EkatmERP

WHITE PAPER
PAPER: The case of a
Thermocouple manufacturer

EkatmERP

2014

EkatmERP

2014

THE CLIENT: Hi--Tech

Tech Transducers & devices
Hi-Tech Transducer is an ISO 9001:2008 certified precision monitoring equipments
manufacturer based in India. Catering to diverse industry verticals ranging from
Automobile, Pharmaceuticals, Plastics, Aluminum, Cement etc
etc, they have established
a large customer base in India & abroad. Their clientele includes market leaders
leader in
the domestic automobile industry few of which are Bajaj
Bajaj,, Tata Motors, Force,
Mahindra and Piaggio. Their product catalogue comprise Multipurpose RTD, exhaust
Thermocouple, Thermocouple for heat treatment, Thermocouple for pre-heater
pre
furnace temperature, Waterproof Head
Head-type
type PT100 for water pipeline, Barrel
thermocouple for injection, temperature sensor for coke oven purchase etc.

15%
10%
5%
0%
Automobile

GROWTH RATE

Pharma
Cement
Plastics

INDUSTRY

The key client segment of Hi--tech transducers i.e. the automobile industry account
for 22% of the countrys manufacturing GDP. It is projected to show solid growth in
the next few years due to increased affordability, rising incomes and penetration in
newer markets. This
is sector is experiencing Y
Y-O-Y
Y growth at the rate of 14%. In
addition other core sectors such as Cement, Pharmaceuticals and Plastic are also
experiencing annual growth rates of 9.7%, 15% and 14% respectively. This positive
present scenarios as well as highly optimistic future trends imply tremendous growth
opportunities for Hi-Tech
Tech transducers.

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2014

THE CHALLENGE
With increasing business Hi-Tech Transducers initially institutionalized Human
resource policies with well defined job descriptions, roles and responsibilities. This
was followed by setting an administrative system to address purchase of raw
materials & other inputs, a financial system to ensure invoices go out & bills are paid
on time, setting of organizational mission, vision & value statements and QC
measures to drive brand credibility.
In order to harness the benefits of IT which had enabled many businesses capture
costs, eliminate redundancies and drive profitability along their value chain Hi-Tech
had invested in an Enterprise Management Information System (MIS), an ERP software
from a leading software vendor.
This system however proved a very generic solution and was focused more on the
breadth of business processes at a manufacturing firm. Hi-Tech transducers were in
need of an MIS which would encompass both the breadth as well the depth of their
organization functions. In more specific terms they were looking for a system with
robust production module with multiple levels of aggregation in Bill of Materials,
Routing provisions etc as they were operating in a stringent quality/specification
driven business ecosystem. Security/Access parameters as Multi-user verification,
authentication, inter-function data transfers were other priority requirements as
Inter-departmental communication lacked clarity and the much needed speed.

Figure 1

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2014

In addition to their internal workforce, Hi-Tech communicated on a regular basis with

their Sales Executives (SEs) stationed in many states across the country. These
employees were the key touch-point between the company and clients/potential
clients. The relationship between the Head-office (H.O) and these SE had been more
centralized with SEs forwarding prospect requests to the H.O, H.O sending the
required Quotation to the S.E who then forwarded the same to the prospects. This
legacy process functioned reasonably well during the initial business phases when
demand growth was constant. However with increasing market demand there was an
increased need for agility, flexibility to respond to customer requests. The huge
lead time due to non-core activities as in administrative delays resulted in many lost
orders. This issue affecting the market-facing unit was a priority for the management
of Hi-tech transducers.
Figure 1 in the preceding page on the X-axis shows the increase in communication
issues for different categories of employees, Y-axis signifies the increasing process
complexities for the same. From the figure it can be inferred that SEs are most
plagued by communication issues followed by production department and then the
back office employees. With regards to process complexity the sequence is
production department, SEs and then back office employees.
The implications of these are that complex processes required interventions with
greater depth while those facing communication issues needed a solution with
high bandwidth.

EkatmERP

2014

EkatmERP

2014

THE SOLUTION
The implementation team from Vritti Solutions initiated the engagement with Hi-tech
Transducers by initially understanding the primary business requirements across
different functional units. The business process at the client side was mapped with
the process practices in the EkatmERP system to identify gaps. This was followed by
acceptance of important process reengineering to be introduced at the client end
based on the system and needed customization in the system as per client
requirements.
At a primary level EkatmERP streamlined the complete workflow at Hi-Tech
Transducers from Enquiry stage to posting in finance within an hours time (See
Figure 2). This transition to a better integrated MIS from the initial manual
operations as well as the generic MIS eliminated redundancies, administrative tasks &
efforts facilitating employees focusing on more productive tasks. Relevant, timely
and accurate information became available to the respective workforce with minimal
search costs and efforts.

NEW WORKFLOW AT HI-TECH TRANSDUCERS

Figure 2

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2014

EkatmERPs robust production module with capabilities to determine

Production time for each process, machine-wise
Man-machine ratio
Set up time/changeover time
Machine/tool life i.e. total production using a particular tool
Stage-wise Quality Control definition
Standard costing/P.O based costing
Multiple schedule Sales order handler, Multiple schedule Purchase order
handler proved far superior to the generic IT system which was deployed
earlier.
The complex production process at Hi-tech transducers experienced substantial
tangible and intangible improvements as a consequence of EkatmERP adoption.
In addition to their production process Hi-Tech had been facing difficulties in
management of their core resource; their employees. There were the internal Head
Office employees who were involved in daily operations and the SEs with the market
facing role. Integrating all these essential roles, their activities and monitoring their
efforts would be the key to Hi-techs further expansion in the market. This broad
range of functions demanded a high width solutions which must also be capable of
integration with the core production MIS i.e. EkatmERP.
Vrittis vWORKBENCH and Customer Relationship Management CRM) software proved
the ideal collaboration tools at this juncture (See Figure 3).

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2014

Benefits of vWORKBENCH (Figure 3)

The Management gained visibility of which task has been assigned to which employee, the
priority of tasks using a colour-code, Time allotted for the task, Status of the task (whether
completed, Work in Progress, Paused, Cancelled) : This transparency of workflow brought in
more accountability.
Seniors at Hi-Tech could now monitor which tasks have been completed on schedule, track which
employee has been completing tasks on schedule. This information was accordingly
incorporated in the performance appraisal/employee appreciation plan.

In case existing internal processes/workflow were to be refined, using vWORKBENCH

different/multiple workflows could be experimented and tested and their validity/credibility
determined. This helped bring in an internal process which was better suited to handle the
organizations needs.
Management meetings are a regular feature across most organizations including Hi-Tech
transducers. However key deliverables discussed in these meetings were most often not acted
upon and many a times the discussion points were reiterated in subsequent sessions due to
absence of prompt action after the first meeting. Meeting management feature of vWORKBENCH
helped them manage the complete process starting from Email based meeting invitations,
Minutes of meeting (MOM) and MOM based task allocation.
In addition to these employees leave credit, history and leave applications were handled
manually across many organizations. This led to creation of multiple trail which made leave
management an arduous task for the superiors, paper wastage being another undue hazard.
Vworkbench Leave management feature enabled Hi-tech to automate leave application, leave
approval/rejection and understand the leave history of an employee at the click of a mouse
with zero dependency on paper trails.
vWORKBENCH is available on both Web and Android OS platform. This multi-platform
characteristic of vWORKBENCH enabled management monitor and track the daily activities of
subordinates whether in office or at meeting outside.
Employee claims managements, Employee daily attendance communicating company policies to
the various internal stakeholders are other essential features of vWORKBENCH.
Multiple reports such as Department wise reports, Monthly reports, Workspace wise reports etc
were delivered to management periodically (based on their schedule preference i.e.
daily/weekly/monthly).

Figure 3

Vrittis CRM Software had recently been incorporated at Hi-Tech Transducers with
Sales-force training currently in progress.

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2014

THE ROAD AHEAD

Given the dynamic business context of operation of Hi-Tech transducers a number of
new requirements have been communicated to Vritti Solutions recently. Important
customization requirements of Hi-tech transducers which are currently operational
comprise
A specific Quotation format wherein the production process involved in the
manufacture of a product is listed with detailed specifications. In the
event of order placement the same format is self-replicated in
Manufacturing order (MO). This substantially reduced the communication
lag between Sales department & Production dept. facilitating more
effective coordination.
Another pertinent issue faced by Hi-tech was lack of inventory visibility
which many times led to lost orders. Vritti introduced the recently
developed Material requisition planning feature to drive inventory control.
On execution MRP tells the user the availability of certain items as well as
the shortage for a certain production instance. The same shortage quantity
is reflected in the Indent ensuring visibility of requirements & eliminating
work duplication.
A significant change associated with ERP systems implementation is the creation of a
positive growth cycle in the adopting organization. To be more specific, changes in
external business environment such as high competition, customer servicing etc
facilitates the adoption of a Management Information System such as ERP which in the
longer run catalyses further business transformation.