King’s Hawaiian

Challenge #1

Manual Processes at Scale

The team had moved from fax and email to EDI, but the old ERP integration still required constant mapping work and hands-on troubleshooting.

Challenge #2

ERP Migration Risk

Moving to SAP S/4HANA while keeping dozens of active trading partner connections intact, with no disruption visible to retail partners

Challenge #3

Freeing a Lean Team

The team needed automation and visibility that would let them manage by exception, not manual intervention.

King’s Hawaiian has built one of the most recognizable brands in the grocery aisle during its 70+ years in business. The company produces a wide range of baked goods and snacks distributed through major retail partners across the US. As the business grew, so did the demands on the team managing the supply chain connections behind every order. When Tony Pham joined King’s Hawaiian 15 years ago, the company was still handling trading partner transactions by fax. Over time, the team moved from fax to email and eventually to full EDI integration through TrueCommerce Transaction Manager, with each step delivering better data visibility, faster decision-making, and a more reliable operation. When King’s Hawaiian made the decision to move from its legacy ERP to SAP S/4HANA on a private cloud, protecting that EDI infrastructure and the retailer relationships running on top of it became a top priority.

King’s Hawaiian had outgrown its legacy ERP. The business needed features and functionality the older platform could not deliver, and the decision was made to migrate to SAP S/4HANA on a private cloud.

The challenge was doing it without breaking anything. Trading partners could not be left waiting, orders could not be dropped, and the migration could not require a full re-implementation of the EDI layer the team had spent years building. The goal was a clean cutover: new ERP, same reliable EDI, no disruption visible to retail partners.

At the same time, the team wanted to come out the other side with a leaner, more self-sufficient operation. Not just migrated, but improved: exception based, self-service, and built to scale without adding headcount.

With TrueCommerce Transaction Manager already in place, King’s Hawaiian had a strong starting point for its SAP S/4HANA migration. Existing mappings were carried forward, then aligned to the SAP IDoc format to support the new ERP environment. The team validated the connection, tested with available trading partners, and completed the cutover cleanly. TrueCommerce helped manage the required testing with some trading partners, while the rest were migrated transparently, with no delays, no disruption, and no sign on their end that anything had changed.

The result was a direct, system-to-system integration without the headache of custom mappings. For a standard consumer packaged goods operation moving high volumes through major retail partners, that clean automated connection is exactly what the team needed.

Now, King’s Hawaiian is able to manage EDI primarily by exception, giving its lean team the visibility to identify issues, trace them to the root cause, and keep transactions moving with less manual intervention. TrueCommerce also gives King’s Hawaiian more ownership over its EDI environment. With onboarding in the team’s hands, they can add partners quickly without waiting on support, implementation resources, or handoffs between departments. Because they understand their own business and data best, that control translates directly into speed.

The move to SAP S/4HANA gave King’s Hawaiian the ERP capabilities the business needed. The TrueCommerce integration made that transition possible without rebuilding EDI or disrupting trading partner relationships.

Today, the operation runs the way a lean, high-volume team should: automated end-to-end, exception-based by design, and with greater control over its EDI environment. The EDI team spends its time on the problems that matter, not on manual fixes or waiting on outside support. When they do need help, King’s Hawaiian benefits from consistent TrueCommerce support contacts who understand their mappings and how transactions move through the network, reducing back-and-forth and helping keep communication clear.

After more than 10 years with TrueCommerce, King’s Hawaiian continues to rely on the platform to support a straightforward, scalable EDI process: one that helps the team move faster, manage more independently, and keep the business focused on growth.

Zero Partner Disruption

Trading partners saw no errors, delays, or any sign that King’s Hawaiian had changed its ERP during the S/4HANA cutover.

10+ Years of EDI Progress and Consistent Support

From fax and manual processes to a fully automated, exception-based operation, TrueCommerce has been there at every stage with consistent support that feels dedicated even when it isn’t.

Automation and Self-Service at Scale

A lean team running a fully automated, exception-based operation with complete control over their EDI — no extra headcount, no outside dependencies.