Rotork

The Customer

Rotork is a global engineering and manufacturing company, providing intelligent flow control solutions that support a wide range of industries and applications. With a focus on safety, reliability and performance, Rotork’s technologies help power critical operations around the world, from energy and utilities to industrial automation and infrastructure.

Headquartered in Bath, Rotork has grown into a truly international operation, with over 3,000 employees supporting customers in more than 170 countries. Backed by a strong engineering heritage and a reputation for technical excellence, Rotork continues to invest in innovation to meet the ever-evolving needs of its customer base.

As the business expanded, it became clear that legacy systems were no longer fit to support its future ambitions. Under its strategic Growth Acceleration Programme (GAP), Rotork launched a company-wide initiative to modernise its digital infrastructure, starting with a complete transformation of its ERP and CRM platforms.

The goal was to create a connected, scalable digital foundation that drives operational efficiency, supports growth, and improves the customer experience.

The Challenge 

Over time, Rotork’s ERP landscape had become fragmented and increasingly difficult to manage. Different business units operated on different versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX, some dating back to 2009, each heavily customised to meet local needs. These bespoke systems created silos across the organisation, with isolated processes, disparate data, and complex integrations hindering standardised global collaboration.

This fragmentation extended across the broader IT estate. More than 75 line-of-business applications were in use, connected by over 100 custom integrations. Maintaining and scaling these connections was resource-intensive and unsustainable, particularly as the business grew. Critical operational data, such as service history and parts availability, was scattered across systems, limiting visibility and slowing down customer support.

Rotork’s customer engagement processes faced similar constraints. Sales and service teams operated differently in each region, with varying systems and workflows that made it difficult to deliver a consistent customer experience. Compliance added further complexity, especially in highly regulated sectors like nuclear and defence, where traceability, export controls and strict safety regulations demanded rigorous oversight.

One pressing issue was Rotork’s internal Configure-Price-Quote (CPQ) system. Built on .NET, it required users to manually input between 25 and 45 data fields to generate a quote. The process was time-consuming, error-prone, and directly impacted quoting speed and customer responsiveness.

It became clear that a patchwork of incremental fixes would not suffice. Rotork needed a scalable, integrated digital platform that could drive consistency across global operations while still allowing for the flexibility required by local markets and regulatory environments.

The Solution 

Rotork partnered with Hitachi Solutions to design and deliver a modern, cloud-based ERP and CRM platform built on Microsoft Dynamics 365. The programme aimed to replace legacy systems with a unified digital foundation that could drive global consistency, streamline data flow and scale with the business as it grew.

The new platform brought together Dynamics 365 Finance with Customer Engagement, supporting core business functions including finance, sales, marketing, field service and customer service. Given the complexity of Rotork’s existing systems and data volumes, a standard approach to integration was not suitable. Instead, Rotork adopted Hitachi’s Integration Framework, a robust, flexible solution tailored to accommodate the organisation’s intricate landscape of line-of-business applications and high-volume transactions. This approach enabled seamless data flow between systems while minimising risk and reducing integration overhead.

To further accelerate the transition, Hitachi Solutions deployed its data migration accelerator to cleanse, map and transfer data from legacy platforms. This significantly reduced manual effort and ensured the integrity of historical data throughout the move to the cloud.

One of the most notable technical achievements was the successful integration of Rotork’s complex .NET-based configure-price-quote (CPQ) tool. Despite its intricacies, the solution enabled users to create highly detailed quotes more quickly and accurately, delivering a tangible boost to sales efficiency and customer responsiveness.

The rollout followed a carefully phased strategy, beginning with a successful go-live at Rotork’s Bath factory after an extended period of collaborative planning and design. This was followed by further deployments in Germany and Saudi Arabia, building momentum and refining the global rollout approach. By prioritising factory locations first, Rotork was able to establish a strong global blueprint before extending the solution to commercial entities. Each deployment was shaped by cross-functional teams that brought together factory leadership, IT, business analysts, and project managers, ensuring that global standards were met while accommodating local requirements.

Delivery of the programme required close coordination across multiple workstreams. While the CRM elements were delivered using an agile methodology, the ERP programme followed a more structured, waterfall approach. Orchestrating these parallel tracks across different time zones, stakeholder groups, and systems demanded a disciplined delivery model and a close working relationship between Rotork and Hitachi Solutions.

The transformation also extended to Rotork’s field service operations. Health and safety processes, once manual, were digitised and embedded into the platform. Escalation paths were formalised to ensure that issues in the field could be addressed quickly and consistently. These enhancements not only improved compliance but also gave Rotork greater visibility into how its products were being used and maintained, enabling a more proactive and data-driven approach to service delivery.

The Future 

With several factories now live on Microsoft Dynamics 365, Rotork has laid the foundation for a truly connected enterprise. The company is now positioned to standardise operations across geographies, improve data accuracy and significantly reduce the effort and complexity required to maintain and support core systems. 

The next phase will extend Dynamics 365 to 26 selling entities and 13 more factories over the next three years, with Hitachi Solutions continuing to provide ongoing support as a trusted partner. 

More than a technology implementation, the programme represents a strategic shift in how Rotork operates, scales and services its customers. By investing in a unified digital core, the company is unlocking greater agility, resilience and insights, positioning itself to lead in industries where reliability, safety, and precision are non-negotiable.