BPM Helps in Automobile Distribution

The Project

To do that, Sundar began scouting for solutions that could address these issues. Automating and integrating business processes was the need of the hour. Migrating to an integrated and flexible ERP system seemed like a fitting solution. "Process automation creates value for business, internal customers, marketing, and distributors. It would also make us nimble-footed in the market place,"

says Sundar. After much deliberation he embraced the idea of deploying an ERPenabled automation project.

The First Steps

Sundar trained his sights on a solution that would be a combination of ERP and add-on modules developed in-house. These modules - customized to meet business requirements - would involve analytics and generate role-based MIS reports. More importantly, the project was also expected to automatically trigger sales performance charts (which were maintained marketing unit wise) every day. "It provided centralized target definition for regions, marketing units, sales teams and for the product lines. This real-time online solution would also facilitate tracking the status of customer orders, inventory and receivables," says Sundar.

The process enhancement project would provide multi-user transaction handling, online reservation of sales order and status monitoring. The scope of the project is impressive.

It touches 175 concurrent users, 3,000 sales invoices, 500 goods received notices, and 4,000 part numbers for dispatches per day. But Sundar would have to handle the Herculean task of mitigating the adoption challenges. The scale and scope of change that the migration entailed was unprecedented. The end users had been working on the legacy system for the past 15-20 years.   Convincing them to migrate to a new integrated system was a prickly issue. However, Sundar countered the challenge by explaining how the new setup would drive efficiency and enhance the scope for value added activities.

The Bottom Line

Launched in February 2009, the Rs 1.48-crore project has brought significant benefits to T.V. Sundram Iyengar and Sons. The automated process saved 3,500 man hours per month, in turn, saving a whopping Rs 31.60 lakh per year, for the company. Moreover, the sales turnover per month has risen from Rs 21 crore to Rs 27 crore.

"This is due to the daily sales order analysis which shows stock availability in various stages at the warehouses and  thus the estimated dispatches for the day.

This information allows the business to increase daily billing and dispatches," says Sundar. The project has also improved customer service as the distribution line of business is now able to keep track of delivery deadlines for every order. Purchase planning and follow-up is being done by keeping the order delivery date in focus. This has reduced stock out situations. In addition, the standardization of business processes across the enterprise boosted agility and led to an enhanced IT-business alignment. Also, "The automatic sales performance chart bolstered the competitive spirit among different units, leading to overall higher performance," says Sundar.

The Person Behind It

— V. Sundar, CIO, T.V. Sundram Iyengar and Sons

“Process automation creates value for the business, internal customers, marketing, and distributors. It makes us nimble footed in the market.