Customer Solution Case Study
/ / Uttam Air Improves Business Efficiency by 30 Percent
Overview
Country:India
Industry:Manufacturing
Customer Profile
Uttam Air Products Private Limited was
established in 1972 in New Delhi. Uttam
Air Products manufactures and supplies
Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbon Dioxide, Argon,
Helium, Hydrogen gas mixtures. It has approximately 40 employees.
Business Situation
The company did not have reliable data security and consistent data sharing within the organization.
Solution
With assistance from Microsoft® Certified
Partner, Munjal eSystems, Uttam Air
deployed Microsoft Dynamics™ NAV
4.0 at its New Delhihead office and
Faridabad branch office.
Benefits
Access to real timeInformation saves 50 percent of employee time
Faster decision making improves business efficiency by 30 percent
Computerized cylinder certificates for quality control
Accurate tracking of cylinders
Instantaneous documentation
Faster report generation / “Earlier it used to take us 10 days to compile and collate data with the three locations. With the implementation of Microsoft® Dynamics™ NAV 4.0 we now have immediate access to business information at the branches.”
Manmohan Bhatia, Finance Controller, Uttam Air Products Private Limited
Founded in 1900, The Uttam Group originally had its head office in D. I. Khan, now in Pakistan. In early seventies, the group diversified into manufacturing of industrial and medical gases under the name of Uttam Air Products Private Limited. Uttam Air isan authorised agent of Luxfer Gas cylinders, the world leader in non-ferrous cylinders.
In order to improve business processes, data security and
user level authority, the management at Uttam Air implemented
Microsoft Dynamics™ NAV 4.0 at its New Delhi Head office and
Faridabad branch office. This has accelerated after sales
services and improved business efficiency by 30 percent
within the organization. Due to an increase in information sharing
between the New Delhihead office and the Faridabad branch
office, the company has also been able to save up to 50
percent of the time spent in tracking cylinders and verifying quality control.
Situation
Uttam Air Products is a leading supplier of aluminum and composite carbon cylinders in
India. Uttam Air offers innovative systems with a focus on safe gas supply and simple maintenance procedures.
In July 1999, Uttam Air commissioned a
300 cubic meter (CUM) per hour Oxygen and 120 CUM per hour high purity Nitrogen gas plant. In 2001, a 250 CUM per hour Oxygen Plant was commissioned and is now running to 100 percent capacity. Uttam Air currently has 40employees at its New Delhihead office. The company’s branch offices Faridabad and Okhla have 10 employees each.
Uttam Air had a desktop environment based on Microsoft®Windows® 98 and Windows® XP Professional. The company was using Tally for its accounting and financial transactions and customized software for tracking and testing cylinders.
The inventory management, report generation and related activities were maintained manually a Microsoft Office Excel worksheet. Individual employee details were maintained at the respective branch offices. This data was summarized and sent in the form of printed reports to the New Delhihead office.
The data was then collated to generate various reports for example debtors and creditors outstanding, collection report, cylinders status and holding status.
“….Microsoft Dynamics NAV 4.0 is a flexible business solution which can be customized to suit our business requirements.”Manmohan Bhatia, Financial Controller, Uttam Air Products Private Limited
The compilation of such reports was time consuming since it required manual intervention.
“There werepockets of information at various locations and departments. This led toinconsistent data sharing between our branch offices and the New Delhihead office,” recalls Manmohan Bhatia,
Financial Controller, Uttam Air Products
Private Limited.Since the medium of communication was slow, it delayed the decision making process as well.
“We lacked punctuality for on-time delivery of our products. We were unable to integrate the accounts and operations of the company at a single point for efficient reporting to the management,” recalls a company employee.
The top management at Uttam Air felt an immediate need to improve data security, user level authority, duplicity of data and dynamic report generation.
Solution
“We conducted a detailed comparative study with SAP, Oracle and Microsoft Dynamics NAV
4.0. We choose NAV 4.0 due to its established reputation, data security features and previous successful implementations,” recalls. Manmohan Bhatia, Financial
Controller, Uttam Air Products Private Limited.
He adds, “Another reason we choose
Microsoft Dynamics NAV 4.0 since it is a flexible business solution which can be customized to suit our business requirements.”
As a first step, Microsoft Certified Partner, Munjal eSystems implemented Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 Terminal Services. This allowed Uttam Air to adopt a new application deployment methodology that allows efficient access to data over low bandwidth, reuse of older hardware and remote management. Commenting on the implementation, Manmohan Bhatia says, “Windows Server 2003 Terminal Services provides us real time access to any location.”
Munjal eSystems then implementedMicrosoft Dynamics NAV 4.0. The testing phase at the New Delhihead office and Okhla branch was completed in October 2006. The company goes live with the Microsoft Dynamics NAV 4.0 at both locations by December 2006. The testing phase for the Faridabad branch office is currently underway and the Dynamics NAV 4.0 implementation will be live by January 2007.
Munjal eSystems customized the solution with additional modules including gate entry and testing of gas cylinders. Munjal eSystems also integrated delivery challan module with sales invoice and made specific changes to the purchase and payables module.
It created a module called gate entry of cylinders that have to be tested. The company also developed the return gate pass and non return gate pass process for the tested cylinders. Once the cylinders were tested and met the standards, Munjal eSystems created a module to prepare an invoice as well as a delivery challan (proof of delivery) module.
In addition, the company has implemented receivables and payables, finance, sales and marketing, modules of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 4.0.
Benefits
With the implementation of NAV 4.0, Uttam
Air has been able to enhance data security. Each user is assigned with user identification and password based on theirroles and responsibilities. This has also led tominimized dependency on specific employees for business information.
Access to Real Time Information
“Earlier it used to take us 10 days to compile and collate data with the three locations. With the implementation of Microsoft® Dynamics™ NAV 4.0 we now have immediate access to business information at the branches,” explains Manmohan Bhatia.
Private Limited.
Faster Decision Making
After the cylinder testing process is approved, employees are able to ascertain whether the cylinder meets standards or has to be rejected on the basis of the prescribed technical standards. Access to this information, improves decision making related to pending orders, delivery schedule etc.
Computerized Cylinder Certificates for Quality Control
After the testing phase is complete, each cylinder is given a computerized certification.
A separate "testing module" has been customized for this purpose. This allows the company to maintain uniform quality across all cylinders.
Accurate Tracking of Cylinders
It is important for the organization to track the location of each cylinder be it the gas plant, warehouse, customer location or en route. “We are able to determine the exact location of each and every cylinder now,” reiterates an Uttam Air project manager.
InstantaneousDocumentation
Uttam Air employees are now able to generate purchase orders, purchase invoice, sales invoice and excise documents at the click of a button. This is an achievement moving the company away from the manual processes completely.
Faster Report Generation
“We are now able to generate and customize various Management Information Services
(MIS) reports from a single program with ease,” reiterates an Uttam Air project manager.
All this has enabled the company to plan higher growth and improve employee morale and customer satisfaction.
About Munjal eSystems
Munjal eSystems has recently been taken over as a division of HCSL and aims to be the leading provider of integrated business solutions.
Munjal eSystems has to its credit many successfully completed projects starting from simple trading organizations to service industries to complex automobile manufacturing environment. Munjal eSystems can fit products to any business-specific requirements, thus offering a cost-effective and apt solution for any organization. It has catered to automobile, control panel switch gear, pharmaceutical trading, education service sector, ITES, and industrial goods trading industries.
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: