The Ocean Cleanup implements SAP S/4HANA Cloud for global operations

The implementation began with financial administration and purchasing modules for five Dutch entities. The upcoming phases will include project management and logistics modules that provide insight into The Ocean Cleanup’s complex river and ocean projects.

The Ocean Cleanup is implementing SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Public Edition to reorganize internal processes, enhance global collaboration, and support organizational expansion.

The organization, which focuses on reducing plastic pollution in rivers and oceans, has removed over 40 million kilograms of waste to date. By 2040, The Ocean Cleanup targets the removal of 90% of floating ocean plastic and aims to address plastic pollution in 90 river cities.

System migration to support growth

The Ocean Cleanup is replacing its NetSuite system with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Public Edition to manage global processes and international activities. The ERP platform provides scalability and can be adapted as processes, projects, and international activities expand.

The system enables coordination between financial teams and fundraisers for donation distribution across international projects, while project teams, engineers, and data analysts coordinate on technology, planning, and budgets for river and ocean initiatives.

"Coordination between teams is essential; we hunt plastic together as a pack. The system helps us with that collaboration, allowing us to respond to challenges," states Aurelia Ferraro, Senior Partnership Manager at The Ocean Cleanup.

Ferraro notes the organization's growth and increasing process complexity across multiple countries: "SAP S/4HANA manages that complexity." She adds that the transformation extends beyond technology: "Change and innovation are complex, but our organization is accustomed to change. We invest in communication and training, which ensures SAP adoption."

Phased implementation approach

"Together with The Ocean Cleanup, we are following a phased implementation. SAP's 80-20 fit-to-standard approach allows us to implement quickly, after which we configure specific processes in SAP according to The Ocean Cleanup's requirements," explains Joost van Lankveld, Strategic Advisor at Scheer Nederland, The Ocean Cleanup's implementation partner.

The implementation began with financial administration and purchasing modules for five Dutch entities. Upcoming phases will include project management and logistics modules for river and ocean projects. The organization expects to complete the transition to SAP S/4HANA by the end of 2025.