to the model we seek; and finally, transitioning from a rollout approach, which focused on standardizing the way we operate, to a continuous improvement approach.

Ojeda added that they aim to consolidate the data governance model to “continue improving and make sure we are harnessing the full power of these tools. Platforms like Helm are constantly updated. We want to remain on the cutting edge while seeking new initiatives that complement the project.”