Srinisons Wiring Systems Trusts Ramco ERP

THE COMPLEXITIES THAT CALLED FOR A CHANGE!

Prior to adopting RODE, Srinisons was using stand-alone IT systems for managing its various business functions.

This made it difficult to have real-time visibility of the overall inventory (especially finished goods). As the inventory was maintained manually, tracking the stocks, doing raw material planning and work-in-progress (WIP) management were some of the gray areas that required streamlining. Valuation of stock on a real-time basis based on raw materials and finished goods' status was also not possible. Besides, the manual system was prone to errors, which added to the complexity.

Hence, Srinisons required a comprehensive and integrated online solution which would address the above challenges and aid the company in having real-time visibility over its entire supply chain. “We needed a solution that would enable the management to track the supply chain management process and maintain profitability margin for all the sales orders, across regions,” enumerates S Kesavan, Executive Director, Srinisons.

THE ROAD AHEAD FOR RODE

After internal deliberations, considerations, and an elaborate survey of available options in the market, the company decided to opt for RODE. The solution would fulfill the company's process-level requirements without burdening it with heavy upfront investment.“What we liked the most about Ramco Systems was that they offered us just the features we needed for our business—that too at the right cost,” avers Kesavan.

The company implemented modules such as Book Keeping, Discrete Production, Inventory Management, Accounting, MIS and Reporting, Payables and Receivables Management, Purchase and Sub-contracting, and Sales and Shipping.

The whole process of implementation and going live with the new system was completed in a short span of 8 weeks. “Ramco made it all achievable because they had a ready template, which had all the business functionalities we required,” reveals Kesavan.

LEVERAGING THE BENEFITS OF A SAAS-BASED SOLUTION

The solution in fact offered immense cost-benefits as compared to an on-premise model as far lesser IT infrastructure expenditure was required to get started. Besides, no in-house IT team is required to maintain the ERP system, which is an essential requirement in the case of on-premise deployments. Apart from this, the flexibility to scale up and scale down the number of users, based on the dynamic requirements of the organization, has given tremendous flexibility and control into the hands of the management.

Since it is a SaaS-based solution, Ramco offers continuous product upgrades, back-end support, and benefits such as disaster recovery and maintenance of data. Since the ERP system is cloud-based (which means it is available and accessible over the Internet), it has enabled the management to access financial statements and cash flow reports, anytime from anywhere. They can even track inventories and do material planning a lot more effectively, based on real-time data.

ERP: AN INITIATIVE DRIVEN BY THE TOP MANAGEMENT

Typically, in a large organization, there are several professionals and a well-defined organizational hierarchy that helps in the easy implementation of an ERP system. In most small and medium organizations, a well-defined hierarchy is absent; so it becomes crucial that members of the top management personally monitor and oversee the pre and post-implementation processes.

Another critical factor that determines the success of the ERP implementation is its acceptance by users. Since at the initial stages, an ERP system appears to be alien, a lot of motivation, pushing and prodding is required at the individual user level, within the organization, so that users can adapt to the ERP system. People usually express immense resistance in moving away from the legacy practices. To address this requirement too, the Ramco team worked hand-in-hand with the company to ensure employees became comfortable working on the new ERP system. “It took some time and effort, but the efforts have paid off as all users at Srinisons have now completely accepted the new ways of working,” says Kesavan.

• “RODE has enabled improved sales, based on replenishment of products sold on a daily basis. This process has led to reduced inventory holding cost.
• The solution has facilitated online tracking of open purchase orders against pending goods receipt. This has resulted in improved purchase planning and control.
• The solution has also provided the management with better accessibility of business data and the senior management is able to review the business parameters—24x7.

• It has become possible to effectively monitor the actual cost of production for respective batches. This has enabled the company to understand the profitability of each order and gain better control over the margins.
• It has also helped us to track the WIP activity wise, and in turn, optimize the production cycle.
• The quick implementation of the ERP system has also ensured early returns on investment.”