Satish Tikhe National Head - Sales SYSTIME

Small and medium enterprises contribute immensely to our country’s economic growth. While the needs of the enterprises in this segment are similar to those of large enterprises, availability of limited resources to offset the demands and other challenges are bottlenecks to the growth.

Success in the SME segment largely depends upon the agility in getting the products and services to the market while responding to the changing customer requirements. In a supply and demand driven environment of the manufacturing sector, there is a perennial need to have a greater visibility of the inventory across the enterprise. The organisations constantly grapple with supply chain complexities and focus on eliminating waste and reducing cycle time. In addition, product innovation plays a pivotal role in the growth of the enterprise and in maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage.

The need to streamline and integrate the business processes and break from the traditional business practices has been increasingly felt by SMEs in the manufacturing sector. This can be accomplished by adopting technology or solution that can facilitate efficient process management and Lean manufacturing- a process management philosophy that emphasises on achieving more using fewer resources. At the same time, the solution should be capable of addressing the diverse and compelling demands of the sector.

Why Oracle Enterprise Applications?
Midsize growing companies lie at the core of Oracle’s application business. With Oracle applications, the possibility of realising the benefits of an ERP system is not far-fetched for mid-sized businesses. The solution provides manufacturers with comprehensive vertical specific functionality that helps to integrate and manage processes at every level.

Oracle applications provide comprehensive functionality with verticalisation and simplicity that result in greater agility and faster time-to market at a low total cost of ownership.

Flexibility offered by Oracle applications enable manufacturers to begin using an ERP system at a small level and gradually scale-up according to the changing business demands and available IT resources. This ensures that business never outgrows the ERP solution. Besides, the applications facilitate process adaptability, which helps enterprises to effortlessly regulate and change their business processes in accordance with the prevailing business scenario.

Oracle applications enable concurrent management of multiple and disparate manufacturing modes and functions like manufacturing, distribution et al. In addition, they serve as an integrated source of information that provides scope for product innovation. Using the application(s), manufacturers can minimise waste and reduce cycle time. Affordability is another significant factor that makes them suitable for SMEs with relatively low IT budget.

Oracle applications help manufacturers gain better control over productivity and effortlessly manage various functions to create a business environment that drives profitability and growth.

Success Story

SYSTIME’s Seamless JD Edwards Integration Recharges Leading Global Manufacturer of Electric Motors
This success story highlights how SYSTIME’s solution enabled the client to reduce costs and respond rapidly to market needs.

Client Overview
The client is a renowned player in the Power Generation sector and one of the leading Electrical Engineering groups in India today. Besides, the client is also a leading global manufacturer of electric motors and drive systems.

The management of the client, whose state-of- the-art manufacturing plant is in North India, reports to the corporate office in France. The venture designs, manufactures, and sells alternators – devices that convert mechanical energy to electrical energy (alternating current) when coupled with any prime mover, to companies that assemble generator sets.

Business Challenges and Requirements
The client’s corporate office mandated that all divisions and subsidiaries in Europe and Asia Pacific had to standardise on Oracle applications to refine and integrate processes and build synergies across business. In this case, the Indian operations had to replace an aging collection of isolated, inefficient legacy applications that were failing to properly support its design, engineering and validation centre in North India.

The problems caused by the outdated systems included delay of jobs due to operational bottlenecks, failure to align materials flow with demand, management of inventory on weekly or monthly basis rather in line with medium to long-term needs and significant errors in corporate reporting due to manual processes.

The primary and vital business needs of the client were to map their existing business processes in India to the new Oracle application and integrate the departmental processes of their France and India offices.

The customer faced many limitations with the existing solution, which led to loss of productivity and significant drop in business efficiency. This scenario compelled the customer to go in for a complete overhaul of the existing system and opt for a robust solution, including:

• Effective use of localisation
• Accurate mapping of processes
• Integration of modules between France and India operations.

The SYSTIME Solution
The customer evaluated the core competencies of various leading organisations; and eventually chose SYSTIME as their business partner, based on its technology skill-sets and excellent competency in the Enterprise Applications arena. The other factors that favoured SYSTIME were its proven Global Delivery Model, competitive pricing and well-oiled business processes.

The implementation process required SYSTIME to help the client map all processes to the new software, integrate interdepartmental processes, deliver visibility across all processes, secure acceptance of ownership from departmental heads and approval of mapping and setups by client’s head office.

Success was achieved largely by allocating individual success matrices to each department, super-user and end user. These were mapped out in business analysis documents and confined to the individual or department’s work and interaction with the remainder of the business, ensuring clear ownership, transparency and accountability.

The SYSTIME team meticulously analysed the customer’s varied business requirements and conducted an in-depth study of their existing system. Thereafter, SYSTIME charted out a detailed project plan and with a focused approach, designed and executed the technical changes required to ensure a seamless system. SYSTIME employed unparalleled technology proficiency and integration capabilities in implementing the system. SYSTIME’s solution provided the customer with complete integration services, which helped in driving strategic results.

Benefits and Results
SYSTIME’s thorough understanding of the manufacturing industry helped in providing the right solution to the client. Being committed to quality, SYSTIME provided true value-add to the customer by leveraging its deep and comprehensive experience in implementation of Oracle applications. For the client, integration between their various locations and subsequently with parent company’s system turned out to be a definite business advantage. The entire project, from selection to go-live was successfully completed in a span of approximately 3.5 months.

SYSTIME’s solution enabled the customer to reduce costs and respond rapidly to market needs.

The benefits to the client included:

• Efficient designing
• Error-free working of the system
• Absolute control of the system
• Standardised business processes
• Optimum operational efficiency
• Reduced operating costs.

With SYSTIME’s sound integration capabilities, the customer benefited from best-in-class and seamless solution, resulting in tangible benefits and substantial cost savings.