Customer Solution Case Study
/ / Tool Manufacturer Automates Manual Business Processes, Increases Sales
Overview
Country or Region:India
Industry: Manufacturing
Customer Profile[mc1]
Hitachi Koki India Limited manufactures power tools and life-science instruments that are well-known for their ease of use and safety. Its products are used by customers for building, communication, and research.
Business Situation
Hitachi Koki India Limited had stand-alone systems in its branches,from which paper-based reports were sent to the head office for entry and consolidation. The organization wanted to automate its manual business processes.
Solution
Hitachi Koki India Limited deployed Ramco’s e.Applications solution on the Microsoft® platform to automate day-to-day business activities such as billing, inventory, management, and sales.
Benefits
Inventory management and control
Automated processes
Real-time transactions
Inter-branch coordination
Employee empowerment / “We have chosen the best solution. The advanced technology and robust functionality has provided an end-to-end solution forour organization[mc2].”
Mr. Dattatraya Joshi, Finance Controller and Secretary, Hitachi Koki India Ltd.
Hitachi Koki Company Limited is an Indian subsidiary of the Hitachi Group. Since 1948, the company has been engaged in themanufacturing and tradingof electric power tools, specializingin compact and high-output models. The company has grown especially rapidly in the last few years. In order to stay competitive and meet customer demands, Hitachi Koki introduced a host of new services and opened six new sales offices in India. However, its manually intensive process and disparate systems could not deliver the desired efficiencyto cope with itsgrowing business needs. Thus, the company sawthe need for an automated and well-integrated system on a common framework.The implementation of Ramco e.Applications, based on Microsoft® Server System™integrated server software, has consolidated individual branch data and allowed for real-time billing operations.
Situation
Founded in December 1996 as an electric power tool manufacturer to meet the industrial needs of India, Hitachi Koki India Limited has pioneered new technologies and new product categories. The company, a subsidiary of Hitachi Koki Company Limited, has obtained certification under the ISO 9000 series, the international standards for quality assurance. The annual revenue of the company is approximately Rs 25 crores.
The worldwide demand for power tools is projected to rise more than five percent per year and exceed U.S.$27 billion by 2007. The major determinant of power tool demand will be accelerated global economic growth, motivating manufacturing and consumer spending activity.
Business Situation
Hitachi Koki India Limited was using Tally[mc3] at the head office in Bangalore and across its sales offices in India. Because all of the information from the branch and sales offices was sent onpaper, Hitachi Koki India Limited was facing problems getting real-time and accurate information. The company also faced discrepancies in its daily billing operations.
A key priority within the company, therefore, was to consolidate and automate processes within and among each branch. [mc4]
Solution
Hitachi Koki India Limited considered solutions from various companies including Wings and Bangalore-based Sofex System. After a detailed study of the competing products, Hitachi Koki India Limited decided to implement Ramco e.Applications on the Microsoft® platform. Hitachi Koki India Limited chose Ramco’s product because it had the desired functionality to meet most of the organization’s requirements. Further, Hitachi Koki India Limited was impressed with the support and service rendered by Ramco.
The ERP solution was implemented within four months. A Ramco-certified partner implemented the business solution with support from Ramco. The company implemented Inventory, Purchasing, Sales, Shipping, General Ledger, Fixed Assets, Accounts Receivables, Accounts Payables, Costing, and Indian Extensions (excise) modules.
“Ramco e.Applications on the Microsoftplatform has delivered a key business value within our enterprise. Re-engineering core processes has led to instant improvements in development time and elimination of redundancies—with a healthy impact on the bottom line,” comments Mr.Dattatraya Joshi, Finance Controller and Secretary, Hitachi Koki India Limited.
The implementation started with abusiness mapping study and it [mc5]was completed in two weeks. Using an Extension Development Kit (EDK[mc6]), the product was enhanced without base customization to meet the unique needs[mc7] of Hitachi Koki India Limited.
“We have seen quantum improvements in productivity, profitability, and competitiveness,” claims Mr.Joshi.
Benefits[mc8]
Ramco e.Applications based on Microsoft Windows Server System™ integrated server software provides enhanced control and efficiency to Hitachi Koki India Limited’s business processes. The streamlining of business processes and improved efficiencies has resulted in productivity gains and considerable cost savings to Hitachi Koki India Ltd.
“The ERP solution has facilitated timely and effective decision-making within Hitachi Koki India Limited. The real-time consolidation of data has resulted in improved inventory management and control. No, we are confident of growing at least 20 percenton a year-by-year basis,” explains Mr. Joshi.
Inventory Management and Control
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supply chain management rank among most companies' top 10 initiatives. With the implementation of the ERP solution, Hitachi Koki India Limited is now able to manage inventory in an organized and efficient manner. The ERP solution has enabled the company to effectively analyze sales data and forecast future demand for its power tools. This leads to the efficient management of production and procurement lead times, while providing supply chain visibility.
The Inventory Module of the Ramco solutionhelps to keep track of materials across the supply chain, including product stocks with vendors and customers. This has enabled higher efficiencies on the shop floor and timely supply deliveries. All this has resulted in improved sales and enhanced customer satisfaction levels.
Automated Processes
With the deployment of the ERP solution, Hitachi Koki India Limited has beenable to streamline and automate unstructured processes within the organization by utilizing workflows built into e.Applications that leverage Microsoft Exchange Server 2000. This has also made it possible forusers to monitor processes in realtime, no matter where they are, and[mc9] immediately replicate and automate the changes throughout the organization.
Real Time Transactions
“We at Hitachi Koki India are now able to monitor online all the transactions at all our branches across the country. We are now able to generate reports in a speedy manner,” saysMr. Joshi.
Inter -branch coordination
Ready access to information across branches and departments has reduced business cycle times, boosted sales, and brought complete transparency into the company’s processes[mc10].
Employee Empowerment
With the automation of operations, Hitachi Koki India Limited’s management has been able to rationalize its human resources. It has redeployed its employees, who are now able to focus on their core functions and add value to the system.
Future Plans
Hitachi Koki India Limited is planning to implement production and subcontracting modules of e.Applications in the near future.
And, with the help of the ERP solution, Hitachi Koki India Limited is aiming to increase its sales by at least 20 percent each year in the next three years.
About Ramco Systems Limited
Ramco Systems Limited, established in 1989, is a global provider of personalized enterprise solutions that close the gap between companies' IT capabilities and business objectives. What sets Ramco apart is the internal capability to assemble applications using Ramco VirtualWorks, a groundbreaking, model-based development and delivery platform that enables the assembly of personalized applications that address an enterprise’s unique, best, and next business practices.
About Microsoft Windows Small Business Server[mc11]
Microsoft Windows® Small Business Server 2003 enables your small business to be more productive with fewer resources. Now you can:
- Automatically protect your business information in 15 essential ways.
- Get 20percent[mc12]more done every day by making it easier for your employees to find, share, communicate, and remotely access information.
- Reach more customers and serve them better, around the clock[mc13].
- Quickly setup and easily operate a Windows Server™ operating system[mc14] to run your small business[jj15][mc16].
For more information about Windows Small Business Server, please go to:
[mc1]If possible, please indicate how large the company is (that is, the Indian subsidiary)—in number of employees, branches, and/or revenues.
[mc2]This introductory pull quote appears nowhere in this case study. According to the case study guidelines, this quote needs to be replaced with one used in the actual text.
[mc3]Is Tally a well-known product? Who makes it? Can you add a sentence about what it does?
[mc4]Are two pull quotes allowed in one sidebar?
[mc5]What is “it”—the implementation or the study? What *is* a Business Mapping Study? (And why is it initial capped?)
[mc6]Whose Extention Development Kit? What does it extend? Is this different than the “Indian Extensions” listed in the system requirements?
[mc7] How can they enhance the product without customization to meet unique needs? Unique implies one-of-a-kind, which would require some customization. And what is meant by “base customization”?
[mc8]The following sidebar copy was overprinting the text, but I can’t seem to be able to paste it into the left margin on the next page. I also can’t edit it within this Comment box, for some reason (it should match verbatim the corresponding copy in text; spell out “Financial” in the citation), but here it is:
[mc9]Who has authority to do this (highlighted copy)? Surely not every user.
[mc10]Transparency to who? With transparency often comes security questions. What about security? (Good opportunity to talk about the Microsoft platform here!)
[mc11]Windows Small Business Server was never mentioned in this case study--and where is this boilerplate copy from?
[mc12]How can we promise 20 percent higher productivity! By what measure?
[mc13]Per MSTP, avoid 24/7.
[mc14]Is this what you mean? This is first mention, so descriptor is needed.
[jj15]Regarding the Hardware requirements: Please write out hardware specs in standard English (40-GB hard disk drive, for example), or delete the abbreviated detail.
[mc16]Regarding the hardware below:IBM doesn’t makean xSeries 225 server—but there is a 226 server and a 255. Is this a typo?
I can’t edit/verify the rest of this detail. Do we want to give this much detail?