Morinaga & Co., Ltd.A 48-Hour Data Migration Paves the Way for Global Expansion

Morinaga & Co., Ltd. manufactures and markets confectionery, foods, frozen desserts, and health-related products. With a vision of becoming a wellness company by 2030, the company is pursuing sustainable growth and long-term corporate value.

Morinaga & Co., Ltd. aims to transform itself into a wellness company by 2030, creating value for customers, employees, and society through the well-being of mind, body, and environment.
To achieve this vision, the company recognized the need for a stronger digital business foundation. Siloed legacy systems made it difficult to access data quickly and support timely decision-making. Rather than simply upgrading its systems, Morinaga sought to standardize business processes and build a flexible platform capable of supporting data-driven management and future global expansion.
“Achieving our 2030 Vision required more than developing new products and services. We also needed to evolve the business foundation that supports the entire group. Over time, our core systems had become optimized for individual departments, resulting in fragmented processes and data. We needed a common framework that would enable faster decision-making and support future group-wide expansion,” Orimi explains.
Driven by these business foundation challenges, Morinaga's migration to SAP S/4HANA was launched as more than a response to the SAP ECC maintenance deadline. It was a strategic initiative to build a digital business foundation that would support future global expansion and greater use of data.

Morinaga focused on making the most of its existing environment while addressing factors that could hinder future standardization and scalability across the group. Simply migrating the existing system as it was would have left fragmented processes and data in place, making it difficult to build a business foundation capable of supporting global operations.
Initially, the company considered two options: Brownfield, SAP's standard migration approach, and Greenfield, which involves building a new SAP S/4HANA environment from scratch. However, the former would have carried over the existing environment largely unchanged, potentially leaving underlying issues unresolved. The latter offered greater flexibility but was not considered practical in terms of time and cost.
Fujitsu proposed BLUEFIELD conversion, enabling Morinaga to selectively migrate essential data while supporting future standardization. Guided by a Fit-to-Standard approach, the company streamlined its environment by removing unnecessary add-ons. With deep BLUEFIELD expertise and a strong partnership with SNP, Fujitsu translated this vision into an achievable migration plan.

Brownfield: A standard migration approach that converts an existing SAP ECC environment to SAP S/4HANA without making significant changes to existing configurations or data.

The greatest challenge facing the project was time. Business operations could only be halted during the year-end and New Year holiday period. Missing that narrow window would have delayed the migration until the next extended holiday, potentially impacting business plans, including the company's U.S. expansion. Despite these constraints, Morinaga committed to completing the data migration within 48 hours.
This challenging project involved a wide range of stakeholders, including Morinaga's IT and business teams as well as application vendors. Fujitsu worked closely with all parties, including the application vendors, to maintain effective governance and coordinate the overall migration plan and timeline. “Fujitsu mobilized a highly skilled team and worked closely with stakeholders to address challenges throughout the project. Although it was by no means an easy undertaking, strong collaboration and continuous communication enabled us to complete the migration within the limited 48-hour year-end window. That achievement marked a significant milestone in our transformation journey,” says Orimi.

Through BLUEFIELD conversion, Morinaga streamlined its business processes and data, removing unnecessary add-ons and establishing a simpler, more standardized environment designed for future growth.
“We completed the data migration within 48 hours and successfully launched the new environment with stable operations. More importantly, the project has enabled us to shift our focus from managing systems to discussing future business strategy, including investment priorities and global expansion plans. By establishing a standardized foundation in Japan, we have entered a new phase of our transformation journey,” says Orimi.

“The foundation built through this project is not the goal, but the starting point. Going forward, we will use data more effectively across the group to enhance decision-making and support future global expansion. Beyond operational efficiency, we see significant opportunities to create new value through digital technologies,” Orimi adds.
Morinaga sees Fujitsu as a strategic partner that understands its business objectives as well as its technology needs. As the company advances initiatives in data utilization, AI, and global expansion, Fujitsu will continue supporting the next stage of its transformation.