Huawei announces switch to MetaERP, redefining enterprises’ core business systems

Huawei Board Member and Quality, Business Process & IT Management Department President Tao Jingwen

Huawei has announced that it has replaced the legacy ERP system with its MetaERP system over which it has full control.

Recently Huawei hosted the MetaERP Award Ceremony to recognise the individuals and teams who made critical contributions to this project.

The event titled “Heroes Fighting to Cross the Dadu River” was held at the company’s Xi Liu Bei Po Village Campus in Dongguan, China.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is the most critical enterprise management IT system. Huawei introduced the MRP (Manufacturing Resource Planning) II system in 1996, and later expanded to the ERP system with several iterative upgrades. The old ERP system was the core system underpinning Huawei’s enterprise operations and rapid development for more than 20 years. It supported Huawei’s efficient business operations, which generate hundreds of billions of dollars every year, across more than 170 countries and regions worldwide.

In 2019, Huawei began facing increased external pressure and business challenges. The company decided to develop a completely self-controlled MetaERP system to replace the old ERP system. This has been the most extensive and complex transformation project Huawei has ever undertaken. Over the past three years, Huawei has invested significant resources and assigned several thousand people to this project, while also working with industry and ecosystem partners to overcome related challenges. This new, future-oriented, ultra-large-scale, and cloud-native MetaERP system has already gone live, replacing the old ERP system.

MetaERP currently handles 100% of Huawei’s business scenarios and 80% of its business volume. MetaERP has already passed the tests of monthly, quarterly, and yearly settlements, while ensuring zero faults, zero delays, and zero accounting adjustments.

Huawei Board Member and Quality, Business Process & IT Management Department President Tao Jingwen said: “We were cut off from our old ERP system and other core operation and management systems more than three years ago. Since then, we have not only been able to build our own MetaERP, but also manage the switch and prove its capabilities. Today we are proud to announce that we have broken through the blockade. We have survived!”

Huawei has complete, full-stack control over MetaERP, which has been built with other Huawei systems like EulerOS and GaussDB. Huawei has also worked with partners to incorporate advanced technologies, such as cloud-native architecture, metadata-driven multi-tenant architecture, and real-time intelligence, into the MetaERP system, significantly improving service efficiency and operational quality. Huawei’s guiding principles are to build the simplest possible architecture with the best possible quality, delivering the best possible experience at the lowest possible costs. In a range of fields, including both ERP and PLM, Huawei will keep working with partners to build more efficient and secure core enterprise business systems that are not subject to any restrictions.

Huawei Rotating Chairwoman and CFO Sabrina Meng said: “Leaps in technology take a spirit of craftsmanship and years of experience. More importantly, it takes an open mind to drive leaps in the way we think. We wouldn’t have been able to build MetaERP without the support of our partners. Innovation is only possible with an open mind, and thriving is only possible when we work together.”

Recognising Huawei’s partners at the MetaERP Award Ceremony