Changing Indian ERP Scenario

ERP Market in India

ERP Market growth in recent times, the ERP scenario in India is witnessing a rapid growth. A number of manufacturing firms, automotive, steel, oil, textile and pharmaceutical companies have already been implemented ERP solution thus making ERP dominating the overall picture in these organizations.

For the early adopters of ERP solution, Finance and Accounting, Sales and Distribution, Materials Management/Purchase, and Manufacturing are the most popular ERP modules implemented. In recent times Plant Maintenance, HR, Transportation and Service modules are also growing in popularity.

We find different industrial sectors like cement sector, power sector, and food sector are going for ERP solutions. The construction or project companies have also implemented different ERP solutions suitable to their needs.

Currently, the SME segment in India has been one of the most aggressive adopters of ERP software. In fact almost 60 per cent companies in the SME segment have already implemented ERP. This substantial increase in the penetration level in the SME segment is attributed to the introduction of low cost ERP solutions such as eresource ERP which also caters the country-specific localizations and availability of large pool of skilled functional and technical talents.

The primal objectives that the SMEs have for switching to ERP is to get aid in smooth inventory management, timely scheduling of production cycles and shipment of goods, managing human resources and online data communication.

According to estimates, the ERP market in India has witnessed a growth rate of 70 per cent in the last decade. As a result, the market has leapfrogged over the years to a tremendous volume in terms of monetary gains. There were many reports which underlined the tangible quantitative benefits accrued by Indian companies in post-ERP implementation era.

Most of the time these benefits are difficult to prove on statistical grounds as soft benefits like comfort in work life, maturity in planning, attitude changes, transparency, visibility etc are either practically impossible to measure or correlate such improvements to ERP implementation. Companies are supposed to set their objectives prior to implementation followed by measuring of the achievements after implementation, and only then should they conclude about the effects of ERP.

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Demand grows for ERP solution

Demand grows for ERP there is no doubt that the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are in great demand today. Industry analysts are forecasting growth rates of more than 30% for at least the next five years. According to a study conducted on ERP solution, corporate growth has been indicated as the most compelling driver for adoption of ERP amongst senior management respondents.

Improved customer service, efficient distribution system, and reduced operation expenses are some of the other important business imperatives that are driving top management to implement ERP solutions. Majority of CEOs/Senior managers share the same view that ERP is an important tool to achieve competitive advantage.

Following are some of the major factors of ERP popularity.

  • ERP enables improved business performance through cycle time reduction. Cycle time is the time available at each station for the performance of the work allocated or the time elapsing between completed units coming of an assembly line. It also helps in increased business agility, inventory reduction and order fulfillment improvement.
  • ERP supports business growth requirements through new products/product lines, new customers, global requirements including multiple languages and currencies.
  • ERP provides flexible, integrated, real-time decision support in improving responsiveness across the organization.
  • ERP eliminates the limitations of the legacy system such as fragmentation of data and process, inflexibility to change and insupportable technologies.
  • ERP takes advantage of the untapped mid-market (medium size organizations) through increased functionality at a reasonable cost.

These are some of the reasons for the explosive growth rate of the ERP market. As more and more companies are entering into the market, the ERP solutions providers are facing a competitive market which brings out the best in them.

Initially the huge cost involved in the implementation of ERP solution has kept many medium scale industries away from it. However, with the introduction of affordable ERP solutions like eresource ERP, which is basically intended to serve the small and big players in the field alike, is bringing good benefit for Indian SMEs. This also contributed to the growth of ERP demand in the Indian market.

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eresource ERP Manufacturing is a Global Business

eresource ERP for Manufacturing is a Global Business :

Speed of information flow has made manufacturing a global business. Coupled with advertising, the ability to move information at the speed of light has opened up all corners of the globe to makers of all products.

The computer has changed the way we conduct our businesses. It has also allowed small companies to become giants in their industries by giving them the greatest. Mid-sized companies have access to the same quality of information as the giants in their fields. The question is no longer, where can I get the information I need? The question is now, what do I do with all the information I have?

There are many computer programs designed to convert data into information, usually for a specific purpose or function. Shop floor workers need one level of information, in real-time, about the process or production; executives need a different view of that data for long-range planning and short-term deployment. Same data; different information.

Data mining and data warehousing applications involve this aspect of information development. Databases are becoming larger and larger as companies find more and more data to store.

Answering that call, software developers have looked for ways to bring many divergent requirements under a single, if huge, umbrella program called enterprise resource planning or ERP. What ERP strives to do is combine the needed functions of every application a company requires to do its job and integrate them all together.

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ERP allows companies to balance customer demands impacted by multiple interrelated items and multiple plant locations. ERP adds applications for financials, supply chain, and distribution and requirements planning for multiple sites. It facilitates intelligent resource planning in the face of rapidly changing constraints such as materials availability, market readiness, plant capacities, personnel certification and business costs per location. In short ERP systems will allow decision makers to champion ‘an intelligent, agile and responsive organization in the global marketplace of the next century.’

In modern manufacturing operations, information starts at the top and the bottom simultaneously. Data originates at the machines, the process and the workers. It indicates what is being made, how and where, when it will be done, and why it won’t be on time.

ERP also can make a difference at the shipping and distribution end of a company. Shipments can go direct, and are therefore smaller and cheaper. In addition, there’s no need to stock materials or finished units, so stocks don’t become obsolete and have to be written off.

Even before the manufacturing operation gets involved, information is necessary, such as in the sales effort. As the pace of the typical sales cycle increases and the ability to access more information increases, information systems must be able to keep pace and even improve the process. The most valuable information to our overseas people is product and customer information.

It is exceedingly important for all sales people to have a complete view of all activity that occurs with a customer. This would typically include sales history, but now must include trouble calls, service requests, repairs and any other activity from general questions to product inquiries.

ERP is not confined within the walls of a single entity. With the web-enabled ERP such as eresource ERP, data flows go out to suppliers and vendors, customers and prospects. What you find out can be shared with another person or even millions of people at the same time you learn it yourself. Design and product development can be a collaborative process without barriers of space and time. Groupware, data management and communications combine to allow everyone to sit in the same office, regardless of where they are physically located.

eresource Infotech’s web-based ERP and its e-mail alert capabilities have exploded onto the scene as mandatory business requirements. It has helped even the playing field to a point where the size of a company is far less apparent and in some cases unimportant. The Web-based ERP offers a great resource and network capability that allows to puts more product information and customer service information in the hands of customer.

The organization can also offer direct ordering of products and services and traditional order management services through the Web-based ERP Software Solution and improve the customer interaction. This should ultimately lessen the cost per order and allows the organization to focus more on customer grievances and less on traditional tasks.

Thanks to the emergence of cutting-edge global IT solutions such as ERP, manufacturers have a better-than-ever chance of keeping up with the increasing demands their customers are putting on them.

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ERP Software for the Process Industry

ERP software for Process Manufacturing sector such as Pharmaceutical, Chemical, Fertilizers, Pesticides and others are faced with new challenges and opportunities as they strive to keep pace with the rapid changes taking place worldwide in the Information Technology field.

Here are some of the challenges faced by process industry sector:

  • The process of forecasting for these industries are quite complex as the same depends on season, market segment, brand etc. There is a strong requirement from the sophisticated forecasting system from the business application, which will be able to perform demand planning with the help of numerous statistical models.
  • Process industry is characterized by the presence of items, which have both Dependent and Independent demand. Managing production of those items is a big challenge.
  • Quality at source is extremely important. ERP can help in this regard by making integrated sophisticated quality management modules, which monitor quality by use of control plans in purchasing and manufacturing.
  • There is a strong requirement for a comprehensive ‘yield monitoring system’. Here, the use of ERP becomes very effective since, business application can perform online yield monitoring with drill down facilities to quickly diagnose causes of variances (like root cause of low yield and scenario creation for identifying the right improvement initiatives).
  • The completion of new product development projects may take years. The ability of business applications to help in concurrent engineering and efficient project management will not only help to crash the development time but will also help closely monitoring such initiatives.
  • Being asset intensive, process industries are in great need of business applications, which will help in incorporating modern maintenance management techniques. This will increase the uptime of equipment’s while increasing the overall health of the machineries.
  • From the delivery side they are normally characterized by an extensive distribution system such as having many depots, dealers etc. The new generation business applications can influence the management of stock at these stock points by minimizing stock outs and reducing the overall inventory levels. Sometimes, the stocks in the distribution network are a cause of considerable worry for the organizations. Managing the inbound and outbound logistics becomes a key challenge.
  • eresource ERP is equipped with suitable modules to meet all the challenges faced by process industry sector. eresource ERP software meets its customers’ need by providing cost-effective solutions without any compromise on quality, performance and functionality.

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Significance of TQM in automotive industry

Automotive Industry sector has been dynamic in inventing new manufacturing strategies owning to prevailing high level of competition. With this scenario the challenges faced by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) have also multiplied over the years.

Customers are demanding individualized final products. This is especially true of the OEM. While the organizations will have some standard base products, the total number of options that they have to offer to the consumers should be plenty. ERP Software will allow management of these configurations.

Through the supply chain there is need for innovation and new product development with much reduced life cycle for development. Hence, the NPI (New Product Introduction) will greatly help in promoting concurrent engineering.

Automotive industry is characterized by the presence of dedicated customer-supplier relationships and the competition in the market is between supply chains and not individual organizations. Hence, supply chain efficiency is thus very important. The principles of Just-in-Time (JIT), Lean Manufacturing and others become very important here. ERP will help in promoting these concepts.

Another challenge faced by automotive industry is the pressure to reduce delivery time and cost. A comprehensive supply chain solution that crosses the organization boundaries (B2B) is required. Different elements of the supply chain interact very closely.

Quality Management module with support for advanced features like TQM will help to promote quality at source. This receives significance owing to the continuous pressure exerted to cut cost and improve quality.

As the automotive market is extremely price sensitive, the features of comprehensive costing and kaizen costing will be of special relevance here. Understanding the accurate cost of manufacturing and identifying all potential areas for reduction of costs is one of the keys to success.

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Best practice of ERP is best suited for Lean organizations

ERP Software for Lean Manufacturing:

Lean manufacturing organization the world-class practice believes in the common language within an organization. This culture is predominantly observed in lean enterprises, thus resulting in the best fit for the ERP environment.

A lean organization has detailed specifications of all the actions required to bring a product from concept to launch, from order to delivery, and from raw materials to finished product that goes into the hands of the customer and throughout it useful life. This takes care of perfect and complete data sets availability to load into ERP for accurate estimations and recommendations.

The lean organization believes in absolutely flat organization structure with empowered employees. The structure is purely based on process, and for at all on functions. Every business process or sub-process exists to provide a needed product or service for a defined customer. These products and services are produced within the process according to the defined requirements, rules, or constrains.

The process requires materials and information, which are provided by suppliers, and consumes the resources allocated to the process. Since ERP conceptually integrates the process and not the functions, this process-based culture is the primary criteria for ERP fitness. The main job of ERP in such environment is to replace all these processes into a seamless flow of information.

ERP software for lean Manufacturing thus provides authority of getting all the information about the organization to all the users. No constraint like confidentiality, hierarchy, or authority exists. Hence the right of information seeking is never questioned. Every employee is motivated to browse, analyze and comment on the performance of the organization through the ERP system. Thus ERP expects an employee to be much more matured and accountable with resource of the organization.

ERP calls traditional purchase person as Buyer and a buyer is expected to have four types of skills like Technical skills, Commercial skills, Negotiation skills and Integrated planning skills. ERP assumes this type of empowered people as users and then further helps them take accurate and cost effective decisions in their daily transactions and planning.

The best practice of ERP here could be to share all the information of the organization to the entire set of users without any obstacles to facilitate both productive and best mixes of planning decisions.

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ERP implementation is a ‘User Driven’ project

User-driven ERP Implementation:

User driven project every organization has its own cultural or organizational structure. In this situation, it is natural for them to be sceptical about ERP, since it is felt that their businesses are unique, organizations varying and cultures different. However, there is no need of such concern as an ERP package has been designed and is being continually upgraded to incorporate the best industry practices to suit most industry segments.

With thorough and dedicated BRP study and adapting those changes in the business process well before implementing the ERP shall help make things smoother. It is therefore recommended that this methodology is followed; otherwise there is chance that most of the time users are left frustrated. This leads to poor participation and costly delays.

It is important to understand that an ERP package not necessarily fit in completely with the existing business practices of most organizations and hence, the onus is on the users to appreciate this fact and to work with the implementation consultants in trying to adapt to the package. In doing so, they don’t have to feel that they are compromising on their business effectiveness; rather, by accepting the package, they are adopting the best of breed business practices and ensuring the successful implementation of new system.

The other important factor is that the users do not expect a reduction in their workload immediately after the implementation of ERP Software and should not look for a miracle to happen. An ERP package is only an enabling tool and improves the flow of information and formalizes all the business processes and workflow that exists in an organization. It helps users to do their jobs better, which may call for additional efforts.

If one has to have more information in a system, it entails more work for more users, but the benefit is that this information is properly stored and can be fruitfully uses by other users in making better decisions. As the flow of information throughout the organization improves, the company starts performing better and this in turn benefits the users who have collectively improved their way of working. The package design and the architecture facilitate the availability of information to all authorized users in a useful way.

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Another important factor is the role of the consultant. The consultants by virtue of their industry experience and package expertise can help set the expectations of users at various levels keeping in mind the overall business objectives of the client. But it is also important to remember that a consultant is an external agent and all the business process of the organization is more akin to the management team and the users than the consultant.

The consultant however, can work closely with key users, understanding their needs, analyzing the business realities and designing solutions that meet the basic objectives of the company.

They, then, have to impress upon the users that individual needs can be met by keeping the organization’s needs in mind. It is the responsibility of the consultants and management team from the organization to guide them in this task and facilitate the overall implementation process. In essence, ERP implementation is predominantly a ‘User Driven’ project.

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HR module in eresource ERP can accelerate business growth

ERP HR Software can accelerate business growth.

When an organization deploys ERP solution expectations are bound to run high as all the manual processes are automated, production scheduling is more efficiently managed and inventory is more accurately assessed.

We have time and again emphasized the objectives of eresource ERP. Our prime objective is to give the Midmarket organizations an effective ERP solution which after implementation can measure the business performance more holistic fashion than ever before. Our system gives executives real-time visibility into all business processes, enabling them to make better strategic decisions. In short, with eresource ERP system, a midmarket company can compete more aggressively in global markets.

Implementation of eresource ERP can reduce costs in three primary categories such as inventory costs, manufacturing operating costs and administrative costs. Our system has its fingers in all aspects of running a business; its benefits are myriad and go beyond tangible cost reductions. It can improve an organization’s customer service and response time when solving issues. It can solve issues of interoperability among multiple manufacturing locations. It can standardize and accelerate manufacturing processes in all of a company’s manufacturing sites. It can streamline a manufacturer’s order-fulfillment processes. It can facilitate connecting with partners’ and suppliers’ enterprise systems.

The biggest advantage of eresource ERP is that it is fully web-enabled ERP solution. eresource allows software capabilities to be easily connected and reused, making it quicker and cheaper to assemble, deploy and sustain enterprise-grade technology. With eresource, organizations can more quickly adapt to changing business processes. Several midmarket enterprises have already implemented eresource ERP started enjoying the benefits out of it.

The latest and greatest thing to hit midmarket ERP is on-demand delivery of ERP applications. eresource ERP also offer on-demand in addition to filtered ERP options. Filtered ERP or subscription-based pricing of eresource ERP solution will be particularly appealing to midmarket organizations with minimal IT budgets and on-site resources. They can also help organizations react more quickly and with less disruption to structural changes within the company and changes in the market.

What is to be cautious about the selection of an ERP system is, before you commit to any ERP system, you should first evaluate the system such as what your organization needs and wants to accomplish with its ERP strategy. The outcome of this evaluation will help you determine which applications and what kind of functionality your organization requires as well as go a long way toward easing the implementation

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Tyre Asia features eresource ERP

ERP Finance Module Tyre Asia, published from Shanghai, in their August-September 2009 issue, highlighted the contribution made by eresource Infotech in transport industry through their Enterprise Resource Planning – ERP system.

In an interview with eresource Infotech CEO Mr. Sudheer Nair, Tyre Asia has made the right attempt to make the automotive industry understand the important of having a rightly managed enterprise planning solution in place.

The interview has also highlighted the working modules of Fleet Management ERP in details and the article will surely help our fleet industry in a big way.

Tyre Asia is a highly focused bi-monthly publication with a true international profile covering the global tyre and tyre-related industries. This publication is intended to address the long-felt need of the global community for a world-class publication covering the tyre industry and other related segments like accessories, chemicals, retreading and automotive components.

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eresource ERP’s MRP, a module that gives crystal clear picture

ERP Finance Module for any growing business enterprises it is important to have a reliable and user-friendly ERP system with a genuine MRP module. eresource ERP’s Material Requirements Planning can organize, schedule and reschedule materials as far into the future as required.

eresource ERP’s MRP gives you an instant picture of projected inventory investment levels, as well as projected new purchases in accordance with your plan. Projections can be made on any MRP cycle. This provides an added dimension of visibility for directing the planning focus on the most significant areas of your investment. This also helps you to validate a plan financially and make swift adjustments before committing your cash.

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Some of the most important components of MRP modules are described here under:

Purchase Management

Purchase Management is a very important component of the materials management module. This module is fully integrated with other modules in the system. It supports all phases of materials management, materials planning and control, purchasing goods receiving, inventory management and invoice verification. Good communication between all participants in the procurement process is necessary for purchase management to function smoothly. Purchase management communicates with other modules in the system to ensure a constant flow of information. It works side by side with Finance and Sales & Distribution management modules.

Inventory Management

Inventory Management system allow you to manage your stocks on a quantity and value basis and plan, enter, and check any goods movements and carry out physical inventory. In the inventory management system the physical stock reflect all transactions resulting in a change in stock and thus, in updated inventory levels. The user can easily obtain an overview of the current stocks of any given material. For each material, not only are the stocks in the warehouse shown, but also the stocks ordered but not yet delivered, reserved for production or for a customer, and the stocks in quality inspection can be monitored.

If a further sub-division by lots is required for a material, one batch per lot is possible. The batches are then managed individually in the stock. Special stocks from the vendor or from the customer are managed separately from your company’s own stock.

The aim of the eresource ERP’s Material Requirements Planning (MRP) document is to supply information that will enable the company to have enough inventory on hand to fulfill demand. eresource ERP’s MRP module can provide the basic needs of keeping inventory levels low and fulfilling customer expectations for on time delivery.

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