Keeping an ERP system current is challenging enough for a single organization. For a global enterprise managing more than 110 locations, multiple languages, and ongoing acquisitions, maintaining a standardized JD Edwards environment requires a deliberate strategy.

At INFOCUS 2026, Remco Van Herwijnen and Pedro Semensim Junior shared how Darling Ingredients approaches JD Edwards 9.2 continuous adoption through standardization, low-code development, and disciplined annual upgrades. Their experience demonstrates how organizations can reduce customization, simplify maintenance, and take advantage of Oracle’s ongoing innovations without disrupting business operations.

Building a Global ERP Strategy Around Standardization

Darling Ingredients transforms materials from the food and agricultural industries into valuable ingredients for food, feed, and fuel. With more than 260 production facilities, over 15,000 employees, and operations spanning multiple continents, the company manages considerable operational complexity.

Its JD Edwards environment supports approximately 3,000 users across more than 110 locations in 19 countries, operating in more than 10 languages. Continued growth through acquisitions adds another layer of complexity, requiring new businesses to integrate into established processes and systems.

Rather than accommodate every operational difference through ERP customization, Darling Ingredients established a guiding principle: Keep JD Edwards as close to standard as possible and address specialized business requirements through complementary applications.

This approach supports consistent business processes, easier upgrades, and greater flexibility when onboarding acquired companies. Standardization extends beyond ERP functionality to integrations, interfaces, and master data management.

A dedicated global business team oversees master data, including items, suppliers, customers, and the chart of accounts. IT supports the process through integrations and automation, but ownership remains with the business.

Learning From the Cost of Customization

Darling Ingredients’ commitment to standardization emerged from experience with heavily modified ERP environments.

The company began implementing JD Edwards in 2004, initially using EnterpriseOne 8.0. Over time, extensive modifications accumulated, particularly around logistics and other specialized processes.

When the organization upgraded to EnterpriseOne 8.12 around 2009, retrofitting those customizations required approximately 1,000 person-days of effort. As the company expanded, differing business requirements also resulted in two separate EnterpriseOne environments.

Those experiences prompted a fundamental change in direction.

Instead of continuing to retrofit existing modifications, Darling Ingredients proposed reimplementing JD Edwards 9.2 using standard functionality wherever possible. The transition took several years, but it established a more sustainable foundation for continuous adoption.

The business supported the strategy because it addressed more than technical maintenance. It offered opportunities to harmonize processes, improve auditability, support regulatory requirements, and reduce long-term complexity.

Van Herwijnen emphasized that gaining this support required years of conversations and demonstrated experience with the costs of customization. ERP modernization, he explained, must be treated as a business initiative rather than simply an IT project.

Using Low-Code Applications Without Compromising the ERP Core

A central component of Darling Ingredients’ strategy is its use of OutSystems, a low-code development platform that complements JD Edwards.

The company follows a straightforward decision process when evaluating requirements:

1. Can standard JD Edwards functionality meet the requirement?
2. If not, can another standard application support it?
3. If neither option works, is the business need important enough to justify a low-code solution?

This approach limits unnecessary modifications while preserving flexibility for genuinely specialized processes.

Transportation provides a particularly useful example. Darling Ingredients operates collection processes in which the financial relationship associated with raw materials can change. For the same customer and pickup activity, the company might pay for materials on one occasion and receive payment for collecting them on another.

These requirements, combined with specialized planning tools and integration needs, proved difficult to accommodate using standard JD Edwards and Oracle Transportation Management functionality alone.

Darling Ingredients consequently developed a logistics platform using OutSystems, integrating planning systems, onboard computers, websites, and other operational applications.

The company initially relied on external developers while building internal low-code expertise. Today, internal teams handle standard development, while external partners assist with larger or more complex applications.

The lesson is not to eliminate custom development entirely, but to place it where it creates business value without complicating the ERP foundation.

Making Annual JD Edwards Upgrades Routine

Since its first JD Edwards 9.2 go-live in 2016, Darling Ingredients has maintained an annual upgrade cadence.

At the time of INFOCUS 2026, the company was running Release 25 and had completed preparations for Release 26. However, an urgent business project required postponing the planned deployment.

This illustrates an important distinction: continuous adoption does not mean implementing every update immediately.

Darling Ingredients monitors Oracle’s ongoing updates and EnterpriseOne Software Updates (ESUs), selectively implementing interim changes when critical fixes or valuable functionality justify the effort. Otherwise, the organization incorporates updates through its annual release cycle.

The company also coordinates upgrade testing with business implementation and rollout projects. By aligning technical testing and user acceptance testing with existing project schedules, IT reduces the additional burden on business users.

That approach has worked particularly well because acquisitions and implementations create recurring opportunities for testing. However, Van Herwijnen acknowledged that automated testing may become increasingly important if the volume of new projects declines.

Reducing Modifications Through Continuous Innovation

Annual upgrades also provide opportunities to eliminate existing customizations.

Rather than simply carrying modifications forward, Darling Ingredients evaluates whether new JD Edwards functionality can replace them. This ongoing review has helped reduce the number of modified objects to fewer than 30.

One example involves enforcing specific document types for certain journal entries. Previously, the requirement depended on hard-coded application modifications. Newer JD Edwards capabilities, including Form Extensions and Logic Extensions, enabled the company to enforce business rules without modifying the underlying application.

Orchestrator has also become central to the company’s integration strategy. Darling Ingredients uses it extensively to connect JD Edwards with surrounding applications and automate transactions.

For example, production systems can communicate through APIs and Orchestrator to automatically process receipts, work order completions, material issues, and other transactions. Additional integrations support barcode scanning, weighing systems, warehouse activities, accounts payable automation, and banking processes.

Other EnterpriseOne capabilities, including Watchlists, CafeOne, Springboards, and Orchestrator monitoring, help the company improve usability and operational visibility.

These improvements reinforce the value of staying current: newer functionality can replace older customizations while creating additional opportunities for automation.

Practical Lessons for JD Edwards Continuous Adoption

Darling Ingredients’ experience offers several important lessons for organizations managing complex EnterpriseOne environments.

First, customization creates recurring costs, not just initial development expenses. Every modification introduces potential retrofitting, testing, and maintenance requirements with future upgrades.

Second, standardization requires business ownership. Harmonized processes and controlled master data cannot be achieved through technology decisions alone.

Third, complementary platforms can provide flexibility without sacrificing ERP maintainability. The objective is to use standard functionality wherever possible while reserving specialized development for requirements that genuinely demand it.

Finally, continuous adoption becomes more manageable when upgrades are treated as an established operating practice rather than occasional transformation projects.

For organizations with heavily customized environments, Van Herwijnen acknowledged that reaching this point may require a significant reimplementation. Where possible, gradually replacing modifications by business process can provide a more practical transition.

A Sustainable Approach to JD Edwards Modernization

Darling Ingredients demonstrates that global scale and continuous ERP innovation are not mutually exclusive. By combining a standardized JD Edwards core, targeted low-code development, strong master data governance, and predictable annual upgrades, the company has established an environment capable of supporting growth without continually rebuilding its ERP foundation.

The central takeaway is straightforward: The fewer unnecessary modifications an organization maintains, the easier it becomes to adopt new functionality and respond to changing business requirements.

For JD Edwards customers pursuing continuous adoption, that shift in strategy may be just as important as the technology itself.

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