Customer Solution Case Study
/ / Manufacturing Industry Consolidates Data to Improve Cash Flow with ERP Solution
Overview
Country or Region:India
Industry:Manufacturing
Customer Profile
Founded in 1994,Positive Packaging is the one-stop source for quality and printed flexible packaging material, CPP/PE films, metalized films and rotogravure printing cylinders with manufacturing facilities in India, Nigeria and U.A.E.The annual turnover of the company is U.S.$ 110 million.
Business Situation
PPIL used multiple disintegrated applications to manage accountsas well as production. In the absence of data flow, manual processes introduced delays and errors due to which companyincurred higher administrative cost.
Solution
Working with Microsoft® Certified Partner Tectura, PPIL implemented Microsoft® Dynamics™ AX 2009to have an integrated IT infrastructure accessible to all. The solution facilitates data consolidation and enhances efficiency.
Benefits
Streamlines business processes, savesmanpower costs
Enhances inventory management
Increases efficiency with integration capabilities / “Microsoft® Dynamics™ AX has helped PPIL streamline its existing business and operational processes with better control mechanismsresulting in improved efficiency and productivity.”
Anil Kale, Finance Director & Company Secretary, PPIL
Disconnected legacy systems were hindering growth at Positive Packaging India Limited (PPIL), a leading manufacturer and exporter of laminates,laminated materials and flexible packaging materials.The companywas facing data integration and consolidation issues. To override these challenges, PPIL with the help of Microsoft® Certified Partner, Tectura, implemented Microsoft® Dynamics™ AX 2009. With the implementation the companyhas reduced manual tasks and equipped employees with the tools to manage operations successfully. The solution has enhanced efficiency and productivity. The time required to generate balance sheets, invoices, purchase and sales orders has drastically come down. The company is benefiting from lower expenditures and IT maintenance, increased competency and higher profitability.
Situation
Established in 1994,Positive Packaging India Limited (PPIL) is one of the largest integrated packaging companies in India. Part of an international conglomerate, Enpee Group, PPIL offers an array of flexible packaging solutions to clients.Besides flexible packaging, it also specializes in the manufacture of electro mechanically and laser engraved rotogravure printing cylinders, metalized film and CPP/PE film. It is a government of India recognized export house with ISO 9001:2000,British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Institute of Packaging UK(IoP) certifications.Headquartered at Mumbai, India, PPIL has offices/associate companies in major cities of India, Accra (Ghana), Durban and Johannesburg (South Africa), London (UK), Nairobi (Kenya) and representations in various other countries.
PPIL exports its products to nearly 30 countries across the globe. With an employee strength of 1500personnel, the annual turnover of the Company is U.S.$ 110 million. It is the recipient of various national and international awards including India Star, Asia Star and World Star amongst others.
Historically, PPIL used Tally and Visual Basic based application to manage all business operations including accounts, finance, manufacturing, production, inventory, and sales. Tally had numerous limitations and was inapt to capture the data history of all the accounts and records.“Users had to click many keys and went through multiple processes before they could perform a relatively simple function such as printing a report,” says Mr. Anil Kale, Finance Director & Company Secretary, PPIL.“The system was not user friendly apart from being time consuming and complex.”
At the same time, it was not capable to manage auditsresulting in delayed financial reconciliations.Generation of balance sheets, invoices, receipts, and packing slips was also an excessively complicated and tiresome task. Even data integrity was an additional concern attributing to manualconsolidations.
PPIL being a progressive company recognized the fact that the high volumes of orders and activities were creating challenges. It was becoming exceedingly difficult to manage and track all the transactions.Moreover, lack of integration was creating lot of co-ordination issues.
“We soon realized that maintaining, supporting and servicing these disintegrated systems was much more costly than maintaining a single, unified system,” says Mr. Kale. Hence PPIL decided to migrate from multiple applications to an integrated and scalable ERP solution.
Solution
PPIL did a comprehensive review of available ERP solutions, considering products from both Oracle and Microsoft. However, after analyzing all its specific requirements it ultimately decided on Microsoft Dynamics AX.
PPIL approached Microsoft®Certified Partner, Tectura as the implementation partner for its strong domain knowledge, expertise, and understanding of the best practices of the process manufacturing and packaging industry.“We opted for Microsoft Dynamics AX for its design to simplify multi-site operations, ease of use and integration capabilities with other applications,” states Mr. Kale.
Tectura implemented Microsoft Dynamics AX3.0 in December 2007. However, with lots of upgrades following, PPIL decided to abandon AX 3.0 and migrate tothe latest version, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 to make use of all the newdynamic features. Since the product environment of Dynamics AX 3.0 completely differs from Dynamics AX 2009, Tectura efficiently handled the challenging situations. It extracted the database from AX 3.0 and migrated to AX 2009 along with Indianlocalization and deployed the latest version for third party application integration.The upgrade started in March 2009 and was completed ina record time of less than a month.
The modules implemented weresales, purchase, inventory management, logistics, local taxation, general ledger, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and fixed assets.The solution was deployed for 70 users.
Tectura used its tried and tested implementation framework to deploy and streamline tasks throughout the project. It designed lots of pre-built templates, scenarios and functions which could be quickly deployed and were within budget.With a mix of in-built functions and pre-built business processes, it aided PPIL in effortlessly migrating data into the new business system.
The solution was also customized to include complex integration of PPIL’s existing production systems. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 was integrated with third party Packaging Vertical used by PPILenabling seamless data transfer between them and eliminating delay in material requisitioning, ordering, inventory monitoring and sales order processing.
“Moving to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 was an exciting upgrade,” says Mr. Kale. “Now our accounts, sales and production team’swork together, resulting in enhanced efficiencies and reduced overhead costs.”
Benefits
With Microsoft Dynamics AX, PPIL has deployed a standardized financial system that helps in easier and timely access of information and allows faster response time. Besides seamless integrationwith the existing IT infrastructure, it proficiently manages the supply chain relationships and internal processes to meet evolving business requirements.
Streamlines Business Processes
“Microsoft Dynamics AX has helped PPIL streamline its existing business and operational processes with better control mechanismsresulting in improved efficiency and productivity,” says Mr. Kale. The solution facilitates a clear view of integrated data in a single window for analysis and eliminates the redundant processes and manual efforts for data consolidation. The profit and loss statements are directly generated by the system and need not be worked upon manually.
The reporting time has drastically come down. “We are able to reconcile accounts quickly which allows quick turnaround time to revert back to stakeholders with the accurate results,” elaborates Mr. Kale.
Enhances Inventory Management
With streamlined documents and data management,the managementcan efficientlytrackvendors from corporate office, thus exerting better control over inventory.With consolidated data Microsoft Dynamics AX ensures complete visibility across the entire supply chain. Material and component obsolescence has been minimized attributing to better coordination.
“We have complete visibility into the stocksacrossthesites. This helps us to plan and optimize inventory throughout the supply chain,” says Mr. Kale.“Since the solution controls the stock of raw materials and finished products, minimum inventory is ensured, thereby reducing inventory cost. This results in huge savings for the company.”
Increases Efficiency with Integration Capabilities
Microsoft Dynamics AX being a comprehensive business solution integrates all the departments and sites and automates the workflows. It brings almost all the applications on a common Microsoft platform. This has resulted in enhanced efficiency, and thus enhanced productivity. With integrated manufacturing locations, branch offices and corporate office, all the data is routed to the central storage space and consolidated data can be accessed in few minutes. Availability of timely information allows astute and intelligent business decisions at appropriate times.
The solution not only integrates various sites but also allows seamless integration with the existing IT applications of PPIL. The unique Packaging Vertical at PPIL communicates with Microsoft Dynamics AX for data via a customized interface. This helps the company to access the data, standalone or consolidated, at any given point of time.
“With improved coordination and enhanced efficiency, we are able to reduce management overhead costs,” concludesMr. Kale. “The consolidated data has improved insight into business performance.Overall the new information system has resulted in a reduction in the total cost.”
About Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics is a line of integrated, adaptable business management solutions that enables you and your people to make business decisions with greater confidence. Microsoft Dynamics works like familiar Microsoft software such as Microsoft Office, which means less of a learning curve for your people, so they can get up and running quickly and focus on what’s most important. And because it is from Microsoft, it easily works with the systemsthat your Company already has implemented. By automating and streamlining financial, customer relationship, and supply chain processes, Microsoft Dynamics brings together people, processes, and technologies, increasing the productivity and effectiveness of your business, and helping you drive business success.
For more information about Microsoft Dynamics, go to:
About Tectura
Tectura is a worldwide provider of business consulting services, delivering exceptional service and sustainable value through consulting, software and IT implementation. The diverse clientele includes mid-sized companies and divisions of larger enterprises in the aerospace, life sciences, manufacturing and distribution, retail and service industries. With a team of more than 1,800 members in more than 20 countries, Tectura applies its industry knowledge and best practices philosophy to provide Microsoft Dynamics® ERP, CRM and technology solutions throughout the Americas, EMEA, and Asia Pacific. It is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, and maximizes its vast technology resources and deep Microsoft expertise to deliver increased efficiency, project acceleration and a competitive edge.